Hike in Eldred King Woodlands

 Shortly after my 10 kilometre Pride virtual race on June 28th, we headed out to Whitchurch-Stouffville to go on a hike in the Eldred King Woodlands. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring Dottie this time as it was too hot and with her getting older, we were worried about the stress it would put on her body. We felt horrible leaving without her though.

 

When we arrived we were greeted by a large number of vehicles in the parking lot. We had avoided this trail during the self-isolating phase because we know it’s a popular trail and we figured it would be too crowded. But now that more things were opened up and the weather being stinking hot, we thought that people would just stay inside or do a different activity. We were wrong. We just managed to squeeze into the last parking space.

 

Our hike was a 5km loop – there were many other trails we could take, but this was the one we were most familiar with. Just before reaching the first kilometre we came across a family sitting on one of the benches, heads bent over their phones, watching videos and surfing the internet. So I guess not everyone wants to walk, they just want a change of scenery from their couch.

 

There were lots of hills and hollows which Cilla loved to run up and down and we had to watch out for horse poop. This was very popular among equestrians, especially since mountain bikers don’t favour the terrain which was a mix of gravel, packed clay and sand. But not just a little sand: in some places it’s almost as if someone dumped a truckload of sand. Well, it turns out there is a very interesting story about this.

 

Nature is often overlooked as important and humans destroy it in the name of progress. We are really just shooting ourselves in the foot though, as we need nature to survive and we’re best not to trifle with it.

 

Back in the 19th century this area was heavily timbered, cleared away for farmers. Large volumes of Ontario’s softwood forest was shipped to Britain and the United States as square timber. Hardwoods were typically burned in piles to make potash. Unfortunately they got overzealous with their work and cut down too many trees. Without the trees to protect the rich, black soils, all those rich soils were washed away, leaving only sandy soil, useless for growing crops. The trees had acted as a sponges, soaking up rainfall, while anchoring soil and releasing water at regular intervals. Without the trees, the land dried up and became a desert. It was a barren wasteland.

 

So, to try to fix the problem in the early 1900’s landowners were paid 25 cents a tree in an effort to reforest the area. Eventually in 1924 an agreement was struck between the County of York and the Province of Ontario where the County would purchase land, and Provincial foresters would plant and manage the forest. It took about 100 years of work, but there is now 543 acres of forest, the only remnant of the desert are the sandy trails.

 

 The trail eventually led us to a little pond where you would often see people picnicking and letting their dogs cool off in the water. Dogs were not supposed to be off-leash though and as soon as we arrived a dog was running around like a maniac, giving chase to Cilla. Dog lover that she is, the dog’s rambunctious, unpredictable behaviour freaked her out and she wouldn’t leave my side until the owners finally took a hint and put a leash on him.

 

The pond doesn’t have any fish in it, but there are frogs and quite a few tadpoles. Cilla enjoyed looking at all the tiny amphibians glide smoothly through the water. After she cooled off with a drink of water we continued our hike. Unfortunately the break caused her to lose her momentum, and she struggled to continue, so Trish and I took turns giving her piggy-back rides.

 

Eventually Cilla got her legs back and she held Trish’s hand and the two of them went skipping off ahead on the trail. Oddly, we didn’t see many people throughout our hike--maybe they were all just hanging out in the parking lot. It took us an hour and 20 minutes to complete the hike and we enjoyed the cool air conditioning on our drive home.