In the hills above Mississauga, on the Bruce Trail, there is a maze of trails to explore. With our fave couple, Morgan and Elise, my wife and I headed out to explore the fall forest. With foliage changes just starting, the air was crisp and the leaves were shades of green, gold and red.

Ready to hike, Elise is no slouch in the energy (and looking good) department. With her cute pup, Marshall, we hit the trails.

Morgan is the most outdoorsy of us all. If the world was about to be thrown into chaos, I’d pick her for my survival team.

The trek begins. It was really fun going down. And we were cursing our glutes on the way back up.

They thought I was stalling. Nope. Just a great photo op; I hate to see her go, but I love to watch her leave 🙂

The Bruce Trail system is maintained pretty well and I’ve been hiking various parts of it for my entire life. I remember going to the waterfall and hiking in the forest as a child, back in the days when you could go out all day on your own and no one was worried you’d gone missing.

We walked around the base of an old kiln building: lost deep in the Canadian Shield, these are the kinds of ‘ruins’ you find in a relatively young country. Canada’s 1867 confederation makes us a baby among nations.

The texture and light in the fall is just amazing.

Blue markers lead the way.

Marshall is doing a great job keeping up, and like us – he is layered for warmth.

Taking a breather; we decided next hike will be gourmet – we are bringing honey comb (this will make sense later), brie, fresh bread and cider.

In town we stopped to buy local honey from the Caledon Hills apiaries (#supportlocal) and to peruse the town store.

Pom-pommed, vested and in two shades of denim – a truly Canadian outdoor outfit.

Honey for our morning and evening tea… or on cornbread, which Allia has promised to bake tonight, to eat with the chili that is chillin’ in our slow cooker!

It might not look like it, but this was absolutely fantastic: pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust, and the remains of a magic bar (basically a Dolly Bar)… the perfect end to our meal of grilled veggies and goat cheese sandwiches (all courtesy of the delightful local coffee shop).

In the village there is a network of artists who practice their craft in open studios. Here a glass blower is hard at work.

A large cast of a live elephant… with two adorable photo bombers.

My one and only.

The artists’ hive, consisting of old barns, historic buildings and some great, unusual spaces.

The gallery.

Our final stop was the Apple Factory; local produce, apple pies, decadent yogurt in glass jars, apple jelly, big glass bottles of un-homogenized chocolate milk… and pumpkins!

Happy Fall! Get out and enjoy the local colour, fresh air and the magic of autumn!