exploring 26 & 27th August

From Collingwood we drove up into the Blue Mountains to go to the Scenic Caves (seems like we've been doing a lot of caves recently. This is a site that was used by the Deer Tribe of the Petun (Tobacco) Indians. They grew tobacco for both trade and for ritual purposes. The Petuns used the rock formations as a fortress for protection from their enemies. Their first contact with Westerners was with Jesuit missionaries in the first half of the 17th Century. Again the cave systems were formed at the end of the last ice age, but here there were also extensive crevices between rocks that made passageways along which you could walk. Fat Man's Misery was a narrow tunnel / crevice that joined two such areas, it was only 36 centimetres wide and quite a struggle to get through as it also rose up as you squeezed through it sideways. The fortress was a crevice that had 4 entry points, the Petun used to lure enemies there and then trap them. The Indian Council chamber was a piece of cliff separated from the rest of the cliff by a deep crevasse. Apparently the council of chiefs used to meet there, crossing over on a tree trunk, then pulling the tree trunk over so that no one could disturb them in their deliberations. Fortunately for us there is now a bridge with handrails!
The site is also a native Indian passageway to the Village of the Souls. At the point of the Balancing Rock, Oscotarach (the Head Piercer) would remove the brains of the dead. Afterlife would then be happier because the souls could no longer remember their earthly existence and those left behind!
Just down from this site a large suspension bridge has been built which allows amazing views out over Lake Huron and Georgian Bay; but it doesn't really go anywhere so it is a little bit odd!

After a round of crazy golf... we drove about 2 hours south the Orangeville. Ate the leftovers of the large steak dinner that we had the other day and wandered around a shopping mall.
Thursday we went to find the Bruce Trail. It is a 800km trail along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara in the South to Tobermory in the the North West; it also has 300km of side trails (declared a World Biosphere Reserve in 1990 by the UN. Amazingly not many people seemed to know where it was and we had some difficulty finding a place where we could join it; but once found we were treated to 4 hours of fantastic woods; grasslands and river trails. We only saw about 5 other people the whole way and didn't cross one road. You just have to look at the photos. We found asparagus plants growing wild and picked a couple of shoots which we will try later, there were also blackberries, raspberries and apples. We had taken along a stock of fruit too so we were pretty well stuffed! We didn't see any large wildlife but there were plenty of fascinating insects; huge dragonflies, caterpillars, spiders, spider eating wasps; and several frogs, toads and birds.
We return to Toronto tomorrow and have to give back our car; we have booked into one of the poshest hotels in town using our airmiles. A little bit of upmarket snobbery before we leave Canada. I'm now off to study our exam results that Laura has kindly sent me!