The One With The Opossum
- Matt Beach
- Jan 12, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 21, 2019
Bruce Trail Hike South Terminus to Radar Tower
It's a mild mid January day as we start out to locate and hike the southern most part of the Bruce Trail. Our plan was to stop off at Starbucks and get a beverage to help keep us warm on our journey. One thing I neglected to do was to look up where the closest Starbucks was to the hiking trail which meant we would wander around Niagara for a bit. So lesson learned we grabbed our Starbucks and headed back towards the trail.
The trail was very easy to find. Not far from the Brock Monument at Queenston Heights, where the first battle of the war of 1812 was fought, there is a great big parking lot. At one end you'll find the stone marker and plaque indicating the southern most terminus. At the other end you'll find a sign stating that you're on the Bruce Trail. That sign is where we begin our journey.
As we enter the trail the only other life we encounter was a man walking his dog that looked like an overweight husky who was in his element sniffing out every interesting smell his nose could find. As we hike further in, off to our right there is a beautiful view of the Niagara Region countryside. The land is separated into squares and rectangles and the wintering vineyards are everywhere. It's an amazing site to see and I'm sure that in the summer time when the vegetation is in full growth it would only be even more stunning.
After only about five minutes into the hike David notices something. He draws our attention over to a tree stump just feet away from the trail. Beside the log sitting very still is a creature with a bright pink pointed nose, white fur on his face, grey fur on his body and a long slender tail. Not an animal we get to see often but we knew right away that this cute furry little creature was an Opossum. He posed perfectly for us as we took some pictures and video.
Moving along we came across a small stream completely frozen over. I'm sure its a beautiful site in the summer time, however observing it in a state of pause during the winter time is stunning. It almost seems the water has gone into hibernation. Taking a rest until the weather warms.
We continue further on along the path and Steph comments about how different this place would look in the summer time and how lifeless it is in the mid of winter. Regardless we are happy to be out there and enjoying each others company and chatting about cottages in the summer and future career plans. There's something very magical about getting out into the woods and hiking a trail. It's a cure for stress and a great way to create a precious bond with others.
Roughly forty five minutes into our hike we noticed a steel rusted frame ahead. Immediately I knew it was the old Military Radar tower that I had read about in my All Trails app, where I found the trail. It was in good shape considering it has most likely been neglected for decades. This is one of those exciting finds on a hike. A little piece of history left there for us to wonder about the people who built it, those who may have used it and what was used for.
Elizabeth's first comment, on seeing the radar tower, was something to the affect of "I could climb this". It was minutes later and she was half way up and mentioning about how cold the steel was on her hands, even through her gloves. At this spot we took a lot of photos.
From there we turned back and hiked back to the parking lot where our car was. Chatting the whole way back and taking in the cold crisp January air.
~ And this... is what the Beaches did.
Date Of Hike: January 12, 2019
Temperature: -3 C
Length Of Hike: 4.28km (In and out)
Total Time Of Hike: 1hr 20mins
Terrain: Easy
Starting Point Location: 43.15841 -79.05881
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