bugs bugs bugs

I love hiking in the rain, especially a soft summer’s rain. I love the sound of the drops hitting the leaves high above my head, then drip, drip, dropping their way down to plop on my shoulders, or to land softly in the woodland leaf litter. The forest is quieter than usual, and the bird song and annoying chatter of red squirrels is replaced with a quiet hush that settles over the trees and all the creatures that inhabit this land. That is, until I hear it, the most terrifying sound I know. The sound comes closer, and closer, first from the front, then the back, until I feel I am surrounded. The sound!! It is almost ringing in my ears! So close now that I can almost see the beast that stalks me through the rain drops. SMACK. Well, that is one less mosquito, but the rain has brought out the hordes that will continue to plague me through this hike.

I parked off Horseshoe Valley Road and Old Second Road West of Craighurst. There is an ample parking site available for this Simcoe County Forest, which is called the Orrock Creek Northeast tract. The Simcoe County website has a great interactive map for all the forests and includes parking areas. It is worth checking out. This tract is the usual mix of trails, from hiking to ATV to motocross. After a short distance I left the wider trails and headed south on the Ganaraska trail, which is for hiking only. I ventured down a short gully and across a quagmire of thick black mud. There was no question of coming out of this hike with clean shoes and pants, though I attempted to limit the splatter. It is obvious that someone tries to put logs across the worst of the muck, which I was very grateful for. However, this would only be one of many gullies and gulches I would traverse, and not all were so well maintained. Eventually the Ganaraska trail deviated from even this small trail to one that is little used. It is clearly marked, though the blazes seemed to delight in leading me through the wettest, muddiest and buggiest areas available. I no longer attempted to limit the splatter, and instead marched right on through with mud up to my ankles. I only lost a shoe once, but I found it after a moment of groping into mud up to my elbow, so no harm.

At one point I left this trail and traveled along a sandy ATV trail, following the prints of a large canine. Whether dog, coyote or a mix I do not know, but there were no other human prints but my own. I made sure to sing in my horrifically off-key voice, but with vigor, to make my presence known. I continued to head west and south, and eventually found myself walking along the fence enclosing the property of the Hunters and Anglers, which featured signs warning off gun use. Dully noted, no wandering off the path here. I returned along a different route, as there are many to choose from. One of my favorite discoveries was a no parking sign. Not very interesting usually, but here it is, nailed to a fence, alongside a trail so narrow that a bicycle would have difficulty navigating the trail. The forest must be reclaiming what is rightfully its own. After three hours I returned to my car, trailing a voracious gang of mosquitos behind me, and all of them wanting to join me on my car ride home. This is a great hiking area, but one I would suggest traversing in dry and hot weather.