As I was approaching St. Jacobs on the Health Valley Trail (HVT), I noticed that there were more people out for walks again too. Because I try to not include others on my photos, especially as I am not out there to do so, I took a bit longer getting all the photos that I wanted. At one point I thought I might be able to connect with the bus that runs a half-hour earlier and get home sooner, but I found too many possible photos to still sit and take.
So I texted the people whom I had kept in contact with while I was out there in the middle of nowhere if it came to needing medical assistance, to let them know that I was fine, but was taking the very last bus and all the information along the way home.
So here I am just coming into St. Jacobs and having heard, and am still hearing the church bells chiming out the hour as I walk to this spot to take some more photos. It was 6:09pm when I took the first picture in this writing. While I was sitting on the bench that was there, I checked to see how late it was getting and also what times the bus was going to be returning from Elmira and the estimated time of arrival at the closest stop that I was going to be able to get to.
I had taken a video on my way down to this spot, but it was way too shaky to be of any good to share, only for my own recollection of the trip I took. I was nevertheless grateful that I had done so. It was a great place to do some more resting as it had been a long day already.
I took a number of pictures around me before I headed back up to the trail to head to my right as I got there and heading toward Front Street.
Once I was back up on the trail, I took one more photo to indicate where I had come from.
Then I turned to my right and noticed that I was able to see the end of the trail as I knew it that day. According to items on the internet about the HVT, this is actually the start of the trail. But as I had started at the end of the trail, where it ends in Waterloo, I had actually taken it backwards.
I only had a short piece of the HVT to navigate, but I took a few side trips along the way.
I'm a few feet closer to the end than I had been.
I was able to see the river from the trail a lot more here. It was evident to me that some of what I saw was able to see locations along the river that I had never seen before and was not able to see from the bridge in St. Jacobs.
As I came to the end/beginning of the trail, there was a bench on my right and from a distance I could see something on the bench. When I arrived, I found that someone had placed a stuffed teddy on the bench. I'm guessing that someone found it on the path and kindly placed it there for the person who lost it to find. It was so cute and I'm glad that the person who saw it didn't just take it and leave without giving the loser the chance to find it.
This location is actually the beginning of the trail and for me the end. If I had a vehicle, I could have parked near here and then had a means of getting home, but I would or might have missed all the beauty I found from here to Front Street.
There was a sign posted between the location of the previous picture and the bench where the teddy was sitting. I have a closeup of it a bit further on in my writings.
From the far side of the notification sign, I found these beautiful shots.
Once I was out in front of the notification sign, I took a photo of the sign and also the Dahlias that were so beautiful. They reminded me of my Mother's garden and flowerbeds in front of the barn north of Elmira. She grew many different Dahlia plants of the size that these are and also many different colours.
I took a couple closeups of the Dahlia blooms, and I just noticed a spider web on the first one.
This is a closeup of the sign that I posted a distant picture of earlier.
When I saw this display, I remembered that I saw it on FaceBook but am not sure whose page I saw it on. I just had to have a picture of it too.
Near the beginning/end of the trail where I first got on the trail, I had a photo of the markers of the trail and posted them in the first of the series about my trip on the HVT. So when I saw these I had to have a picture of these too.
As I went into the parking lot, I saw another bench and had to see what was so special that a bench had to be placed there. It was a beautiful setting and one that my curiosity just had to explore more thoroughly.
Once I was back on the parking lot, and moving toward the Quarry, I saw some logs that peaked my interest.
Here you can see the tree that had been chopped off and it actually makes it easier to see the river. It would have been hidden and I would have had to go closer, which I was too tired too do. {I have to come back here another day in the early part of the day, and soon!}
I kept moving forward toward the street, but also along the side of the river.
Zooming in, I was able to capture the reflections from the trees on the other side of the river.
This made me park my walker, and sit and enjoy.
And then I moved on, to this spot where, although you can't see what the sign says, I was parking illegally on this part of the parking lot. It said that it was private parking for the Quarry only. And I was not going into the quarry, so I was parking illegally! lol!!!
More beauty to see.
Another reflection of the trees from the other side of the river.
Here is another table and sign. Because of them I kept on moving, but it doesn't even tempt me to do so at this point. It was also closed by the time I got there. After all, this is rural and small town Ontario that I was in.
More river shots.
And then out of nowhere, I saw the ears first, then the whole body. I stopped and sat down, grabbed my camera and started taking photos of the rabbit.
I also saw the moon and it has a greenish look to it. They say it is made of green cheese, lol, and in this shot it almost reminds me of Swiss Cheese, but a bit greener.
Time was getting away on me and when I looked toward the west, I could see that we might just have a beautiful sunset. This was the first shot of the sunset, but I took a bunch more.
Because the sun was setting, I was also finding it hard to get great shots of the river.
I found this spot interesting and noticed that the bucket on the pole was full of trash. It didn't even occur to me to see if there were any cigarette buts or ashes.
From there, I was able to see the bridge that will be in more photos, and closeup.
Another shot of the bridge.
One more shot of the river before I head up to the street level.
As I walked past the rear of the Quarry, I saw my reflection in one of the windows. Every once in a while I see this and use it to capture a selfie.
Also at the rear of the Quarry I also saw a bed of Day Lilies, and they still had some blooms on them. As I was able to get in close to them, I took shots of them and didn't have to zoom in and hope they turned out.
This photo was only taken four minutes after the previous sunset photo. I was closer to the street but it had also gotten darker.
Once I got to King Street and Front, I checked how much time I had till the bus comes back from Elmira, and discovering I had approximately 15 more minutes to capture more of the river and sunset. {When I say "comes back" it is because the bus had just passed me as I was a few yards from King Street, and heading to Elmira where it loops through the town and returns to Waterloo, through St. Jacobs.}
I took a couple of photos around me as I waited and then decided to walk across the bridge and capture a few shots there. Here you can see the GRT sign for the bus I was waiting for.
This is the view across the bridge and toward Elmira.
Flower planters are placed strategically across the bridge and while I was waiting, after I had walked across the bridge and taken some more photos, I came back to the bus stop and a young boy came on his bike and watered the flowers all around the area.
As I was walking along the bridge I saw a hoarse and buggy coming down the hill so I waited till she was still quite a distance off but close enough to get a good shot.
Another photo of some of the flower planters.
The sky was very beautiful as I crossed the river on the bridge. WOW!!!
Downtown St. Jacobs from the far end of the bridge.
One more shot of the sunset and then to head to the bus stop. I was not about to miss the bus. I'd rather wait than miss it.
Another downtown St. Jacobs shot from the bus stop.
When I took this shot, my goal was to capture the motorcycle, but when I downloaded it that night I had to laugh because the yellow car in the background is a golden oldie.
And then my bus was approaching and just as I took the picture, the jeep pulled out of the side street, and there were some men walking toward me too.
Here at the end I am including the photos that I took with my cell phone. The first one is as I was entering the trail just off University Avenue North in Waterloo, Ontario.
I have a similar photo in my collection but I wanted to share this one before I got home. And this one was taken when I was sitting in the shade and resting. I was also wishing I knew how far I had come and still had to go. It was so nice and cool, as well as a relaxing spot to sit and read, meditate, of just rest and listen to the sounds of nature all around me.
One of the people I spoke with me on the trail asked me if I had taken a photo of the "Old Man Tree." This was what she referred to and, yes I took quite a few of it. I've never seen pictures of it or even heard of this one.
This one was taken when it was starting to turn darker out and I just loved the sky colours and also the expanse of river.
This brings me back to home and having edited, pondered which of the 1198 photos that I took that I would share, even after paring out 98 that were either duplicates or blurred so badly that my eyes hurt to look at them; I am just wanting to return, earlier in the day and leaving from St. Jacobs the next time. I may also explore the trails that were not chosen this time and see what I missed.
