Beavish

 We had one more Saturday full of fun to end off the 2022 race season!

Not that I was racing, but that's beside the point

Of course, this meant getting up at stupid o'clock to be there well ahead of the 7:45am 25km early start for The Beav.

Heading into the burgeoning sunrise

Just barely enough light when we arrived to make our way from parking lot to start area

Said early start had been moved back 15mins from last year, presumably to allow the sun a little more time to have itself a cup of coffee and a stretch before sending off the first wave of 25k runners. While headlamps had been necessary in 2021, that extra quarter hour meant I could safely leave mine behind when I crept into the back of the start corral.

Definitely a clear view now - the 50k would start at 8:30, with the 10k an hour after that, and the standard 25k start at 1pm

Race Director Jeff was saying stuff up at the front that I couldn't hear, but I just barely caught the countdown, and then everyone was off!

Fast people being fast - I wasn't through the starting arch yet!

In a reversal of the usual fortunes of this race, it was actually an unseasonably warm morning - 16c/61f at start time, predicted to go up to 21c/70f for the afternoon. I was comfortable with bare legs even before I got moving, and the sky continued to amaze through the first couple of kilometers.

This is always a great spot for a photo

Conga line up the escarpment

Wide open views past the stile

The climbs certainly hadn't shrunk since last year, and the proliferation of maple and oak leaves on the forest floor concealed most of the roots and rocks with which the trail is strewn.

The trees were as bare as I ever recall seeing them

More than one person stumbled or fell around me as we made our way up the Bruce Trail into the park proper - fortunately everyone I saw was ok, but I think it was an eye-opener for a few people!

You can get a bit of an impression of the concealed hazards here

A quick dash along the groomed park trails, then a left turn to head through one of the most spectacular parts of the course - I saw a couple of runners ahead miss the turn and yelled at them to come back, but I don't think they heard me correctly, or understood what I was saying.

Their loss

Cloudcover had rolled in muting the sunrise, but the view from the upper falls is always gorgeous!

Even if the falls themselves are a bit difficult to see

I had hooked up with a lady named Dawn from Michigan who was actually running the 10k - she was happy to have someone who knew the way down to the main falls (where she'd have to pick up her Beav button to prove she'd gone down the staircase and back up again), and I just hoped I wouldn't hold her back too much!

..while taking a ton of photos along the way.

It's just such a stunning course!

We eventually made it back out onto the groomed park trails, then to the aid station at 4.5-ish kilometers.

..where they already had the fire going, so I requested the wonderful volunteers have a s'more ready for Dawn when we got back up from the falls

Down the stairs we went, and I was unsure if the falls would even be flowing - it's been such a dry summer and autumn, with water levels as low as I can ever recall seeing. Fortunately, though, there was enough flow to give is a charming view!

Whether a torrent or a trickle, it's always worth a trip down to have a look

There are some neat rock formations that are only visible from down the stairs

Dawn grabbed her button (and I took a photo of her with it in front of the falls), then we headed back up.

It was nice to have some company, and with her sporting a sore knee I was just about able to keep up!

Back up top again, we paused to take in the beauty of the landscape of roots and rocks.

Such a special place

Then Dawn - grabbing her s'more that the aid station staff had kindly prepared for her - headed back toward the start/finish, while I filled my little water flask and meandered off further along the course.

Which gets decidedly interesting past the 5k mark

I'd forgotten quite how rocky the next couple of kilometers were - I hadn't actually done this section since the first running of The Beav in 2018. 

I'm glad I wasn't in a hurry

I could only run little bits here and there, because I am a clumsy oaf and didn't wish to fall and crack my head off a chunk of rock.

The shoes I'd worn were not giving confidence-inspiring grip on the dew-wet stone

They did, however, match my outfit - priorities, people!

I bopped along as best I could, basically walking all the technical stuff and running bits of the groomed trails, while popping my last handful of fuzzy peaches in my face. I still wasn't feeling what I'd call recovered from the 24hr three weeks prior, and knew that Tank had help at the start/finish aid station (where there wouldn't be much demand for food or drink until the first 25k runners finished anyway), so I could afford to take things a bit leisurely.

Including checking out some new improvements to the Beaver Dam trail for which the race is named

Eventually I spotted the little hill in the hardwoods that would lead up to the other on-course aid station.

Known as Russell's Roost

I'd actually come out to see who was working, as we hadn't seen Dion's name on the volunteer list. I was delighted when I discovered he was there anyway, captaining his namesake aid station as usual!

Louis with the photobomb!

I stayed to chat for a few minutes while I filled my little water bottle again and ate an Oreo, then ran off into the woods again to finish the Beaver Dam trail loop - I had no intention of doing the full 25k course, and figured this route would give me a solid 10 miles of the prettiest parts of the trail.

With a bit of wan sun beginning to emerge from the cloud

I walked and trotted along on varying surfaces, finally coming to the other end of the stream for which the Beaver Dam trail is named.

Again looking the driest I'd ever seen it - a far cry from last year, when it was underwater, or that time I ran through it while it was flooded with meltwater a few years back.

Such a lovely view

Despite being one of the "main" park trails, the Beaver Dam trail is far from the groomed, crushed gravel that most of the others offer.

Slow going, so I had another cookie

There are some runnable sections, though, so I tried to take advantage.

As the 25k leaders began to come flying past me - I kept out of their way!

There are a couple of boardwalks over streams before you come off the end.

One of which has a highly stimulating approach

..then you're back on to Bruce side trail for some more rocky, rooty wandering.

Absolutely gorgeous, and at least it wasn't icy this year!

I might be completely pants at covering it in any kind of hurry, but I adore this kind of trail!

Soon I found my way back to the first aid station near the top of the stairs to the falls, where I was able to fill my water bottle once more for the final 5k back to the start/finish. From there it was pretty easy cruising on the park trails, but I was walking a lot anyway as I was starting to tire a bit, and also feel a rising need..

Fortunately Hilton Falls Conservation Area trails are full service!

After relieving myself, I ambled off again through the woods.

Autumn's colours still blazing, even though most of the leaves were down

Not much further up, I saw a familar figure on the the side of the trail aiming a massive chunk of glass at me!

Nothing quite like ending up in the official photos for a race you're running very unofficially -
thanks for making me look good (well, as much as possible), Sue!

Sue Sitki had found herself a lovely backdrop to capture all of the racers coming through, and I stopped to chat with her for a bit to see how she was doing. It turned out she was having a tough day, so I hung out for awhile to see if I could help cheer her up a bit.

I'm not sure whether I did or not, but it was lovely to visit a bit anyway

When I finally got moving again about 25mins later, I'd got a bit chilled and things had rather stiffened up: something in the inside of my right leg was not at all happy about my attempts to run, but it eventually eased off enough that I could trot a bit here and there.

I didn't follow the course exactly, taking another pass by the upper falls instead of sticking to the groomed trail

Slower but definitely prettier!

I even found this lovely little remnant of summer

Another stretch of groomed trail, then back onto the Bruce side trail to begin my descent.

The fastest 50k runners were beginning to pass me now

I was actually running a bit, though!

I always think of the final kilometer or so being all downhill, and end up mildly surprised when I come to the small uphill that has always been there.

It didn't feel small to my legs, so I walked

A couple of 50k runners were starting to come back the other way from the start/finish for their second lap, but I had the stile all to myself this time

Wheeee!

One final little descent, then back across the bridge at the bottom of the reservoir into which the upper falls drain.

It almost feels weird to see it without frost these days

I finally got back to the start/finish area just before 11am - I'd taken nearly three and a quarter hours to cover just over 10 miles! After popping in to the aid station to make sure Tank knew I was back, I got myself changed up into dry clothes and spent the rest of the day with my sweetheart passing out food, drinks, and encouragement to the actual registered runners.

I'm pretty terrible at keeping my banditry a secret

It was great fun cheering on friends and strangers alike, and getting to see some people I hadn't encountered in quite some time. There's no better energy than an aid station at an ultra!

We stayed until the last of the race materials - tents, the finish arch, and even the course markings (brought in by a couple of sweepers) - were all loaded into the truck and the sun had sunk once more. I was exhausted by the end, but can't think of any way I'd rather have spent a warm, windy, beautiful autumn day!

I even got an extra hour of sleep that night (thanks to the time change)

Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Tricks and Treats

 Everyone has their own ideas about what makes the perfect Halloween party.

I'm just lucky enough to have experienced mine!

It all began with an invitation to dress up in costume and go run, walk, and generally maraud around causing some good-natured trouble in Grimsby. You had to know I was all in for that!

Bonus views of really neat fog on the way down the escarpment on Hwy 6

It obscured the raging fall colours of the forest as we headed along the QEW

Arriving at Dree's, we wandered into the backyard to find the patio suitably decorated.

To be honest, with my food allergies the peppers are the scariest thing on this table!

We all got kitted up - the Grim Reaper, a bottle of Fireball, a tree elf, and some dork pretending to be a bounty hunter - and got Tank to snap a photo before we headed out.

We don't have to make sense to anyone else!

We had convinced Tim the Grim that a few blocks of road wouldn't kill him, so we all piled into our vehicle and got Tank to drop us off for a point-to-point run.

Safest ride in town - you know he's not capable of hitting anything!

We set off from the main entrance of Beamer Conservation Area for a little bit of exploring.

You always run when the Grim Reaper chases you

The weather was incredible - 17c and sunshine on Halloween weekend!

There were lots of people out enjoying the trails

..which were absolutely beautiful in all their leaf-strewn glory!

We got a few strange looks from folks who hadn't expected a pack of ne'er-do-wells in costume in the woods.

Pretty sure they were just jealous of how much fun we were having!

We also got a lot of smiles and positive comments from folks out there, including some who wanted to pose for photos with us!

Which we happily did, then ran away

The fall colours were a bit past their peak, with many leaves decorating the forest floor instead of the branches, but the views were absolutely stunning.

Still some colour out there!

Grimsby from above, with Lake Ontario beyond

We were bopping around having a great time, following whichever trail looked less people-y, when suddenly we drew up a little short.

There's a bit less trail in this trail than I ordinarily prefer

We could see a path that ran along the bottom of the cleft - which apparently used to be spanned by a wooden platform that has since rotted away - and I'd seen another path a few feet back that seemed to lead downward. More exploring required!

We sent a scout

When Tim made it through ok, I followed along.

The path below the rock outcropping didn't seem to go much further, or at least not much further that we wanted to try

There was a pretty incredible view of the tower of rock on which we'd started, though.

Such a fascinating puzzle of sedimentary layers all eroding at different rates

We got a group shot, then clambered back through the cleft
(Photo from Patty's phone)

We found a way to continue, but of course that meant a little bit of scrambling to get back up top.

Dree the tree elf made it up first

I was up second, with Patty and Tim coming up behind

Definitely some hands-on terrain

Up on the summit of the escarpment again, we had views for days!

Occasionally with some unique additions

We retraced our steps a bit along the edge of the giant cliff

The sun already beginning to dip, but still radiating heat

..not to mention lighting up the orange leaves of the forest

We started to make our way down off the escarpment via the Bruce Trail

It's all downhill from here!

I saw a creek flowing over a jumble of giant slabs of rock, and knew I wanted to get a better look.

Despite the way down being best described as "hazardous"

The leaves concealed moving rocks and foot-sized holes among the fallen trees, but eventually I made it down into the valley.

With - as I'd suspected - the sun shining right down it

I found a really neat rock, too!

Not quite sure what this is - some kind of fossilized tube-like coral or critter?

A bit more sketchy scrambling got me a view of the actual water, covered in fallen leaves.

It was so beautiful!

Then - not wanting to test the patience of my companions too much, as they'd all declined to follow after watching me nearly fall and break my fool neck - I just had to clamber back out of the valley.

Slightly more easily said than done, but I didn't die!
(Photo by Dree)

It took a bit of bushwhacking to get us back to the actual trail, which led us down a series of stairs as we lost a heap of elevation in a hurry.

My knee wasn't very happy about these, but IT'S NOT THE BOSS OF ME

A little side trip on road took us to a local historical site - Nelles' Manor.

Explanatory plaque

Nice shack!
Dree used to be a tour guide here, so we got a lot of amazing context

Then it was another short stretch of road to get us on the way back to Dree's place.

Despite complaining about the running, Tim got away on us

We also met a kitty!

As we came through town, we spotted another bit of trail that Dree said used to hook up at the other end, but the last time she'd tried it was all underwater.

With the very dry conditions this year, though, I suggested there might be a way through

So, of course we had to give it a try. 

It started off beautifully, even if I had to give Dree a bit of space so I wouldn't step on her elven cloak

We soon got down to creek level, which was lovely in the sunshine.

Nice spot!

Ahead of us lay a stone arch - a road bridge - and we once again sent Tim to scout.

Death beckons!

It turned out we could get through by using the shoulder of the bridge's foundation, so we did.

This would definitely not be viable during the snowmelt, or winter for that matter

There was a faint trail on the other side, continuing to follow the creek.

Obligatory urban hydro pylon

Then, another tunnel...but much longer this time, and with no easily-followed cement shoulder path.

Well...the only way out is through, right?

The light at the end was deceptive - it made the tunnel look foreshortened, but it was actually a few hundred metres.

Death awaits, as we tried not to get our feet too wet on the shifting rocks

This bit was definitely only passable by chance, with the dry summer and fall we'd had

We figured out that we'd come under the service road, and still had one more tunnel to traverse - under the QEW itself. Fortunately this had a real cement pathway for us!

..as well as some pretty elaborate graffiti

Having recently done some work with spray cans myself, I was impressed!

We stopped to get another group pic with one particularly neat bull

This looks like we're dropping the most baffling album of all time - hit the comments to tell me what its name should be!

Tim and I trotted along a bit further and looked back, then knew we had to set up another pic:

HE'S GAINING ON US

Out the other side, things definitely got more bushwhack-y.

"Trail becomes indistinct"

We knew we had to get up out of the creek valley sooner or later - or start wading through it - so we began to climb at what looked like a handy spot.

With a helpful tree, as long as you didn't whack your head (or your horns) on it

Of course bushwhacking always has its hazards.

Like turning into a burr-ito

I had just managed to get the last of the little stickers off me, when any semblance of trail petered out entirely and our way was largely blocked by a tall chain link fence. We knew we needed to head toward the road, so we followed along the fence until we found a steep embankment that looked promising.

By "promising" I mean it was fence-free...but also made of tangled weeds and fallen trees

We managed to climb up to Christie Street without incident (though I picked up another load of stickers), getting quite an odd look from a passing driver as we emerged at the top and stepped over the barrier.

I'm pretty sure he'd have been baffled even if we weren't in costume, but you don't often see a tree elf, bottle of whisky, a bounty hunter, and the Grim Reaper clamber out of a creek valley and onto the road

We tried to find the entrance to the last bit of trail in Dree's neighbourhood, but fencing once again stymied our efforts, so we just took the road instead.

Finding some fun decorated houses along the way!

We bopped down toward the lake shore to run through a park.

..and met another (very floofy) kitty!

The pathway through the park was lined with painted rocks, presumably done by locals.

Some of which were very seasonally appropriate

There was a sort of of point made of big chunks of rock that jutted out into the lake

Like a breakwater, but perpendicular to the land instead of parallel

I suggested we get another group shot, and set up my phone again.

Timer pics FTW!

Since the lake seemed a little chilly an un-inviting, we all headed back to Dree's to hit up the swim spa.

A much more pleasant temperature!

Of course I hit the swim spa literally - wanged my skull really hard off the giant cedar beam that forms the frame of the privacy shade and roof as I stepped in!

Maybe instead of a hat I should have worn a Boba Fett helmet?

Patty and Tim had to head out not long afterward, but Dree and I weren't quite done menacing her neighbourhood. After a solid hour or so in the swim spa, we got dried off and back into costume for some after-dark fun!

We totally ditched Tank, but there was a hockey game on so he was fine

Running over the QEW at sunset was a sight to behold!

Neato!

The moon was coming up bright over the escarpment as we reached the business section of town.

My photo does it no justice at all

We hit up the downtown core to see what it had in store for the Saturday night of Halloweekend

There were a few costumes about, and some decorated shop windows

This had got us a bit on the dried out side, so we had to stop for some refreshment.

Running amok is thirsty work!
I may have also fed candy to strangers..

Then it was off to the local purveyors to pick up some essential supplies, and back to Dree's with a few detours to go check out decorations.

There weren't many houses in on the fun, but some of them had gone all-out!

Tank fired up the grill for some sliders and Dree got the oven nice and toasty for some delicious cauliflower wings, just as Kevin returned home from his gig as an actor in a local haunted house. We ate, drank, and watched Hockey Night in Canada until I was ready to turn into a pumpkin, then we bade our wonderful hosts goodbye and my sweetheart drove me home.

As I say - it might not be everyone's idea of the perfect Halloween party, but it sure was mine!

Wheeeeee!

Hope your Halloween was amazing!