This morning I got up early and headed to Hamilton. I had plans to meet up with the “Take a HIKE” Caledon Ladies Hiking and Meet Up Group. The plan was to hike a 9km loop on the Bruce Trail, Robert MacLaren Side Trail and the Iroquoia Heights Side Trail and to see a bunch of waterfalls. However, the waterfalls were just a trickle or all dried up (wrong time of year) but that didn’t stop the fun we had hiking! 
Here’s everyone from our hike today…minus me! Today the group invited their partners to join the hike…
We started at Cliffview Park and went down the stairs…(lucky for us we didn’t have to come back up these stairs…). But we did see lots of people doing circuits up and down the stairs… what a workout!
Below is a little make of our adventure.. (my app tracker said we did 8.38kms…but others in our group said we did more like 8.45-9kms). All in all it was an awesome 2 hours…and didn’t seem that long at all. 
The first surprise of the day was a runner coming towards us and saying “there’s a bear up there”…so what do we do? Walk faster towards what we think is a bear…(I’m thinking it can’t hurt us that much after all it’s not a polar bear.) Someone in the group kept saying “if it’s a bear why are we going closer?”… To our surprise it wasn’t a bear…something even cooler…a deer!! Faster than a blink the two doe ran across the path… and the buck stayed high on the trail. 
There was one spot that was filled with Inuksuks… I can’t believe that it’s November 13th, because the weather was so awesome, sunny and warm perfect for a hike.
…even though most of the leaves had fallen…it still was a gorgeous walk! 
We did see this cool photo of all the cool waterfalls… I need to visit next spring when there’s water running.
As we were hiking it was a wee bit weird… here we were in nature but all we could hear was the cars from the highway. It was weird to be in such a beautiful nature spot…but having the city so close.
…this was my first time hiking on the Bruce Trail-–it was so well marked (see the white marks on the trees)…and there were so many other people out enjoying the day.
“I dressed and went for a walk – determined not to return until
I took in what Nature had to offer.”- Raymond Carver, This Morning
It was fun chatting with new people along the trail–this was much easier in the daylight and our trail was easier to walk two-by-two…and just jump the side for a biker or runner to pass.
Princess Waterfalls still had a bit of water…but just a trickle. 
Thanks for snapping this photo of me Mira!!!
You need to keep your eyes open for roots on the trail… just like in life, they can be hidden under leaves and if you aren’t watching can trip you up!
…I really wish I had stopped and gotten someone to take a shot of me along this ‘road’! 
When hiking remember to take the time not only to look down for roots and rocks, but also up… you might see something worth it.
This trail today had a gorgeous view of Hamilton! 
Sometimes you need to take a bike ride with your dog in your backpack!
The kid in me couldn’t pass up a fun photo shoot of throwing leaves…I made everyone stop and throw leaves all over the place! 
I think it was worth getting covered in leaves….and them stuck in our hair! 
“It’s all still there in heart and soul. The walk, the hills, the sky, the solitary pain and pleasure–they will grow larger, sweeter, lovelier in the days and years to come.”
– Edward Abbey
…in the 2nd part of the hike along Scenic Drive…it was fun to also see some of the houses! (and a child care centre….wow! it would have been amazing to work there, with so much nature around!) One of the houses had this cool tree house—around an old tree trunk…perfect for late night dinners and watching the sunset.
At times you could see the traffic as well as hear it! 
It was awesome that others offered to snap shots of the group as we hiked!
…it was great way to spend a Sunday morning! I’m glad I found this group on Facebook and actually went out to join them on a hike…not sure how many more will happen before winter…but looking forward to joining in the next one.
Mira also blogged some of her amazing photos from our hike…on her blog, Lifeology 101…go check it out!