FOTCR park features many glacial features, such as kettle lakes and kame hills, some neat geological formations, many different forest and meadow communities and of course, the Credit River. We didn't get a chance to hike the whole park, but what we did see was fantastic! There were so many trails, including a portion of the Bruce Trail (don't worry, I'll have another post on the Bruce Trail later!). Hopefully, we'll get a chance to go back one day and finish the rest of the trails!
First we stumbled upon the Kettle Lake:
This is one of many different glacially formed features throughout Ontario. Kettle lakes are formed when large blocks of ice are buried by glacial outwash from the melting of glaciers. Once these ice blocks melt, a large depression is left behind, filling to become what you see above, a kettle lake! The largest kettle lake is actually located in Ontario, not far from Guelph, in Puslinch (hopefully one day I'll get over there and check it out for myself).
Next we travelled through some meadows and new growth forest, before we came to the main event, the Credit River!
Caledon (and Orangeville) are actually where the headwaters of this beautiful river are located. It flows through Brampton, Mississauga and out into Lake Ontario. The entire river, plus all of its tributary is over 1500km long! Unfortunately, because this river is located near such urbanized areas, there have been some problems with the quality of water, especially closer to Mississauga. Hopefully, continuing restoration projects will help restore the river, so the many species in and around it can continue to flourish.
Speaking of many species, here are just some of what we saw (note: I'm still an amateur at IDing, so if I'm wrong, please, let me know!)
Belted Kingfisher
Bumblebee
Folwer's Toad
Dolls Eyes (White Baneberry)
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
