I like going on hikes, but I confess I’m in favour of easy hikes. I don’t want big long hikes that take four and five hours. However, I’m fine with a bunch of 30 minute ones that might take several hours. Mostly as I’ve experienced that “oops, this is way bigger than I wanted to do right now” situation, particularly when it starts as a stroll so I’m not properly equipped with a hat and water bottle, or even necessarily proper hiking shoes. I also like hikes with a bit of a “destination” or goal in them. Sheesh…picky, aren’t I?

One of my favorite hikes, although more of a walk, is the Bruce Pit. It’s not a long walk around, 1.74 km in distance basically. But for the first part of it, you have long views of the pond with a lot of ducks and geese on the surface. And you’re walking on part of the NCC bicycle path, with paved surface.

Then on to the actual dirt path for a straight stretch and some closer views of birds, and surrounding forest until you come to a bridge and can look down the path of a creek, often with some waterfowl hanging around.

Then you go by bulrushes, and my favorite part of the city at the start of the year to see red-winged blackbirds. Then the final push up a little hill, walk past the edge of the nearby off-leash dog park (which also means no dog poop on the main trail), stop at a small lookout over the water, and then back to the beginning, near the top of a hill where we toboggan in the winter. Which also makes for a good spot for a picture with the pond in the background.

And we’re done. Nice, simple, good route for a quick afternoon outing, and five to ten minutes from our house, depending on traffic. There are a couple of other paths nearby, one behind the Bell Arena, one off of Hunt Club, but neither one “go” anywhere or have much to see. They’re okay strolling locations, but like I said, I like to see something.

In September, we went out on a Sunday afternoon, and while I am usually doing landscape or fauna shots while we’re walking, I decided to take some pics of some flora too. I didn’t get a lot of colour in the trees at that time, but I’m happy with the results overall for the smaller detail, often in macro mode.

Where do you like to walk/hike?