It was a Sunday and the whole house was brimming with a slothy vibe. Both Abhi and I were rooted on the couch. It's not just the inherent longing to stay still, but also the fear of being spiked by the lego minefield scattered all over the floor.
At about 11 AM, the obsolete wanderer in Abhi woke up and suggested, "Let's go for a mini hike". After a quick Mission Impossible level assessment of the situation in hand, I came to the conclusion that it's better to pull myself up from the couch and get ready for the hike. The main reason being the "enthusiasm" that our boys were showing. They dodged their daily "chore" of writing-pages-in-exchange-of-watching-TV, and already started layering up for the cold weather.
Just like that we dumped the slothiness and started for the LimeHouse Conservation Area in Halton Hills. It was about an hour from our home and as usual we let Abhi to drive peacefully by allowing ourselves to the 'discomfort' of sleeping. :D
We reached there around 12:30. It was partially cloudy with sun peeping out of clouds in certain intervals. There is no entry fee or parking fee at the park. There's an info board at the entrance of the trail. Although there were 3(or 4) trails, we decided to take the Bruce Trail with moderate difficulty level.
After a small stride, we entered a grove of tall trees. The fall foliage had almost hit the ground leaving those bare trees staring at us. By the side of the trail, just at safe distance, we notices small trenches.
The brown-yellowish big leaves on the trail gave way to dried pine needles as we moved ahead further. Possibly as part of security measures, a strong plastic rope was fastened across metal poles, in some part of the trail, where the trenches are seemingly deep.
5 more minutes of walking and posing for pictures and making our kids to smile for the camera(which they would never do together. When one smiles, the other makes the most embarrassing faces), we saw something really curious - A guy came up from underneath the floor..!!! But how?? The four of us marched towards the guy, or from where he just popped out.
For the sake of our sanity and of yours, I must say that there was a gap, or a trench there by the side of the trail, and that my fellow folks, is known as the Hole in the Wall, or one of the entrance to it. It is not too long, not to narrow, not too deep, but a bit shady. I felt a light sense of adrenaline flashing through me while we went down the trench through the other entrance. There were 2 flights of short, but steep wooden stairs to reach the bottom and then you could explore the limited space between the rocks.
The boys were too excited to come out of it, but we managed to get through with them to further explore and see atleast one of the kilns for which the Conservation Area is famous for. The place has got a long history starting from the 1750s. Fear not, I wont tell you all those stories and take up your time.
We ended up consuming all the oranges and the snacks that we took along and the hunger over powered us. Finally, while we were at the Magazine room(where they stored the explosives for quarry), we decided to go back.
The boys were talking about lime quarry and the kilns on their way back. The elder one was boasting about the process that he read from the boards kept at different stations and the magazine room. The younger one couldn't stop, but add more terms from the bits and pieces he read as well. Finally, by the time we reached the parking lot, they were discussing their usual stuff - Minecraft :D
Over the short trail, we saw families, people walking dogs, small friendly gangs, lone hikers.. The warmth of smiles and greetings is a good-to-have during cold hikes. :)
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