When I discovered the Cedarville Esker last week, placing
another cache ('Near the Esker') an hour to the north of Guelph, it
reminded me that a small remnant of the Guelph Esker still exists.
It used to run several miles though southwest Guelph; now only
about 150 metres of it can still be seen inside Preservation Park.
The rest has all been mined out for gravel long ago.
Parking is in the small lot beside the sports field on the north
side of Kortright. Cross the road (carefully!) and enter the trail
at the west end of the conservation area, right beside the first
house (not the main entrance further east). Don't take the main
path that goes right along the fence, but take the one that veers
to the left uphill. For the next 180 steps or so, you are walking
along the top of the esker ridge.
An esker is the gravel from an old riverbed that was once inside
a glacier, held in place by walls of ice. When the glacier
eventually vanished, a sinuous ridge of gravel was left behind
across the landscape. You can clearly see the steep sides of this
little remnant esker as you walk along it.
The letterbox cache is off the trail, downslope, hidden in the
roots of a big yellow birch. Count 136 steps from the sidewalk, or
43 backwards if you walk all the way through to come out at the
main trail; look downslope. And watch for muggles, a busy trail at
times.
Yellow birch seeds don't germinate and grow easily under the
leaves on the forest floor; they are far more likely to germinate
successfully in the top of an old stump. Then the tree grows up and
the roots grow down around the stump; when the stump rots away, the
tree is left standing on several 'legs' - this is a great
example.
If you carry on to the main trail again you'll come out to a
clearing behind a large stormwater pond. You can continue south or
turn left to head back to the main part of Preservation Park;
either way there are other letterboxes and caches to be found.
Check the Hanlon Creek trail maps on my blog, Hanlon Creek Journal, Jan. 26, 2010
posting.