Trail Talk: Hiking adventures in the sun

Gulf Fritillary.

Recently I spent a week with my son and family in Aruba.  It was a pleasant change from the cold and snow, with sun and clouds and temperatures of around 80 F (26C) every day.

We did not stay in the big resort area near the beaches, but in a suburb.  This turned out to be an excellent choice as in the mornings with just a short walk down the road there was a property where there were lots of butterflies.   

The most common being Gulf Fritillaries, that remined me of Northern Crescents. There were usually six or eight of them at a small tree.

There were several six-foot tall milkweeds, where I would usually see one or two Monarchs, which stay year-round in Aruba.

There were some light green Lyside sulphurs, and rarely an Obscure skipper, a Three spotted skipper and a Dorantes Longtail.

My interest in butterflies was sparked by my participation in the David Suzuki BIBBY project, which encouraged all Canadians to photograph every butterfly observed and entered iNaturalist which system usually managed to identify the butterfly, which was then confirmed by experts, (sometimes the experts suggested another species).  I do encourage every nature photographer to enroll in the 2026 BIMBY project.

At one of the Aruba beaches there were about 300 Laughing gulls and a by a few Royal turns. There were some birds that looked a bit like orchard Orioles that turned out to be Venezuelan Troupials.  Some more familiar birds were Brown pelicans and yellow warblers.

I saw several Bananaquits, which look like warblers.  One of them was checking out an Aloe flower. Aloes grow well in Aruba as they thrive in the hot dry climate.  Cacti were very common, especially Prickly pear and the large Stenocereus griseus.

I found it a little too hot for long hikes especially there were no tall shade trees.  However, four of us tackled the Hooiberg Hiking trail which involved climbing up 610 cement steps to the top of one of the tallest hills on the island.

For comparison on Huron County the steepest parts only have 100 steps. If you like climbing steps, the CN tower has 1,776, which you can climb on April 5 or April 6 as part of a CWF (Canadian Wildlife Fund) fundraiser.

Little brown lizards were very common, an exception being some flat section in Arikok National Park that were devoid of vegetation where no lizards were seen.  I only hiked a short section of the trails in the park, due to the heat and lack of shade.

Aruba is also home to the Aruba Whiptail lizard, which was blue and bigger than the little brown lizards. There were also some green and brown Iguanas.

I did one hike which on a wide paved trail between the hotel strip and the beaches. It included a tunnel under the road. Despite the heat and lack of shade, it was very well used by walkers and some cyclists.

I have noticed that whenever a trial is paved it gets much more use than an unpaved trail.  I personally dislike hiking on pavement, and much prefer a natural surface in a natural setting, preferably including shade trees.

In Aruba there was a great variety of places to eat, a typical main dish costing $25 USD. If you preferred to cook your own meals there were two very large supermarkets, which had everything you can find in Canada except butter tarts. They also had a large variety of Dutch food.

Despite travelling all over the Island we saw no obvious signs of poverty, houses were generally bungalows with a cement wall round the property.

Back in Canada I was welcomed to -14 C temperatures and a car that would not start, fortunately my son came to the rescue with a jump starter.

In Huron County I am getting used to hiking in the snow again.  Depending on conditions the trails vary from snow with a very firm crust, water, ice, slippery trails and soft snow that you may sink in up to a foot.

One exception is snow well over six feet deep on Snowdrift hill which is on the Maitland Trail between 30 and 31km.

NOTES:

Hikers on any Maitland Trail outing are reminded to sign the 2025 online waiver, even if they signed the 2024 waiver.

The Menesetung Bridge across the Maitland River at Goderich is planned to be closed to pedestrians and cyclist from some date in April for 16 to 20 weeks.

Saturday, March 22 at 10 a.m. - BRVTA beach hike: Meet at Clan Gregor pavilion in Bayfield. Ben Woodward from the University of Waterloo is investigating coastal erosion in southern Lake Huron and will share his knowledge and insight during the hike.

For more information, contact Ralph Blasting at 519-525-3205 or rjblastingjr@gmail.com  

Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. - Hike the Maitland Trail and Robertson Tract:  Meet at the end of Bridge Road. This is a fairly level section but may be wet in places. To register and confirm your attendance contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com

Saturday, April 12 at 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Hike the Naftel’s Creek Conservation area trails with George Cantin: Option of then also hiking the George Newton Nature Reserve trails. This is a level 1 moderate pace hike. To pre-register and confirm your attendance contact George at Streamside@gmail.com

Tuesday Trompers meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to hike for about an hour. If you wish to be on this email list, send an email to mta@maitlandtrail.ca

Midweek hikers meet at 9 a.m. and hike for 1 ½ to 2 hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays. Contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com