My friend Nigel and I decided to head out for a bike ride on the Etobicoke Creek trail. The trail takes us along the edge of Pearson airport, although you wouldn’t know it for most of the ride. The trail takes you through some beautiful meadow and forest with the occasional glimpse of the road and airport beyond it. As we rode along I noticed that my brakes weren’t working the best and when we hit a larger hill I realized that the brakes were going to be an issue and the ride needed to end before I broke my neck…lol
Etobicoke Creek forest floor
I did make it safely to the bottom of the hill, with both front and back brakes engaged, and found this gorgeous scene to my right. It was worth the slightly stressful ride down the hill. After this we decided not to continue the ride down the path so I didn’t get any more photos from the trail. We checkout out some side trials we missed but it wasn’t too long before we were back at the car and heading home for the day. A bike ride cut too short but better to be safe. Once the brakes are fixed we will attempt the trail again.
You can find more about this portion of the trail by clicking here. (This trail is broken up into a few sections on this site to make it easier for us non-long-distance bikers.)
Yellow Bloom
Even though my bike ride was cut short I still got out for another walk later in the day in my neighbourhood and captured this lovely image above.
I discovered a new trail out in Caledon called the Alton Grange Trail. The trail is a short 4-kilometer loop that’s definitely on the easy side to hike. It’s a beautiful trail and one of my new favourites.
Alton Grange Trail
At the beginning of the trail, I was feeling all the forest vibes. Even the light was looking good, and it was only going to get better.
Tree in Ice
The trail crosses the Credit River, and I noticed this mossy tree lying in the water. I wanted to accentuate the length of the tree, so I shot from a lower position. The tree acted as a leading line to the trees in the background.
Forest Trail
My favourite image of the day was this forest trail. The light was so perfect, and I would not have noticed this image if I hadn’t turned to look back. I have to remind myself when I’m out on my hikes to remember to turn around. Today, I’m glad I did just that.
I had several errands to run today, and one of them took me up to the town of Mono. I decided to go for a short hike at Splitrock Loop Trail since it was just up the road from one of my stops. If you’ve read my other post, How Things Can Change in 4 Days, you know all about my fascination with the birch trees on this trail.
Birches
I love this grove of trees, but I can’t seem to get the photo I picture in my head. One day I will find the shot, until then, expect to see more attempts.
Grandmother Tree in Winter
And then, there is the grandmother tree. She’s even beautiful in winter. It’s fun to be able to revisit the same places in different seasons.
Whites of Winter
On the way home, I spotted this barn that stood out with this amazing blue sky behind it. The white barn would have blended in with the snow on a more typical overcast winter day. Today, however, it screamed at me to take its photo. And with that cloud, how could I not take the photo?
Barn
A little further down I spotted this barn. Both barn photos were taken at the same time, and the skies are very different. The only thing I changed was the direction I took the photo. By turning 180ยบ the bright blue sky has disappeared, and instead, I got this golden cloudy sky.
Amazing how just turning around can give you a completely different look and feel in your photos. Don’t forget to turn around to look behind you next time you’re out photographing.
I met my friend Nigel for a walk at Claireville Conservation Area this afternoon. Mostly we were out for a walk, but I did capture a couple of photos that I liked.
The Path
When I processed this image above, I first worked on a colour version, but there was too much brown for my liking. I decided black and white was the way to go for the photos.
White Branches
The image above was one of the last photos I took from my walk today. There was beautiful light hitting these trees, and I couldn’t resist taking a couple of shots. I punched up the “glow” on the branches to make it more dramatic.
Overall, it was a lovely day for a walk, and I’m happy to come away with a couple, not so bad, photos.
I met my friend Nigel at Meadowvale Conservation Area for a hike around the credit river. It was an overcast day but the place looked promising when we spotted a hawk in a nearby tree. We, of course, had the wrong lenses to capture an image of the hawk. The hawk didn’t stick around long so we headed onto the trail where we saw one more hawk. I swear, they were taunting us.
Credit River
There were some good views of the credit river from different spots along the trail.
Stormy Day
This spooky tree stood out against this section of the river. I tried a few different spots along the trail to photograph it but I liked this one the best. There is another trail in the other direction from the parking lot. We may have to try it out next time we head this way to see what surprises lie there. And maybe I’ll bring my long lens, just in case.
