Hiking on the Sunny Day

Last weekend, I took part in a hiking activity called “Celebrate Spring” held in Don Valley. Don Valley Hills and Dales is a walking route recommended by the Toronto Recreation website and many hiking clubs. Before that day, I knew little about Canadian hiking. I didn't know there were so many walking clubs in Toronto and didn't know Canadian hiking is so organized. The experience of this hike indeed let me feel Canadian enthusiasm and love towards this sport.

The start and end of this hike is Todmodern Mills which is an art gallery now. This building dating from 19th century looks new against the background of green grass and yellow daisy flowers. This hike is the first of many hikes for the season. Every attendee got a white T-shirt from the organizer to paint on. So children were the main players naturally. My son always loves to doodle. Painting on the T-shirt is the first time for him. He was very exciting. All painted T-shirts were laid on the lawn for drying. It can’t be imaged how amazing it is.

The walk was a one-hour journey, starting from 11:00am-12:00pm and led by a experienced guide. We walked north along the Don River. On the way, many bicycle lovers passed by from us rapidly. They were all equipped riding the mountain bicycles. Their bodies
were splashed with mud as they rode over puddles, but they didn’t care about this and still kept going. We all admired their spirits. When the bikers passed, we would yeild to them and let them through, and we would also cheer them on “go, go….”. Another group of people got our admiration were the paddlers. The Don River is said to be a place the paddlers love. Although the river is not too big, it is not easy to paddle the boat in the rushing water. These paddle lovers looked very excited and tried their best to struggle with the river. They also didn’t forget to wave and cheer to express their joy. According to the guide, this place were covered with a glacier which had a thickness of 4 times of CN Tower 8,000,000 years ago. After several hundredthousands of years, the glacier gradually disappeared, and all that was left were two rivers surrounded around two mountains. At the two rivers, only one remains. That is Don River. When we walked on the top of the hills, we could see the CN Tower clearly and noisy cars below the hills. Nature is really full of magic. We can’t see the glacier any more, but we can see more beautiful scenery and the harmony of mankind with nature.

One hour not seems as long as we imagined before. We arrived at the end quickly and started to eat our snacks. We were bathed in the sunshine, smelled the flavour of grass and flowers, and listened to the laughter of children. I have never felt such comfort and ease. Life is so beautiful!