The Best Hike I’ve Ever Hiked
Are you interested? Perhaps not, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.
The other day, my friend called me a “vegan tree hugger,” and I took it as a compliment.
A huge one, in fact, because I am a proud hugger of trees. I hugged a tree last weekend. When I’m near a tree, I have this uncontrollable urge to touch the bark and smell the leaves.
I f*cking love nature, bro.
So when my partner said he found a hike that he wanted to try at the weekend, he had me at “hi-”.
The Trail
In the Neyagawa Park, Lions Valley Park and Sixteen Mile Creek loop, several trails joined up to create a circle that takes about three-ish hours to complete. With an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on AllTrails, and endorsements like “Very pleasant,” “surprisingly natural and calm,” and “Definitely will come back!”, I was sold.
So we packed up the car and headed out.
One of the things that struck me very early on in the hike was how close the trail was to the town of Oakville, Ontario — to quote another reviewer, the park is “right in the heart of Oakville.”
That said, when you’re on the trail itself, you feel like you’re out in the bush, like properly out in the bush. It’s so peaceful, so serene, so perfect.
The trail follows a creek in Lions Valley, and along certain parts of the trail, there are some great lookouts from which you can see rolling vistas, miles of trees, and rushing creek water.
And some of the trees are HUGE! I really felt like I was in an ancient forest while we trekked through the park. There were trees I couldn’t even hug properly because my pathetic, little arms could barely make it halfway around their trunks!
Towards the end of the hike, we started The Moccasin Trail.
It’s a trail through the park dedicated to educating people about the history of the land that Oakville now stands on and the people who called it home for centuries before European contact.
I loved learning some of the languages of the Ojibway and Cree peoples, as well as learning about the significance of the plants and animals that could be found throughout the park.
There were signs pointing out different medicines or teachings every few steps, accompanied by beautiful art depicting their significance.
Final Thoughts
When we got back in the car to head home, neither of us wanted to go! Having hiked many of the trails around Toronto, we felt as though we’d not come across a trail as beautiful and fun to hike as this one was.
A word to the wise, however, the trail is deceptively hard-going in places. Don’t plan to hike the whole thing unless you have a lot of experience with high inclines and steep increases in elevation. Some of the trails are accessible, but not all of them.
Do you live in the GTA and need a breather from the hubbub of city life? Give it a try. I promise you won’t regret it.
Happy hiking!
