Hike No 32: Twiss Road to Crawford Lake, Milton

 

Twiss Road to Crawford Lake, Milton

Today we decided to hike in and out from Twiss Road to Crawford Lake, Milton. We've been finding that there are less parking options in this section of the Bruce without about 5-6 kms in between each one. We usually like to do sections of about 8kms in length but the lack of parking along the trail doesn't really allow for much choice.  The trail head is only about 50 metres from the roadside parking on Twiss road. 


The first two kilometres of the trial winds in and amongst boulders.  There is a cave that you can walk through. 
 





Entrance to cave


Exit from cave




Rock Stairs with trail marker seen at the top


The trail here was a little difficult to spot as the marker couldn't be seen until we climbed to the top of the rock face. It was a bit of a scavenger hunt. 

Peter consulting the trail map in lieu of markers as we navigate the trail



Peter carrying Cloe up the stone "stairs"

Once we reached the plateau at the top of the stair like rocks, and I use this term loosely, we could see the next marker. Although the rock "stairs" were easy to climb, they did not really resemble stairs at all. 

View of the trail marker from plateau



As you can see from the markers on the tree, there really isn't much of a visible trail in this section. The markers on the trees were really the only way to tell which way the trial was winding.



Be careful crossing Guelph line as the traffic moves quite quickly and there is a bit of a blind corner in one direction. There is no parking at all on this section of Guelph Line. 


The trailhead is easily spotted immediately after you cross Guelph Line. This trail uses an old logging road as you head into Crawford Lake Conservation Area. 


Crawford Lake Side Trail cuts off a signifiant portion of the Bruce Trail and bypasses the Canyon. We had planned on taking the side trail to get back to our Twiss Road starting point but decided to head back on the road instead for an easier and quicker route back to our car. 



As we passed through a boggy area there was quite the smell of decay. We weren't sure if it was rotting vegetation or something decomposing. It was quite unpleasant. 



There is a lookout over Nassagaweya Canyon. I imagine this canyon would be best viewed in autumn when the leaves are changing. In early spring it was not overly impressive. There are benches should you need a break. 

Nassagaweya Canyon Lookout


Nassagaweya Canyon Lookout


Despite the warm temperatures, there was still snow in many of the crevices. 

T-shirt weather and snowy crevices




In addition to the warmer temperatures, there were many other first signs of spring we noticed today. Butterflies, croaking frogs, garter snakes, and wildflowers were among them. 

One of the many butterflies taking a rest on a branch


Wildflowers

Garter Snake


I was feeling a bit worn out when we reached the Crawford Lake Side Trail and decided I'd prefer to take the road route back to our car on Twiss Road. So we headed up towards the visitor centre, past Longhouse Village and onto Conservation Road before turning left onto Twiss road. The map below only shows only our hike and not the 4km (off Bruce Trail) road trek back to our parked car. 



Hike #32

Date:                      April, 2022

Start:                       Twiss Road  

Finish:                     Crawford Lake

Distance:                6.37 kms (one way to Crawford Lake)

Time:                       1 hours 41 minutes

Difficulty:               Moderate

Trail Use:                Hiking only on trail

Total kms hiked:   191.9 kms

Kms remaining:     720 kms


Points of Interest in the Area: Crawford Lake and Longhouse Village

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