Annette Sandberg

Corduroy Roads

Before the invention of modern concrete, travellers were able to cross muddy, swampy grounds by building “corduroy roads”—paths that were constructed of logs laid perpendicular to the direction of the route. Canada’s first travel routes were the rivers and lakes used by Indigenous people, travelling by canoe in summer and following the frozen waterways inContinue reading “Corduroy Roads”

SS Alice Hackett and the Ghost of the White Horse

When I see the storms coming in from Georgian Bay like today, I am reminded of the thousands of shipwrecks that lie on the bottom of it. How horrifying it must have been to be aboard a distraught ship, especially in the freezing waters of November. Here’s the story of Georgian Bay’s first shipwreck. Nov.Continue reading “SS Alice Hackett and the Ghost of the White Horse”

Castle Glen in Blue Mountain, Louis Riel and Britton Bath Osler

Britton Bath Osler (1839 – 1901) In the mid 1800’s, an enchanting love story between Britton Bath Osler and his wife Caroline began, and that brought them to County road 19 in Grey County, at Castle Glen Estates. Britton was a famous Canadian criminal lawyer, and also the crown attorney at the trial of LouisContinue reading “Castle Glen in Blue Mountain, Louis Riel and Britton Bath Osler”

Natures Art Gallery

There is a gallery of beauty, so intricate and precise, where every stroke of the brush creates a canvas of energy and color. It is a privilege to step inside the frame and share in it’s magnificence. Presenting some of the sites of the Magic of Nature, as seen through my eyes. “Hiking with theContinue reading “Natures Art Gallery”

The Wolf Clan battle the Iroqois in Clearview

The Ojibways also have an extensive history in this area. They travelled from Penetanguishene to near where Collingwood is today and the old Petun territory, because of attacks of the Iroqouis upon them. The Petun, too, had been chased out of their homeland by the Iroquois in the mid-1600s. According to Peter S. Schmalz’s ‘TheContinue reading “The Wolf Clan battle the Iroqois in Clearview”

Historical Badge & Glen Haffy

In this series of Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club Hiking badges, I am leading a hike of 16 participants, in a series of five, throughout the Caledon Area for the Caledon Bruce Trail Club. Upon completion of these hikes, you are awarded an “Historical Hike” badge for your collection. This 11 km hike was inContinue reading “Historical Badge & Glen Haffy”

Woodford & Lord Sydenham

This is about a 14 kms hike through crevices, bogs, amazing forests, and all along the escarpment ridge. I began my hike in Woodford, a very small hamlet on Hwy 26, in Sydenham Township near Owen Sound. The Township was named in part for Lord Sydenham, governor of Canada from 1839 to 1841. Sydenham TownshipContinue reading “Woodford & Lord Sydenham”

The Wood Wide Web

The Magical World of Forest Fungi I hiked Skinners Bluff in Wiarton where the fungi are out in huge numbers & varieties right now, likely thanks to the rain and humidity. Fungi play an intricate part in our ecosystem, providing nutrients to the trees in exchange for sugars. But even more, beneath every forest, thereContinue reading “The Wood Wide Web”

Silent Valley and the plane crash site

Tucked between the gentle slopes of a long-vanished glacial landscape and the Niagara Escarpment is an oasis of peace and tranquility on the side trails of Silent Valley. It has a past that extends 12,000 years to a time of glacial retreat and the depositing of its rock and silt on the gouged land. TimeContinue reading “Silent Valley and the plane crash site”

Paleozoic Era

“I’d like to be, under the sea, in an octopuses garden in the shade…”Well, did you know that you actually are living under the sea? This land that we live on was once called the Laurentia located at the Equator and covered by ancient warm water shallow seas, 500 million years ago! The evidence isContinue reading “Paleozoic Era”

The Wonderful World of Fungi

The fungi that you find on the Niagara Escarpment descended from one common ancestor that probably colonized the land during the Cambrian Period in the Paleozoic Era, over 500 million years ago, (Taylor & Osborn, 1996), but terrestrial fossils (land) had only become uncontroversial and common during the Devonian, 400 million years ago. It is probable that these earliest fungi livedContinue reading “The Wonderful World of Fungi”

Eugenia Falls – Hoggs Falls via Cuckoo Valley

Fun Facts 1. In 1852, an early settler named Brownlee near Flesherton, discovered a waterfall falling 30 metres over the Niagara Escarpment to the Beaver River below – Eugenia Falls. He saw some glittering in the rock and thought that he discovered gold, but alas, it was “fools gold”. It triggered the areas first andContinue reading “Eugenia Falls – Hoggs Falls via Cuckoo Valley”