Day Twenty-Three, July 27: "Brutal Heat and Buntings.". Kolapore Uplands to Len Gertler Forest, 16.8 km., 6 hours.

The Trail followed a dusty dirt road for the first kilometre.  At 9:30 the sun was already blistering hot, so it was a relief to finally turn into the forest and feel the cooler air on my skin.

I followed a fast-running stream for a while before turning into a wildflower meadow, and then into another forested area with mossy rock crevices and cedars growing every which way.  A huge beech tree stood next to the Trail, its insides pretty much decimated by woodpeckers.

A series of crude boardwalks took me through a marshy area, and then I was back into the open where the world unfolded below me.  I could see the escarpment in the distance as it snaked across land where I'd walked just days earlier.

Behind me, a meadow filled with sparrows and butterflies swayed in the breeze, its grasses well over my head.  Gnarled apple trees hung heavy with fruit - perhaps an abandoned orchard?  A pair of cedar waxwings flitted through a chokecherry bush, and mountain ashes showed off their cheery orange berries.

Then the Trail took me out to a blacktopped road, where the sun beat mercilessly down and trucks roared by at breakneck speed.  I caught the first views of Georgian Bay I'd had for over a week, since I followed the Trail inland.  The great blue expanse was hazy in the heat.

The next turn in the Trail brought me back into the woods, where I sat on a bridge over a stream and enjoyed my lunch of hummus and crackers.  Hummus rehydrates beautifully, so I'd made it the way I like it, with plenty of garlic, then dehydrated it and sealed it in small packages.  Quick and easy to rehydrate right on the Trail.

There was quite a bit of milkweed in the meadows, and I caught sight of a number of monarch butterflies.  I also saw an Indigo Bunting - the first time I've ever seen one outside of my spring Pelee birdwatching excursions.

The Len Gertler Forest seems to be a favourite exercise spot for the locals, offering a 5 km loop in conjunction with a side trail.  I came across numerous people here, including one man who passed me twice.  He had a set of bearbells on his hat, which tinkled merrily as he walked.  The first time I saw him he was walking jauntily but by the second time he was noticeably droopy, the heat having taken its toll.  It was pretty brutal in there today.  Such a high elevation brings us closer to the sun, I guess

I was glad it was a comparatively short hiking day.  Heat doesn't usually bother me, but today's highs, coupled with the high humidity, were quite the challenge.