Spirit Rock and Corran Ruins

The first stop on our adventure last week was to Spirit Rock in Wiarton. This photo above is before we started hiking. I just wanted to share with you how lovely of day it was, and how blue the waters were! Those islands you see in the distance, on our hike in Purple Valley - a later post - we end up right beside them!

The story of spirit rock is based on legend from the tribes who were in this area first. It is a sad story, but an interesting one. We were not able to see the face from below in the cliffs, as the trees are now quite lush and grown, and it is definitely some place we would visit again.

The view from Spirit rock.

Another view from Spirit Rock - such beautiful water!

These yellow lady-slipper flowers, which are a wild form
of Orchid were all over the forest - so pretty!

"The Spiral Staircase" - which walks you down one of
the cliffs on the trail. 

 At the top of the spiral staircase, completely unrelated to spirit rock, are the Corran Ruins. They are the remaining stone framework from 1881. This mansion was owned by Alexander McNeill, who was a member of parliament and supported Britain. There was a plaque, and I wish I had taken a picture, that also spoke about how there used to be lots of rose bushes around the property, and one - a black rose bush - was cut and transplanted from a bush that Mary, Queen of Scots, slept under before her execution.

Well, that was part of our adventure - last part I will share tomorrow! :)