Part 4 – Guelph Line to Sixth Line Nassagaweya – 183.4/890km

Part 4 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, October 28, 2023 – 82.6km-105.0km Iroquoia section

We left Toronto at 7:15am and arrived at our starting location around 7:50am, later than our usual start time as the days are getting shorter and the sun isn’t up until about 7:30am now. My partner again drove us out. We started hiking where we left off last time at Guelph Line north of Burlington at 8am.

The weather was absolutely perfect, the best hiking day we’ve had so far. It was mild, bright and sunny. I didn’t realize the extent to which heat, humidity and bugs make hiking 8+ hours a challenge until we did today’s hike. No heat, no humidity, no bugs, not cold, just perfect and it was so enjoyable! In future, I’ll try to plan our hikes between mid-September and mid-November and avoid July and August.

We started hiking along a field with a view of Lake Ontario in the distance, then we popped into the woods for a bit, which was so lovely with all the leaves blanketing the ground, before coming out to 1 Side Road. You walk along the road for a couple of kilometres with a view of Mount Nemo on your left, and then turn left onto Walkers Line. After a couple more kilometres past farms, you’ll come to the lower parking lot of Mount Nemo Conservation Area. We got here around 9:15am and had a snack, then continued on.

Walking through the woods in the fall is the best, the colours, the rustling of the leaves as well as the carpet of leaves underfoot which gives a little more cushion – it’s my favourite hiking season. You start ascending the escarpment, it’s not too bad, it’s a pretty quick ascent, then you get to a little ladder that takes you over the edge and you’re at the top. The trail then follows the edge of the escarpment and is fairly flat, although quite karsty in areas. There are also some magnificent views over the surrounding countryside and, as it was a bright and clear day, we could even see the CN Tower in the distance. Do use caution though by the cliff edge, as people have fallen to their death, someone quite recently too. We noticed a number of new caution signs recently put up. There are also views on the north side towards Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Rattlesnake Point and the Nassagaweya Canyon between them.

Turning back inwards from the escarpment edge, the trail goes through some lovely forest before coming to the Guelph Line parking lot where there is an outhouse, gross but it did have toilet paper and hand sanitizer. We crossed Guelph Line and sat on some big rocks across the road to have lunch around 11:30am.

Starting off again around 11:50am we walked along a little path beside Colling Road, which passes a quarry. After a kilometre or so you’ll turn onto Blind Line and continue for another couple kilometres past farms and houses. At the end of the road, you’ll descent into the Cedar Springs woods. You’ll come to a metal bridge which has a little ladder you have to climb up and down. On the other side you start the ascent up a ridge that then goes around a pond and between private property before you pop out onto Twiss Road.

You’ll walk along the road past houses for a kilometre before turning left onto the very busy Derry Road which has no shoulder and a very narrow space to walk beside the road, so take care here as it’s a couple of kilometre of walking along this road. You’ll eventually come to the turnoff into the Yaremko-Riddley and Smith Natural Area, which takes you through a pretty flat trail through the woods.

You’ll come out of the forest onto Twiss Road again and cross over to go back into the woods on the other side where you have to climb up over a little cliff, so it’s a bit of a scramble but pretty easy. Once at the top, the trail again is fairly flat until you descend the cliff and walk past a stream before coming to some very rocky terrain right before coming out at Guelph Line just above the main entrance to Crawford Lake Conservation Area. This ended our hike for the day at 4pm.

I had booked a B&B that was close by in Campbellville and the host had very kindly offered to pick us up as it was about 3.5km down the road from where we finished our hike. We still walked about another kilometre down to the main entrance of Crawford Lake to meet our host, which was very painful. My planter fasciitis is still going strong, although I did get a new pair of hiking boots as my other pair were now a decade old. I also got some heel liners for plantar fasciitis. I think it was better, still really painful after about 10km of hiking but the pain wasn’t as acute.

We got picked up and got to the B&B named Maranatha Log House around 4:30pm. It is a gorgeous log house, apparently built by the team that had the home improvement show “Timber Kings”. Our room was very comfortable and the whole house smelled of the cedar used to build it.

We quickly changed and then walked literally next door to Thai House restaurant and had some spring rolls, chicken pineapple curry, chicken glass noodles and a lovely cup of tea. After dinner we headed back to the B&B to shower, which was huge and lovely, and then passed out around 9pm.

Sunday, October 29, 2023 – 105.0km Iroquoia section – 2.7km Toronto section

We got up at 6:45am and got our stuff together. Because it was an actual B&B, breakfast was included! Our host had cereal with fresh fruit and English muffins with an assortment of jam for us and had made French toast with apple compote. So delicious! Also a good thing we’d be hiking soon. 🤭

We left around 8:15am, again our host very kindly drove us to our starting location. We started hiking around 8:35am. It was wet and cold out, about 4 degrees Celsius and drizzling. However, we quickly warmed up as the path goes through the woods at Crawford Lake Conservation Area, ascending to the edge of the escarpment, which it then follows for a few kilometres.

Before getting to the escarpment edge, however, there’s a side trail which leads to Crawford Lake and the replica of a 13th-15th century Wendat or Attawandaron village, the archaeological footprint of which was discovered on the site in the 1970s. Crawford Lake is also quite unique as it’s a meromictic lake, meaning that because it’s so deep compared to surface area, it’s bottom layers do not mix with the rest of the lake and so the sediment at the bottom has been relatively undisturbed for over 1000 years, meaning research on the history of the lake can be done. Ancient corn pollen was one of the discoveries in this lake, leading to the conclusion that Indigenous communities had settled in this area over 600 years ago. We opted not to do the side trail as we’d been a couple of times already, and continued onto the escarpment trail.

You get some very good views of both Mount Nemo and Rattlesnake Point. We also heard and saw the turkey vultures that live on the cliffs as well as the 400 year old Eastern White Cedars growing out of the cliffs. We also started hearing gun shots in the distance that continued for a few hours as we walked closer to them. I’m not sure if there’s a shooting range around there or if there’s an area where hunting is allowed but it was a bit disconcerting.

You’ll eventually get to the turn off that will take you to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area which involves a short but easy descent into the Nassagaweya Canyon, which you walk the length of until you cross the stream. We got here around 10:20am, then started our ascent up the other side of the canyon. This isn’t too strenuous as it’s pretty gradual. Once at the top you continue along the edge until the turnoff to Appleby Line which takes you along a flat trail through woods and fields until the road.

You continue walking along the road for a kilometre or so before turning into a path beside the road, which then turns into the forest again. You’re now in Kelso Conservation Area. This is a popular area for mountain biking and they have an extensive network of trails so be aware of any bikes on your path. About a kilometre or so into the Kelso trail there’s an outhouse, picnic table and garbage! We stopped here around 11:40am for lunch. It was getting cooler so we started up again at 12pm.

We were headed towards the trail that skirts around the edge of the escarpment when my mom fell and broke her rib. There was a little boardwalk that was quite slippery as it was wet out and down went my mom landing heavily on her water bottle. Unfortunately it hit the same rib that was already bruised from another water bottle fall earlier in the week. We obviously didn’t know at the time that it was definitely broken but my mom was in a lot of pain but carried on anyway. My mom runs marathons so she has a high tolerance for pain. But take extra care on any boardwalks in wet weather, they become very slippery.

After walking through a lovely woodsy part, you’ll come to the edge of the escarpment, so again take care by the edge. There are some nice viewpoints of Milton, Country Heritage Park (incidentally where the 2016 “Anne of Green Gables” with Martin Sheen was filmed), the 401 and the escarpment rising up the other side of the highway.

You’ll eventually get to a large ledge of exposed rock which was quite busy as the ski hill chairlifts were bringing people up and down the hill to this lookout. Turning back into the forest you’ll continue along gradually descending and pass two large, what I assume are, lime kiln ruins that seem to appear out of nowhere.

At the bottom of the hill you’ll come to the train tracks and follow them past the Glen Eden ski hill chairlifts and West Lodge. The cafe was open as were their washrooms. From here you cross the tracks via a pedestrian bridge and then skirt around the Kelso Visitor Centre and the edge of Kelso Lake before heading through the woods.

You’ll soon pop out at Appleby Line and follow the road which goes under Highway 401. At this point you’ve crossed out of the Iroquoia Section and into the Toronto Section. You’ll then cross the road and head into a lovely pine forest before crossing Campbellville Line, after which there’s a bit of an ascent along a narrow, rocky path into the woods on the other side.

You continue through the woods until you reach a lookout with a view of the Kelso escarpment and the CN Tower in the distance. From here it’s a short descent to Sixth Line, however the path is narrow and very rocky – always right at the end!

We got to Sixth Line and walked up a bit to the gap in the rock on the other side and that’s where we ended today’s hike at 3:30pm as well as this year’s Bruce Trail hikes. My partner arrived a few minutes later to pick us up and get us some well-deserved tea. Until next year Bruce Trail!