Part 10 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, May 10, 2025 – 52.6km Blue Mountains section-8.4km Beaver Valley section

This was the first BT hike for this year and it didn’t go as planned at all. My mom had torn something in her calf back in March and by the beginning of May it still was not healed, so we made the decision for me to do this hike on my own and when my mom gets back from her trip in July she will do this section of the trail with friends, so we will be able to continue on together for the next part of the hike at the end of August. There were just no available weekends for us to do this together in July or early August.

Luckily my partner was originally going to come up with us and stay the night at the hotel, so I wouldn’t be completely alone and he would be close by during the hike (who does not hike). We left around 6:30am and drove up to the north entrance of the Pretty River Valley Provincial Park on 6th Sideroad. We got there around 8:15am and I started hiking at 8:20am. A little later than I should have, but our starting points are getting further and further away. It was nice and sunny out, a bit cool but warm in the sun – in short perfect hiking weather! I started off along the unimproved road to the end and then headed off into the new trail which skirts Osler Bluff. Some big rocks and karsty bits, but the trilliums were in the full bloom in the forest and it was gorgeous! I even saw several red trilliums!

At 9am, I crossed a dirt road into the Petun Conservation Area, which has a fairly flat trail through the forest. I ended up seeing something that looked like a marten but was a but bigger. Not entirely sure what it was as it scurried away as I got closer. You’ll then descend some rocky bits and pop out onto 2nd Line. Crossing over the road you’ll head back into the forest and end up at the bottom of a little cliff. There was snow still in the crevices here. You have to do a bit of a scramble to get up and over the ledge, but once that’s done it’s a pretty flat trail through the trees.

I came to an unimproved dirt road around 10am and followed it along until it emerged onto 3rd Line, passing some houses and then turning onto the busy New Mountain Road with some magnificent views of Georgian Bay in the distance. You’ll continue along the side of the road for awhile, passing the Castle Glen Estates. At 10:30am I came to a small parking area and followed the trail that led into the woods. It heads downwards to cross a stream and a rushing river a little further on before a steep ascent. It then continued into a bit of a clearing with another little stream to cross. There were lovely marsh marigolds in bloom here. You’ll continue up, crossing a clearing for power lines with a views towards the water before emerging onto 12 Sideroad, which I did around 11:10am.

Crossing the road, you’ll then head over the fence into the Scenic Caves Property, which is closed from November 1 to May 1. You’ll head through a field, up some rocky hill and then the paths are fairly wide and level throughout the property as they’re used for snowshoeing and cross country skiing in winter. You’ll follow along a dirt road skirting farm land and start seeing some houses before exiting the property and turning right onto Scenic Caves Road, which has a lovely view of the water. Shortly after you’ll turn into the trees and end up on a dead end dirt ad which connects with Scenic Caves Road again near the Blue Mountain parking lot. Entering into the parking area on the right, there is a great view of the Blue Mountain ski hill, village and the Bay. There is also a sign marking the halfway point between Tobermory and Niagara (446km each way). There are also several plaques describing the history of the area and Blue Mountain and the remains of Ontario’s first chairlift.

I stopped here and sat on a large rock to have lunch around 12:30pm. I was not making good time, and realized I’d likely not get as far today as I would have liked. I had been very ill about a month ago, not sure with what and I think I was still pretty weak from it, as I didn’t have much energy and was pretty tired. But I just went slowly and did what I could. The most amazing thing was that my plantar fasciitis didn’t bother one bit the entire weekend! That’s the first time in two years!

After having a quick lunch I started off again along the path skirting Scenic Caves Road, and then the parking lot along Swiss Meadows Blvd. You’ll continue along past the Blue Mountain chairlifts, with an amazing view over the Bay along this section. The leaves on the trees were just starting to bud, so I imagine when they’re fully out, it blocks most of the view. You’ll continue down along the side of the mountain through the forest, crossing a stream or two, and then there’s a steep climb up to the top of the ridge again where you’ll pop out into a lovely little subdivision. It is here that the boundary between the Blue Mountain section and the Beaver Valley section is located. I got here around 1:20pm.

You’ll continue along Maple Lane past the subdivision away from the clifftop, and then turn into a path at the end of the road which leads you through a farm field. I saw a deer and two fawns running into the trees as I was approaching the woods at the far side. Once in the woods, you’ll skirt the top of the bluff with views of the water peaking through. You’ll pass a couple more chairlifts before heading into a smaller, uneven trail through the woods. There is a very steep descent here with stairs and a rope handrail. You’ll cross a stream at the bottom of it before again heading back up steeply. Emerging from the trees, you’ll come to a clearing with a wonderful view of the Bay and a lovely bench upon which to rest. I got here around 2:30pm. This spot is at km 3.6 of the Beaver Valley section. I had wanted to originally go to 11.3km, but was fading fast, so told my partner to meet me in a couple of hours at the 8.4km point.

Leaving the lookout, you’ll head steeply down the hill again, across a stream, through a clearing and again back up a very steep hill. There are some lovely rock formations at the top and I saw people walking their dogs, which indicated to me I must now be in the Loree Forest. The paths are relatively flat and wide and skirt the bluff. At one point you’ll come to a clearing with a chairlift belonging to the Georgian Peaks Club which has a lovely viewing platform with benches. I got here around 3:30pm and then slowly made my way through the forest, past a field, again back into the trees, before heading steeply down the hill, passing a lovely stream and again making a steep ascent, which led to 21st Sideroad and the end of today’s hike. My partner picked me up about five minutes later and we drove to the Blue Mountain Resort to check into our hotel.

We ended up staying in the Weider Lodge, which was nice, although the underground parking, which is only available to hotel guests is not included in the price and is an extra $20/day, which seems like a bit of a rip off. This was the first time hiking the BT where my feet were not in agony at the end of the day due to my plantar fasciitis and it was amazing to actually be able to walk around! I went to the convenience store and got some water, then we headed out to Mylar and Loretta’s restaurant in Singhampton about 30 minutes away for dinner. It was very busy, being Mother’s Day weekend and all but we eventually got seated around 7:20pm. I got the French onion soup, which was very good, as well as the schnitzel parmesan. We got back to the hotel around 9pm and I went to sleep shortly after that.

Sunday, May 11, 2025 – 8.4km-33.3km Beaver Valley section

I got up at 5:30am and got ready. I had brought some boiled eggs with me so had those for breakfast. My partner drove me to the starting point and I started hiking around 6:30am. It was a bit cool out but nice and sunny, and it warmed up as the day progressed. You’ll start off heading into the trees on the side of the road and crossing a stream before heading over a style into a lovely field. Passing another style, you’ll head back into the trees, crossing another stream before heading steeply up a hill. At the top is a bench. You’ll continue on beside a field before it turns into an unimproved road, passing some lovely houses before joining up with 18th Sideroad. Here you’ll turn right and continue along the road past farms and houses until the end of the road where you’ll again head into the woods. Exiting the woods, you’ll pass through fields before crossing a stream and again entering the trees. You’ll follow a lovely clear stream with little waterfalls at this point. There is a bench here where I rested to put a band aid on a large blister that had just sprung up on my heel and was very painful. But I’ll take a blister over plantar fasciitis any day!

You’ll continue along through the forest, skirting the top of a waterfall. There wasn’t much water but a lot of the rocks along the ledge had broken away into the gorge. You’ll continue downhill before crossing another lovely stream, making a steep ascent before popping out onto 6th Line. I got here around 8:10am and it continues up steeply before joining the 119, which passes lovely farms and houses with magnificent views over the water. You’ll continue along this road for awhile before popping off into the side and skiting some farm fields. There was a lovely little boardwalk here with some marsh marigolds, and then you’ll enter the lovely woods of the Skeoch Nature Reserve. There were carpets of trilliums and lovely little caves and karsty bits along the side of the trail. You’ll then continue on through a clearing before entering the trees again and walking beside the most lovely river, which has a nice bench overlooking it. Crossing the river a little further on, then end pop out into a farm field which leads to 12th Sideroad. You’ll follow the dirt road past a lovely barn before again heading into the trees which skirt more farm fields. There are number of styles here between the fields you’ll have to climb over, and then head upwards through the woods. There is again a bench at the top a sign indicating that this section of the trail was once the Old Mail Road. Once through the woods, you’ll skirt another field, and then enter another field which has a number of cows grazing at the far end. Climbing over a few more styles, you’ll continue through the front field and emerge onto the busy Hwy 19. I got here around 11am.

Crossing the road, you’ll continue on the other side skirting another field before heading into the woods. The paths here were quite flat and easy to walk along. You’ll eventually emerge into another field which has two benches with lovely views! I give full points to the Beaver Valley section for benches! After a little ways more, you’ll emerge onto Hwy 2. Crossing the road, you’ll go through more farm fields, there were horses and cows here, before heading into the woods again. Eventually you’ll pass a couple more fields before stumbling upon some amazing lookouts from the top of Metcalfe Rock. I hadn’t really encountered anyone else along the trail but this area was relatively busy with hikers and people climbing the cliffside. Making a steep descent down the rocky terrain to the bottom of Metcalfe Rock, you’ll pass the entrance to the Metcalfe Crevice Side Trail. Although only 300m, it looked like a lot of scrambling, and as I was alone, tired with blistered feet, I opted to skip it and return on a later hike to do it justice.

You’ll then continue through the trees before popping out onto 10th Sideroad. I crossed here around 1:15pm and continued on through the field and into the woods on the other side. You’ll skirt the valley before eventually making a very steep descent and crossing Mill Creek on a newly built bridge with lovely benches built into it. I stopped here around 1:45pm to have a quick lunch before continuing on and making a very steep ascent up the other side. Once at the top it levels out and you get some great views of Metcalfe Rock back across the valley. Continuing on, you’ll cross another stream and then skirt a field with a view of 6th Sideroad in the distance before heading again into the woods and crossing a stream above it’s waterfall. Again there’s a steep ascent up the hillside, past some lovely rock formations, at which point you’ve entered the Duncan Crevice Caves Provincial Nature Reserve. I got here around 2:45pm and was getting very tired. My pace was very slow this weekend so I didn’t get as far as I had planned. Instead of going to 39.3km, I decided to stop at 33.3km at the parking lot at the entrance to the Duncan Crevice Caves. I had about 2km left and pushed on. There some lovely lookouts from the top of the escarpment here over the valley and Metcalfe Rock. There are also deep crevices with signs warning not to climb them. You’ll make a bit of a descent before skirting some fields and again heading into the trees before eventually reaching the parking lot. I got here around 3:30pm. There were so many gnats here and along all of the trail today, though I didn’t encounter any yesterday. I quickly changed out of my hiking boots to discover one of my toenails was black and blue and another had gouged a chunk out of one of my little toes and there was blood everywhere. I guess that’s why it had been so painful all day!

We headed home, stopping at a Tim’s in Dundalk to get our first iced cap of the season and then stopping for some burgers at Superburger outside of Shelburne. We got home around 6:30pm. my next BT hike isn’t until the end of August and hopefully my mom will be with me on that one.

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 10 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 9 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, October 5, 2024 – 1.0km-32.5km Blue Mountains section

Due to us not being able to find 4 weekends we’d both be available that weren’t in the height of summer next year to hike the Bruce, we decided to do one extra weekend of hiking this year. So we got up around 5am, my partner drove us to our start at 6am. We got there, just north of the little hamlet of Lavender around 7:30am as the sun was coming up and started our hike around 7:40am. I was apprehensive about this hike as we had an extra 5km to do today leftover from our last hike when my plantar fasciitis was acting up really badly and I couldn’t finish the planned hike.

From the little gravel sideroad the trail goes into the woods immediately and continues along a karsty trail before going through a field of young trees and again entering the woods which at some point becomes the Noisy River Provincial Nature Reserve. The path starts skirting the edge of little crevices and caves. About an hour into the hike we came to a lookout over the countryside. It was a nice, sunny day, not cool, but not hot either. The trail then leaves the exposed escarpment and meanders through the forest with some boardwalks thrown in. Around 8:50am we passed by a nice, clear pond shortly before reaching Nottawasaga Concession 10 South. You’ll cross the road and reenter the forest, which is still part of Noisy River Reserve. We passed over the lovely clear waters of the Noisy River around 9:10am. Continuing through the woods upwards towards Simcoe County Road 9, which we crossed around 9:25am.

You’ll continue down the road for a little bit before popping back into the woods. Some of the trees were changing and were a brilliant orange, but the countryside was still fairly green. You’ll then skirt a meadow before again going into the woods which boarders farm fields. There were some really big trees here. At the far end of the field was a nice bench. You’ll then turn right and continue to skirt another farm field with views of the hills in the distance. This will lead you to the forest again and down some steps, through tall grasses and clearings until you get to Concession 10 again, which we did at 9:55am.

Crossing the road you’ll again pop into the trees following a narrow path through tall grasses in some clearings before emerging into a field with some old stone ruins in the Dunedin Ravine Nature Reserve. Again you’ll walk through tall grasses before going into the forest where you’ll pass by a lovely clear stream before climbing upwards through a cedar forest, then deciduous forest next to fields and finally a house before emerging onto Concession 10 again, which we did around 10:30am.

You’ll continue along the road, which passes farms and fields and then dip down near the stream and curves back up to the intersection with 6/7 Sideroad Nottawasaga. At the south west corner is an old schoolhouse from 1880. You’ll turn west along 6/7 Sideroad and continue uphill for a bit before again turning into the forest. We found lots of caterpillars on the road. You’ll then follow a lovely little boardwalk through a marshy clearing. before continuing through trees and clearings, crossing a little stream at one point and another a little later in a field. You’ll pass farms and fields, entering a forest right before emerging onto Concession 10 again, which we did around 11:15am. You” cross the road and continue through the woods on the other side. There’s a lovely view down the road as you cross. We decided to sit on a large rock by the side of the road to have lunch and to rest my feet which were starting to hurt. Starting off again at 11:35am, you’ll continue through some woods which get a bit karsty, which some crevices and emerge every once and awhile into lovely little clearings. This part of the trail is the Transcarioca friendship trail. At one point you’ll emerge into a grassy field before arriving at a bench in full sun, but with a lovely view over the surrounding countryside. We again made use of the bench as my plantar fasciitis is still going strong.

Continuing on, you’ll pass some trees and clearings before skirting a lovely corn field with nice views down the hill on the other side. You’ll pop out onto the unimproved 9/10 Sideroad before again heading into the trees a little ways down which leads you again out next to some fields and lots of apple trees laden with fruit. You’ll eventually head into the forest which becomes karsty, there’s even a little bridge over one of the crevices. After awhile in the woods, you’ll come out into a meadow which you’ll skirt and then eventually come to a picnic table! There’s a nice view here over the countryside. We arrived here around 1pm. Continuing on, you’ll skirt a farm field before exiting onto Concession 10 again. Here you’ll continue along the road which gives a lovely view of the upcoming Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area you will be hiking in. The road ends at its junction with 12/13 Sideroad, but the trail continues on for a kilometer or so past shrubs and fields before entering into the woods. Here you’ve reached the Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area, which we did around 1:40pm.

There a sign with a trail map where you’ll turn left and continue through the woods, on a much wider trail before exiting into the meadow and then again back into the woods. Again you’ll emerge into a clearing and cross a stream over a nice boardwalk, then you’ll climb a steep hill before again entering the woods. You’ll pass an old snowmobile, moss-covered rocks and then an impressive cliffside before reaching the turnoff to the parking lot. I was really looking forward to a bench to rest my feet, but no such luck, so I sat on a big pile of gravel in the parking lot. There are also a few outhouses, one being large and clean. We got here around 2:45pm and rested for a bit with a snack. This section of the trail was very busy, it being a bright, sunny fall day, a lot of families were out for a hike. We started off again around 3:10pm and continued along the trail which then turns into this lovely level and wide path. You’ll then turn off into the woods along a narrower path and continue to skirt the escarpment, where you’ll see lovely caves and fissures in the rocks. A little ways along is the Lookout Sidetrail. Although I would have loved to have gone there, it’ll have to wait for a separate visit, I hadn’t the energy or ability to add anymore onto our walk for the day. We did see a large family that were throwing branches into the cracks in the escarpment…don’t be that family. It’s a conservation area and so the plants and animals living there shouldn’t be disturbed or killed by having branches thrown on them. You’ll continue along through the woods for awhile before popping out into a clearing. You’ll continue skirting fields for awhile until you get to a lovely field of clover. Here you’ll turn left and continue along the edge of the field. You’ll then come to a dirt path you’ll follow and eventually get to a gate, which we did around around 4:25pm.

This gate is the entrance to the Devil’s Glen Country Club as well as the meeting point between the Bruce Trail and the Ganaraska Trail which end in Port Hope. You’ll continue through the gate along a wide trail through the trees, eventually coming out into a clearing where there were chairlifts stored in the fields. You’ll follow a dirt path which leads you to the top of the very steep ski hill, which you will descent with lovely views before you. At the bottom of the hill you’ll then pop into the woods and follow the Mad River, over a bridge, past the parking lot and again beside the river on the other side before making your ascent up hillside. Here we started to see more people, always a sign that we’re close to the entrance of a park. Here you’ve entered into the Devil’s Glen Provincial Park and will ascent a steep hill and stairs to the top. There’s a very short walk to the viewing platform, which we arrived at around 5:50pm. Lovely views, especially of the ski hill we just descended. Turning back, you’ll make your way past the parking lot and then turn into the woods along the busy road. You’ll continue through the woods skirting a property before emerging into a field and crossing over a style onto Hwy 124. This was our end point for the day, around 6:20pm. It was one of our longer hikes he had done and my feet were done. We walked a little way down the road to the property the trail had skirted the back of, which is Avalon Clearview Studio B&B. It’s a lovely property with great views towards the Devil’s Glen, a little pond and two lovely dogs. It was up for sale though, so I’m not sure how much longer it will be a B&B. We got to our room, which was lovely with an ensuite with a large bathtub. I was in a lot of pain and so our lovely hostess gave me some frankincense to put on my feet, which did to seem to help. After a welcomed bath and some pasta we had brought with us for dinner, we ended up going to sleep around 8:30pm.

Sunday, October 6, 2024 – 32.5km -52.6km Blue Mountains section

We got up around 6:30am and got ready. There was a lovely sunrise we could see through our window. We went up to breakfast around 7am and had lovely homemade granola, pancakes and bacon. We ended up leaving right before 8am and heading down the road to our starting location. It was sunny but very windy out. We started through the forest on the side of the road before climbing up and emerging into a field, which you’ll walk along to the far end and go back into the woods. It’s a bit karsty here. You’ll then emerge into a field, skirting that you’ll exit onto Concession 10 again, which we did at 8:30am. You’ll cross the road where you can get a glimpse of Georgian Bay to the north and continue along the edge of some lovely farm fields before heading into a lovely coniferous forest which then transitions to a deciduous forest and passes by some winter ski trails before emerging into another field. You’ll follow the field to the end and then head back into the woods, there’s an impressive view of the cliff face here where the trail becomes quite karsty as you climb up the talus slope. You’ll emerge at the top beside a chain link fence, the other side of which is a large quarry where you can see the majestic escarpment you’ve been hiking turned to dust. We got here around 9:35am.

At the end of the fence you’ll turn into the woods where there were several lovely ferns and rocky outcrops. You’ll then emerge into a field filled with milkweed that skirts a house before emerging onto the very busy Hwy 91. Crossing the road you’ll come to the turnoff for the Franks Lime Kiln Side Trail. As it was only 190m, we decided to take the side trail. You’ll go steeply downhill before emerging into a clearing with a very well preserved lime kiln enclosed by a fence. The only thing was again no bench. I ended up just sitting on the gravel path to rest my feet. Heading back the way we came, we got to the main trail around 10:20am and continued along beside a field before heading into the forest. Here the was a bit of a reroute, so the new path was a little rockier and narrower, but essential went the same way as the old one along then edge of the escarpment through the woods. We could hear rumblings of thunder in the distance as it turned overcast and the wind picked up.

You’ll then head out into a field with a large tree in the centre and crossing the field enter the wood on the other side again. We came to 26/27 Sideroad around 11am and crossing to the other side entering into the Nottawasaga Lookout Provincial Nature Reserve. There some huge trees along this section with a relatively wide path, with some karsty bits. Right after a very unusually sculpted rock will be the exit to the road, Eagle Crescent. We were hoping for a bench, but no such luck, so sat on a little rock near the entrance to have lunch and got caught in an absolute downpour around 12pm. Nothing much to do but eat quickly and carry on. It tapered off around 12:20pm as we continued through the woods. We passed the side trail for the caves, which we will come back to do another time, and carried on down a steep, rocky and now very slippery path over a creek and then along a very narrow, steep and muddy path. You are now out of the Nature Reserve and are following a road allowance. You’ll emerge onto Osprey-The Blue Mountains Townline, and crossing over will continue along Blue Mountains-Clearview Townline which climbs up giving a good view over the countryside before ending near a house. The path continues along, steeply down a hill before emerging again as a road a little ways later, passing houses. Here we found a swarm of mosquitos and felt it was rather muggy in this area. There is a massive hill ahead which you get the feeling you are going to have to climb. You are indeed looking at the Pretty River Valley Provincial Park. A ways down the road, near the bridge over the Pretty River you’ll turn off into the trees and continue along beside the very pretty river. You’ll then emerge onto pretty River Road and following it around the bend come to the parking lot. Again no benches and my feet were done for the day, but we still had 8km left.

We started hiking in the Pretty River Valley Provincial Park around 2pm and you will almost immediately start going very steeply uphill through the woods. We actually passed quite a few people hiking this section as it seems to be a popular spot for hikers and trail runners. After continuously climbing uphill, you’ll then descent through a cedar forest to the turnoff to another parking area. Turning right, you’ll come to the Pretty River and continue along beside it, ascending steadily and steeply in sections as it tumbles down over the rocks beside you. You’ll cross the river three times before finally leveling out a bit at the top of the hill. Continuing on through the woods, you’ll start to see some of the lookout points which give you a glimpse of Georgian Bay to the left and the escarpment to the right. You’ll then turn in towards the forest, away from the escarpment edge and continue along some karsty trail for a kilometer or so, this part felt very long, before emerging onto an unimproved section of the 6th Sideroad. Here we ended our hike for the weekend and for this year around 4:15pm. However, we still had to walk up about 1km to the end of the drivable section of this road where my partner was waiting with the car as well as some dinner he had made us. We left around 4:30pm and drove to the nearest Tim’s for the washroom and some tea. We got home around 6pm. Until next year!

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 9 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 8 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, September 21, 2024 – 20.5km-37.4km Dufferin Hi-Lands section

We got up early, around 5:30am, got ready and picked up my partner who then drove us to the start just outside of Boyne Valley Provincial Park. It was still dark out when we left as the days are getting shorter and was raining heavily en route, however had stopped by the time we got to our starting location. We started our hike at 7:40am and even though it was the end of September was pretty hot and humid out, even at this time of the morning. It was threatening rain all weekend so I ended up packing my fairly heavy but good raincoat, much to my regret as I never actually needed it and it added too much weight to my pack. That on top of the humidity and being tired in body and spirit made this weekend a really challenging hike for me, so much so that I even cut it short by 5km.

Starting off from 1st Line, you’ll make you’re way into the woods and cross the Boyne River before making a pretty steep ascent. Once at the top you’ll pop out into a field, and then again head back into the forest before coming out into another field where the Mulmur Lookout Side Trail is. As it was only 85m we took it only discover there’s not much of a lookout as the sumac has grown fairly big but there is a lovely bench at the end of the trail.

You’ll continue walking along the path that goes through trees and clearings before again crossing Boyne Creek and ascending gradually again. You’ll pass an old pickup truck decomposing on the side of the trail shortly before coming out onto 8 Sideroad, along which you’ll walk for a bit before again turning into the woods, which we did around 8:40am.

Despite the closeness of the humidity in place of the usual crisp fall temperature, it was a lovely autumnal walk through fields of asters and golden rod and forests with leaves starting to carpet the floor. Again, you’ll walk through a succession of woods and clearings, there was an amazing display of mushrooms in one tree in particular in this section. You’ll then cross over another little creek before encountering the Bibbulmun Track-BT Friendship Trail section. We got here around 9:15am and there is a lovely bench at this point. You’ll walk through the woods for awhile before ascending and then immediately descending a narrow and steep switchback before again crossing a stream. Shortly after you’ll cross another stream before making the ascent through a forest of coniferous trees.

You’ll eventually come out into a lovely meadow with wildflowers, butterflies and rolling hills. It was very hot, sunny and humid at this point. You continue along for a little longer through woods and clearings until you reach the parking lot off 1st Line East, which has a porta potty and 3 benches (!), which we got to at 10:30am. We stopped to rest here and saw a little toad and caterpillar friend. I was getting tired and my feet were starting to hurt at this point and despite this being one of our shortest hikes, it seemed really tough for me.

You’ll then exit onto the road and continue down a little ways before again turning into the woods at Rock Hill. This section was much rockier than the previous sections from this morning, as the name would imply, and the rocks were wet and slippery from the morning rain. You’ll come to a little limestone cliff, an outcropping of the escarpment which we hadn’t seen in a while. You’ll go up to the top and continue along beside limestone caves and crevices. Leaving the rocks behind you’ll continue on through the trees a little further before coming out onto 10 Sideroad Mulmur, a paved road going past corn and soy fields. After about 1km you’ll turn right onto Centre Road and see the old, boarded up church of Whitfield. We stopped here on the steps for lunch around 11:20am. The sun was beating down and it was so hot!

We left around 11:35am and continued along the dirt road past fields, farm houses and then through the woods. After a little more than 1km you’ll turn left into a narrower and rougher dirt road that descends past secluded houses. Take care of any cars coming along as the road is narrow and rough. Eventually you’ll hear running water and discover a streams has sprung up beside you and is accompanying you down along the road. After what seemed a very long time, we came to a sign indicating we were in the little hamlet of Kilgorie, which offered a bench. It was around 12:30pm and my feet were getting very sore and tired from my plantar fasciitis, but we only had about 2.5km left on our hike.

Following the paved River Road, you’ll come to a bridge over the Pine River, the trail turns into the woods just before the bridge and you’ll follow the river along until you reach the old powerhouse ruins. At this point in the hike my energy completely left me, I was drained and I found the rest of the hike very difficult. I crashed despite having recently had a snack and water and it was all I could do to finish the day, I just felt so tired which made it so difficult to push through the foot pain.

From the ruins you’ll turn away from the river and ascend a hill before again descending to the river and then exiting at River Road, which you’ll cross and go back into the woods, following the river again, which has some lovely rapids at this section. Climbing the hill you’ll soon catch a glimpse of water below. This is the pine River Fishing Area. You’ll make a steep descent, follow along the perimeter of the water for a bit before again turning back into the woods and making a steep ascent. At the top is the Bell Lookout Side Trail, which was only 200 m but I had no energy left and so regretfully passed up a lookout. Continuing through the woods, you’ll eventually come out onto a dirt road, which is the unimproved 15th Sideroad, by which I take it very few cars go on the road if at all, but by the mud tracks it seems that many ATVs and dirt bikes do, so take care as you walk along. This junction was the end of our hike for the day at 37.4km around 1:50pm, however, we still had to walk to our B&B.

We had booked a room at the Pine River Log Home B&B, and although it was only 2.2km extra walking from our end point, this section was so hard for me. I really did not think I’d make it. You continue along 15th Sideroad, turning left away from the trail. It has several steep ascents and descents before eventually meeting up with 2 Line West which heads north, however, there is a rough dirt track that leads south and eventually links up with the southern drivable portion of said road. Again many steeps ups and downs with rough, muddy terrain, but we eventually got to the B&B around 2:45pm and got our room, showered, ate the hard boiled eggs and bars we had brought for dinner and generally just passed out from exhaustion. We did have some very welcomed cups of tea and made friends with Hillary the cat and Toby the dog, both very friendly hosts. We fell asleep around 9:30pm, but not before a little spider tried to snuggle into bed with me.

Sunday, September 22, 2024 – 37.4km Dufferin Hi-Lands section – 1.0km Blue Mountains section

We woke up around 5:30am and got ready. We got a wonderful breakfast at 6:30am with toast, eggs, bacon and fruit and cereal. We left just after 7am and did the 2.2km back along the rough and muddy road and got back to our starting point at 7:45am and continued along 15th Sideroad for little bit before popping into the woods. The trail soon comes out again where 15th meets Prince of Wales Road. You’ll turn left onto the road and follow it along for about 1km before again turning into the woods. The path goes uphill along a narrow route before widening out a bit and crossing a lovely little stream. You’ll ascend again where you’ll come out into a little clearing with a bit of a view before again heading down through the trees and popping out onto to Prince of Wales Road again. We got here about 8:40am and continued along the road again for about 2km up and down hills and past farms and barns before turning off onto a rougher dirt road that goes steeply uphill, which is 20 Sideroad.

Continuing along for about 1km you’ll then turn off into the woods. You’ll continue along and eventually make a bit of a steep climb before the trees open up onto a lovely farm field. It was bright and sunny, but again too hot and humid. Some of the fields have cows in them and this section, which is someone’s private property has several little ladders, some two in a row, you have to climb over to get through the electric fences. There must have 8 or so along this section. At the top of the field is a lovely bench with a gorgeous lookout back over the hills. You’ll head again into the woods for a little bit before entering another field and walking through tall grass, which was wet from the dew, take care for ticks here as there’s really no avoiding brushing past the grass for a couple of kilometers.

Once again you’ll exit onto Prince of Wales Road, then cross to the other side and continue again through the woods. We got here around 10:40am. You’ll continue steeply downhill, over some rocks before entering a lovely clearing filled with sunshine and wildflowers. Entering the woods again, you’ll continue for a bit, crossing a stream shortly before exiting onto Centre Road. Turning left you’ll go up a bit before again turning into the trees. At this point my feet were really starting to hurt and I was very tired and had no energy much like the previous day. I was getting a bit concerned as we still had about 15km left on our planned route for the day. I really wish there were more benches along the trail as when my feet start getting sore, I really need to rest them for a bit or else I tired out pretty quickly.

Continuing along you’ll go through a small clearing before making a steep descent to Black Creek, over which you’ll cross. This creek was full of rushing clear water that looked so inviting! I did end up resting a bit on the boardwalk before continuing along the path, that makes a more gradual ascent along a wider path, which then skirts a field before crossing another small stream. You’ll continue along through the woods at the edge of farm fields, we could hear cows somewhere off in the distance, with a few steep ascents before coming out onto one of the loveliest spots so far. This little clearing gives a lovely view of the fields and hills and also provides a bench! We stopped here around 11:50am and had lunch. The sun was beating down and it was so hot and humid, so disappointing as the end of September is usually so refreshingly cool and crisp.

We started up again around 12:10pm, after brushing off a hitchhiking spider and caterpillar from my bag and continued on through the woods along the edge of the fields until coming out onto Dufferin Road 21 around 12:20pm. Take care crossing the road here as it was busy with curves. Entering the farm field on the other side you’ll make your way to the back of the field and enter the woods. Lots of apple trees around here with apples all over the ground. You’ll come out onto 1st Line EHS Mulmur and continue along the dirt road up and down hills, past fields and forests for about 3km. At one point the main trail heads into the woods running along the road and steeply ascends before eventually meeting up with the road again. Take care along this section as there are many dirt bikes and ATVs that use it.

You’ll then head off into the trees along the other side, descending steeply to cross a stream. There’s a very nice, clean log after the bridge on which to sit, which I had to. I was feeling very tired and sore and know that 8+km more was not going to happen for me today. I made the decision to cut our hike short by 5km, something I haven’t had to do up until now, but I was too tired mentally and physically to push through the foot pain like I normally can. It was about 1:40pm at this point and we now only had 3.5km left but it truly felt interminable.

Continuing along past the stream, you’ll climb back up onto the road and then eventually cross 30 Sideroad and continue again along 1st Line for about 1km past corn fields and go down and up a big hill right before getting to Mulmur-Nottawasaga Townline, which we reached around 2:15pm. You’ll turn left and continue along the somewhat busy road, down and up another huge hill with lovely views of the fields and hills. At the top is the 1880 Lavender Cemetery and a little ways further is the little hamlet of Lavender. We reached Centre Road/Lavender Hill Road in the centre of the hamlet around 2:40pm. This is boundary between the Dufferin Hi-Lands section and the Blue Mountains section. We’ve now completed 5 out of the 9 sections of the trail!

Continuing past the boundary you’ll then turn down the next street, S Nottawasaga Concession 8, which goes past some lovely homes before reaching a dead end. You’ll continue on through the woods and underbrush for a bit before exiting onto another little road. Crossing the road, the trail continues through the woods before entering the Noisy River Provincial Park. We stopped here at the road around 3pm, which is 1.0km of the Blue Mountains section. Originally I had wanted to finish the Noisy River section and end the hike at the exit of the park but looking at the terrain on the map, that section doesn’t look fun when you’re already mentally and physically done with a hike, so it’ll be added onto next time.

Gratefully changing into my flip flops, we waited for my partner, who picked us up around 3:15pm and drove us to the nearest Timmies to get some tea and Timbits. We arrived home around 5:15pm. This was supposed to be our last hike of the year but scheduling conflicts next year made it difficult to find the time for us to do four weekends, so we added one of next year’s hikes onto this year, which is in a couple of weeks. I really hope I feel more rested and better prepared, as next time, with the extra 5km, the hike will be just over 30km. I also really hope that we have proper fall weather for the next hike! Feeling very anxious for the next section.

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 8 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 7 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, June 8, 2024 – 43.4km-68.6km Caledon Hills section

We left home at 6:15am and my partner drove us up to our starting point at 7th Line just north of Mono. it was bright and sunny, but a bit cool, and no humidity, a perfect hiking day! We started around 7:15am and walk along 7th Line for a bit before heading into the woods. The path is a mixture of forest and lovely meadow skirting trees. After a kilometer and a half you’ll cross 5 Sideroad and again head into the woods. Today’s hike was terrain-wise probably the most challenging so far on the trail. Lots of ups and downs, ups and downs, however, the saving grace is that the Caledon Hills section is not very karsty.

We started off through some lovely coniferous woods before heading into a maple forest that seems to be a working sugar bush, lots of the modern blue pipes were running between the trees. Around 8:45am we popped out onto Airport Road which gives a good view to the north of the hills. It is busy so take care in crossing. On the other side you’ll climb up and through a field before heading down into the woods again.

The path here is narrow with lots of poison ivy flanking the trail. You’ll skirt someone’s home before heading back up to the top of a ridge and then down again. You’ll come to a dirt road which is 5th Line EHS. Crossing over you go back into the woods and continue your ups and downs. You’ll descend beside a lovely stream which follows you down, over which you’ll eventually cross before heading back up the other side. We got to 4th Line EHS around 10:30am.

Again the next section is much of the same, up and down, lovely trees and streams with some boardwalks thrown in. When you get to 3rd Line EHS, which we did around 11:20am, there is again a lovely view to the north of the hills. If you continue up the road you’ll reach Hockley Valley Resort. Although this was where we were staying for the night we still had 14km to walk. This sections was a bit difficult logistically as there aren’t a lot of accommodation options near the trail, it’s mainly farmland an forest, Hockley Valley Resort being the exception. However, where the trail passes closest to the hotel would be too short of a hike for the day, so we ended up continuing on through the Hockley Valley Resort’s ski hill, past the chair lifts and down the hills until you get to the golf course, beside which you’ll walk. It became very blustery again, all day the branches in the woods were making disconcerting creaking noises, but it was so refreshing and lovely walking through a windy meadow.

Once back into the woods, you’ll continue in a fairly straight path. When we came to the Vineyard View Side Trail, we decided to take it as it was only 110m. What is not on the sign is that that is all very steeply uphill and when you reach the ‘lookout’, it’s an underwhelming view of part of the Adamo Estate vineyard. Disappointing. Once back on the main trail, you’ll then come out of the woods and skirt a meadow for about 1km before reaching 2nd Line EHS, along which you’ll walk for a little over 1km before crossing the busy Hockley Road. We hadn’t seen any benches lately, my hope was there’d be one at the top of that disappointing lookout side trail, despite the numerous (for the BT) benches this morning, but spied a nice new boardwalk a little ways along a side trail across the road. We sat there to have lunch around 12:30pm.

We only stopped for about 10 minutes before pushing on again along 2nd Line, which crosses the Nottawasaga River, south branch. On the other side of Hockley Road, you’ll enter the Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve, which was quite busy with day hikers, presumably from nearby Orangeville. The paths were nice and wide here. You’ll also pass the ruins of a car along the side of the trail as well as several lovely stream crossings. Eventually you’ll come out of the woods and skirt some farmers’ fields, passing horses and barns before emerging onto Dunby Road. Which we got to around 3:20pm.

My plantar fasciitis, although much improved for our first two BT hikes this year, was acting up again on this hike and my right foot was pretty sore by this point. The skies were also threatening rain. We walked along Dunby Road to its intersection with 3rd Line EHS, where we ended our hike for the day around 3:30pm. However, that was not the end of hiking for us today as we still had to get back to Hockley Valley Resort. We followed 3rd Line south, which has a great view of the resort before going around a big bend and descending steeply down into the little hamlet of Glen Cross after passing the parking lot for the Hockley Valley Nature Reserve. We crossed the north branch of the Nottawasaga River before popping out onto busy Hockley Road. After crossing that we could see the resort in the distance, however, not before it started raining. After an additional hour and 4km of hiking we damply checked into our hotel.

The resort is pretty nice, although for the price I was expecting something a bit more awe inspiring. Our room was nice and looked out onto the pool, however, with the rain came cooler temperatures and no one was out swimming. I had booked us a table at the onsite restaurant called Cabin, as there really wasn’t anything close by, and so we quickly showered and changed and went down to dinner for 6pm. We both ended up having pollo Milanese, which was very good! We shared a slice of rhubarb tart, which was, for $12, very disappointing. We went back up to our room to change and then went to the indoor pool around 7:30pm. It felt really nice to swim around and take the weight off my feet. The sauna, although really hot, was also a welcomed relief for our muscles. We went to sleep in some very comfortable beds around 9pm.

Sunday, June 9, 2024 – 68.6km Caledon Hills section to 20.5km Dufferin Hi-Land Section

We got up at 5:30am, it had been raining hard over night but it was nice and sunny when we awoke. No restaurants were open and room service didn’t start until 7am, so we had asked the hotel if a boxed breakfast could be prepared for us, which we picked up from the front desk at 6am. It had two hard boiled eggs, a few little pastries, which were very fresh and delicious, a pear and a yoghurt. After eating and checking out, we started off for our starting point around 7am. It was much warmer then yesterday and not as windy. We had an extra 4km and a massive hill to climb before even starting for the day, which was about 7:50am when we reached Dunby Road and 3rd Line.

You’ll continue north along 3rd Line past lovely farm fields and houses, I think we saw an indigo bunting sitting on a wire too, before heading into the trees. It is an immediate steep, very rocky and slippery steep climb uphill, passing some caves and massive boulders. After the exerting but short climb, you continue along the ridge, which has an excellent view once you get to the top. You’ll then skirt the edge of the hill and descend through a coniferous forest before coming out upon a lovely meadow. You then climb back up into the woods before again meandering through a lovely meadow which deposits you onto Hwy 8.

Crossing the road, you’ll enter Mono Cliffs Provincial Park. The trail skirts a lovely little lake that made me feel as if I was in Algonquin Park, before climbing up the escarpment past huge boulders. Again, once at the top, its fairly flat as it ambles along. After a couple of kilometers you’ll get to the lookout. I was surprised that we were the only ones there as this park and especially the lookout is usually very busy. You’ll continue past the lookout towards McCarston’s Lake trail, passing by the trail that leads through the park’s most popular and dramatic landscape, the narrow trail between the cliffs. I’d been before and so we decided to skip the detour.

Once on the lake trail, there’s a nice view of the lake by the shore, but afterwards you lose sight of it as you enter deeper into the woods. Around 11am we came to the trail’s junction with the Link trial, which is wider as horses are allowed on that trail and goes in a fairly straight line until it comes to a dirt path that leads up to 1st Line EHS. When we got to this path we saw a number of people whizzing by on their bikes, it seems there was an 80km bike race that was going through that part of the trail, We ended up having to run quickly from one point to the next before squishing over to the side of the narrow path before the next wave of bikers came along. At the start of the 1st Line we could spread out more and not be worried about being run over.

At this point it was starting to cloud over and looked like rain again. We continued along 1st Line past lovely farms and then again into the woods. Quickly emerging into a meadow, it started pouring and did not let up for a good hour. We waded through long, wet grass nearly the whole time, meaning by boots, socks and pants were soon soaked through. The trail then went into the woods again with several slippery boardwalks before finally emerging onto 30 Sideroad.

By this time we were very cold, wet and my foot was really hurting. But we still had 7km to go. You’ll walk along 30 Sideroad for a bit before turning right onto Hurontario and walking up it past a lovely farm to its end at Hwy 89. This stretch seemed interminable. Usually road walking seems quick, but my foots was so sore and I was wet and uncomfortable. My mom had forgotten her gloves, not thinking she’d need them, but her hands were so cold, she put an extra pair of socks on them as mitts.

Once at Hwy 89, which is very busy, take care crossing to the other side where you’ll reach a steep ascent and enter into Boyne Valley Provincial Park. A relatively wide though muddy path descends an ATV road. The park is lovely with several bridges crossing little streams. Then you start the ascent. However, it seemed that we had missed a turn off, so exhausted and sore, had to descent the steep hill to find where we had missed the blazes. Again…if you don’t see any blazes, just stop and go back. We ended up wasting 20 minutes going up and down the wrong way. About halfway up the hill there’s a sharp turn to the left, over a little bridge, which we had missed and just kept on straight.

Now on the correct path, we again made our ascent although not as steeply through some lovely wood. At the top is a field and a little mound. This is Murphy’s Pinnacle and you reach it by the short side trail that ascends it. I thought we had missed it and retraced our steps only to discover that the trail is around the back of the hill. Tired and sore as I was, I could not miss a lookout and this is definitely one not to be missed. The sun also came out while we were there, however, my one complaint is there is no bench at the top! I was really looking forward to sitting and resting my foot for a bit before our final few kilometers but no such luck.

At 3:34pm we descended Murphy’s Pinnacle and continued along the trail through the woods, past the turn off where we would originally come out had we not discovered our error in taking the wrong route, and then hell for the last kilometer, we must have gone up and down, up and down, very steeply at least three times in 1km, very pretty, but very unwelcomed at the end of a hike when one is tired and in pain. We finally got to 1st Line around 4:40pm where my dad was waiting with the car. My partner couldn’t come get us this time as he had to catch a flight for work.

We drove to the little crossroads of Primrose and went to the very popular Superburger for dinner. It did not disappoint, the burger was super as was their coffee and fries. We left around 5:30pm and got home around 6:30pm. Now only one more BT hike for this year, but it’s not until September, so hopefully my foots gets better by then.

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 7 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 6 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, May 25, 2024 – 0.0km-22.3km Caledon Hills section

We left Toronto around 6:20AM, again my partner drove my mom and I to our starting location at the entrance to the Cheltenham Badlands on Creditview Road. It was grey and cloudy and in the low 20s, so didn’t need a jacket, but the mosquitos were already out in force! We quickly sprayed ourselves with bug spray before starting our hike around 7AM.

You’ll walk through a narrow, sometimes boardwalked, trail through the woods that skirt the badlands. At one point the soil does turn the distinctive badlands red, but for the most part the trail bypasses any view points of the exposed and eroded Queenston shale 450 million year old ancient sea bed. You’ll come out into the parking lot, with the option of walking over to the boardwalk lookout onto the badlands, however, we’d been before and wanted to press on.

From the parking lot you’ll come out at Olde Baseline Road, along which you’ll walk before turning left onto Chinguacousy Road which turns into a dead end, however, there is some lovely exposed badlands along the west side of this road. At the end of the road you’ll pop into the woods along a narrow path that leads downwards and then you’ll walk along a relatively straight and level dirt (no karsty rocks here!) path for about 2km. The area is a bit marshy and we noticed several slugs along the trail, but also several tiny red spotted newts, so be careful where you step!

You’ll eventually pop out onto the gravel Grange Sideroad which is part of The Grange Equestrian Neighbourhood so watch out for any equine friends sharing the road! At this juncture there was a sign indicating that the main trail had changed due to construction on Dominion Street, however, the new course would bypass the Devil’s Pulpit, so we decided to take the blue side path at this point instead of the rerouted main trail as the side path led to the Devil’s Pulpit.

If you choose to do that, you’ll continue along The Grange Sideroad for about 1.5km before turning right onto the dead end of Creditview Road. Here again you’ll follow a relatively straight and level dirt path into the forest, passing a lot of red columbine at this time of year, until you reach the edge of the cliff. Here, there is a nice view over the valley. There are wooden steps and a rope to help you navigate down the Devil’s Pulpit at the bottom of which is a steep and rocky descent down into the valley. We saw some yellow lady’s slippers in bloom along this part of the trail. Not far along is a side trail that leads to the Ring Kiln, the impressive ruins of the Hoffman lime kiln. As we had seen the ruins before, we decided to continue down the valley, however, if you haven’t seen them, it’s well worth the short detour.

You’ll cross over some train tracks before again walking down some steep steps set into the hillside before popping out onto a dead end residential road that leads you to the Forks of the Credit Road which runs beside the Credit River, where we could see people fishing. By this point it was about 9:30am and it started raining, which never let up despite the forecast calling for an hour or so of drizzle. I hadn’t brought a rain jacket for that reason, as I didn’t want to carry extra items that wouldn’t see much use…always be prepared for anything and ignore weather forecasts!

At this point we had to decide if we could continue along the original trail or backtrack along the road to meet up with the alternative route, but the road was letting local traffic in and, as it was a weekend, there were no construction crews around, so we decided to follow the road which in short order brings you to a lovely residential area before dead ending in front of the Dominion Street entrance to the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park.

From here you’ll continue along a nice wide path alongside the river. Here we stopped for a snack, although there were no benches around, which would have been nice. A little further on, where the paths intersect is an outhouse, which wasn’t too bad. However, as we continued on up the hill and through the woods, the skies opened and the rain came down. Heavily. And did not stop for a good hour or two. And this is when we got lost.

Despite the signs at the junction of paths at the top of the hill, we must of mistook them in the rain and instead of turning right to continue along the Bruce Trail, we continued straight. Of course, we no longer saw any blazes, but pressed on until the next junction. It was pouring by this point and very difficult to use the map on our phones as our hands and the screen was wet and the paper map didn’t have the other provincial park trails marked on it, so we ended up pressing on a bit further, mostly out of pure desperation to find some tree cover to shelter us from the rain a bit. However, when in doubt, just retrace your steps, we ended up wasting an hour on this soggy detour and eventually came to the Trail again, at which point it stopped pouring, though kept lightly raining for the rest of the hike.

You’ll continue along a narrow path through the woods, passing the park boundary and eventually coming to Puckering Lane. At its intersection with McLaren Road we spotted a yellow school bus with a number of hikers stopped for lunch. Crossing the road, you’ll continue along a path into the woods. Although the rain had let up a bit, the mosquitos were now out in force again. Around 12:30pm we ate lunch while continuing to hike as there was no where to sit, everything was wet and the mosquitos were awful. You’ll climb a steep hill which then leads to a clearing that skirts an old water pump. There’s a pond which has a nice bench and a little free library beside it, but it was still raining, so we kept on. The path then narrows again and goes through some woodsy area before popping out at the Escarpment Sideroad which leads you past a few farm houses before entering a tunnel that crosses under the very busy Hurontario Street.

On the other side you’ll again continue along the road for a bit before popping into the woods again. This then opens up into a lovely meadow. However, the path is quite overgrown with tall grasses, horrifying in both the prospect of ticks and in the reality of the ongoing rain. My boots, socks and pants were completed soaked within a few minutes of wading through the damp grass and so I had to finish the last 3km of the hike with wet, squishy socks.

You’ll come out onto the road again and this time you’ll stay on it, passing fields and farm houses. We ended the hike at the intersection of Escarpment Road and Horseshoe Hill Road around 2:30pm. I couldn’t wait for my cousin to pick us up and drive the half hour back to her place before changing into dry clothes, so a mailbox provided a changing screen. It was such a relief to get those wet socks and boots off! I always make sure to bring a pair of flip flops to change into at the end.

There are a few big rocks on the corner that we sat on while waiting for my cousin who very kindly came to pick us up around 3pm. It was about a 30 minute drive back to her place in Georgetown where we gratefully had a warm shower. Her sister (also my cousin) and her three young children were also there for a visit and so it was quite a full house and we ordered in pizza from ‘Joe’s’, which was very good! We ended up going to sleep around 9:30pm as we were exhausted.

Sunday, May 26, 2024 – 22.3km-43.4km Caledon Hills section

The next morning we got up around 6:15am and had breakfast, leaving around 7am. Again my cousin generously drove up to our start point for the day. It was very hazy and hot out but not raining. We started hiking around 7:50am, continuing on along Escarpment Sideroad, before popping into the woods which follows a narrow path before coming out onto St. Andrew’s Road. Following St. Andrew’s you’ll pass the 1853 St. Andrew’s Stone Church, the stones of which are locally quarried limestone, after which you’ll come to a farm, through whose fields the trail passes. The trail weaves through a few more field edges before entering the woods (filled with mosquitos!) Make sure you have bug spray if hiking between May and October and reapply it occasionally otherwise its just insufferable!

You’ll again pop out onto Escarpment Sideroad, walking along for a bit before again venturing into the woods and walking beside a stream for a bit before again regaining the road along which you’ll continue until you turn left onto Airport Road. This is a busy road so take care. You’ll also pass the Wat Lao Veluwanaram Buddhist temple before turning right onto Finnerty Sideroad. Again, you’re mostly following the road, dipping slightly into the woods for a bit before exiting at Innis Lake Road. You’ll turn left and continue along until the dead end. It was about 10:30am at this point and the road sections of today’s hike were mostly done, the rest being through the forest, so we reapplied bug spray and heading into the woods.

The path continue from the road in a fairly straight line with evidence of it also being used by horses, so it’s fairly wide and level, which is quite nice. After a couple of kilometers you’ll reach the Glen Haffy Conservation Area sign and climb a small hill before embarking upon lovely, wide, pine needle covered paths. I did not miss the karsty trails along this portion of the hike! Again we spotted many slugs and some red spotted newts along this section. You’ll make an easy descent to the Dingle, a lovely stream you’ll step stone across before making a steep ascent ack up the other side. At the top you’ll come to the Bruce Trail’s junction with the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail.

The Oak Ridges Moraine is a hilly ridge created by an ice sheet during the last ice age that stretches 160km east to west from the Trent River to the Niagara Escarpment, and yes, you can hike it in its entirety! I actually bought the trail guidebook as soon as I got home and know what our next big hiking adventure will be!

From this juncture you continue through the woods along a fairly straight path before crossing Coolihans Sideroad, the other side of which is still Glen Haffy CA. You’ll start in the woods, then come out into a large open field with picnic tables and then head back into the forest along a nice wide path. You’ll continue on for about 3km through the woods, occasionally coming out into some lovely pine tree lined clearings. There were lots of wildflowers and little blue butterflies. The sun was shining and it was hot. But not raining! You’ll make a steep descent down to Hwy 9, which is a very busy and noisy road but there’s a guardrail which provides some seating. It was here were stopped and had a noisy lunch around 12:30pm.

We carried on along the road which then come into the town of Mono Mills at the intersection with Airport Road, which has a gas station, a Tim’s and a Starbucks clustered around. So we took the opportunity to use the facilities at the Starbucks before heading across the road and back the way we came, only this time along a narrow path running along the side of the hill behind the road which leads into a valley. There are a number of steep descents and ascents as you cross a few streams and I was hot and tired. You’ll pass a little pond before making the last steep ascent up to a lookout over the Humber River source, where there is a bench (!) then skirt a large farm property before reaching 7th Line. This was the end of our hike for today, which we reached around 2:30pm. I gratefully could see my partner walking up the road from the 7th Line parking lot with water and sandwiches. We stopped at the Tim’s to get tea and iced coffee and we got back home around 4pm.

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 6 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 5 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, April 27, 2024 – 2.7km-26.5km Toronto section

We left Toronto around 6:30am and arrived at our starting location around 7:20am. It was gray and misty out, but the rain had stopped by the time we got to the start, although that would not last. Overall it was a very soggy hike. We again had been driven to the start of our weekend hike by my partner and we started the first BT hike of this year around 7:35am.

You’ll immediately pop into the woods from the road and follow a narrow, but relatively flat, although at times karsty, path that follows the edge of the escarpment. There aren’t many view points, but there are a few along the way. Almost immediately when starting this section, there’s a side trail that takes you to a lookout of an old quarry, now filled with water that is part of the still operational Lafarge quarry. As the side trail was only a couple hundred meters out and back, we decided to see the view.

It started raining again, and pretty hard too, so we got our backpack rain covers out, but by the end of the day we were both pretty soggy, and the contents of my backpack were as well, including my clothes. Pro tip: put all your rain gear on before the deluge starts. My ‘rain jacket’ was also more suited to a light drizzle and so I got pretty wet almost right away on the hike, making it cold and uncomfortable. However, there were hardly any bugs at this time of year, it wasn’t hot or cold, and so I’ll take a bit of rain, which came on and off all hike.

You’ll get to a bridge that you can actually see from the 401 driving west, which leads you over the truck entrance to the operational quarry, which gives a nice view into the quarry as well as the surrounding countryside. Again, once on the other side you continue along the narrow trail through the woods. One thing that I got really excited about were the number of trilliums starting to bloom! I love trilliums mostly because they’re pretty elusive, blooming for only a short time, especially the red trilliums, of which we saw plenty on this hike!

Eventually you’ll come to a dead end road which you cross and pop back into the forest, into the Speyside Resource Management Area. Again the narrow trail continues to be a bit karsty in areas, and now due to the rain, a bit muddy. Some sections have boardwalks but take care as they become very slippery in the rain! We passed a large hiking group, but other than that, no one else was really on the trail.

You’ll then come out onto 15 Sideroad and walk along the road crossing Hwy 25, at which there are traffic lights, before popping back into the woods again. The trail is much the same only we found this section to be much muddier as it’s a bit swampy. We did see some lovely yellow marsh marigolds in the streams though. Again, always do these hikes with proper hiking boots, sometimes there’s nothing else to do but walk through the muck given how narrow the trail is. Also be mindful of creating alternate paths around the muddy parts, as it may harm the flora. This section had two interesting points of interest, the first being a row of logs just absolutely covered in mushrooms and the second being the largest grouping of red trilliums I’ve ever seen.

We got to Fourth Line around 12:30pm and quickly ate lunch as we were wet and resting made the cold worse. There’s what seems to be a scrap yard here beside the entrance to the woods and there were chickens roaming about and we could hear dogs barking and some kind of loud machinery. But there was a little concrete block that provided a nice seat, so we took advantage of it for our lunch stop. Once you cross Fourth Line, you head into a very narrow row of trees and scrub between two farm fields and continue along in this way for awhile before emerging at Fifth Line.

Here you’ll see a lovely old stone house on the opposite side of the road. You continue up the road a bit before popping again into the woods, which is now part of Limehouse Conservation Area. You’ll follow along the top of the escarpment before heading down a couple of ladders into a cave and going through the Hole in the Wall. This part of pretty cool, we also had the entire place to ourselves, as this conservation area is pretty popular and gets quite crowded. You’ll notice there are now ropes corralling you through the marked trail to deter people of causing damage to the fragile rock formations. Once through the cave, you’ll come to Black Creek, again with a fenced in bridge corralling you across the stream and many signs telling the more adventurous, but maybe not so thoughtful, to not climb onto the old and fragile stone arch that spans the creek beside the bridge that is part of the ruins that you can see on the opposite side of the creek. Up the short hill you’ll find more ruins, in the form of a lime kiln. Shortly after the ruins, you’ll pop out into the village of Limehouse on 22 Sideroad.

Before you cross over the rail tracks, take a peek at the lovely old stone memorial hall, built in 1876, which also has a coffee shop, although it was closed when we walked by. Right after the bridge you’ll turn left into a small residential street with some lovely old houses lining it before coming out onto Fifth Line again. You’ll then pop back into the woods at the side of the road and then climb up and over the escarpment, and again go through trees skirting farmers fields before descending into a forest and then again popping out onto Fifth Line.

After walking down the road a kilometer or so, you’ll climb across a fence and again walk the edge of fields before going into the woods. These woods are very marshy and have a lot of lovely boardwalks, but again take care as they become very slippery when wet. You’ll then come out onto Sixth Line. This is where we finished our day’s hike around 3:50pm. My cousin lives in nearby Georgetown and very kindly picked us up and let us stay overnight with her and her family.

After showering and changing, into somewhat damp clothes, we ended up taking my cousin, her husband, their children and her sister (also my cousin), who was able to pop by, out for dinner at the Copper Kettle Pub in Glen Williams. It looks like the lovely old building was one time a general store. I had the Shepherd’s Pie, which was pretty good. Glen Williams is a lovely little village, and I will have to come back to explore more of the lovely old preserved buildings. Back at my cousins, we finished the day with some tea and lovely conversation before falling asleep around 10pm.

Sunday, April 28, 2024 – 26.5km-50.3km Toronto section

We got up around 6am and got ready. Had some breakfast at my cousin’s and then got the our starting point for the day around 7:30am. It was bright and sunny out and a bit humid, probably around 20 degrees Celsius, however there were menacing clouds in the west, and it would again turn out to be a soggy hike.

You’ll walk along the road of Sixth Line for a kilometer or so before turning right onto Hwy 7, before heading into the woods. Again the trail is narrow, a bit muddy, with some boardwalks, however, we soon had one of our coolest animal encounters on the BT to date, not that we’ve had many. We could hear a scratching noise in the trees above us that seemed too slow for a squirrel or chipmunk, and then saw a huge porcupine slowly making his way up the trunk of the tree to find a nice branch upon which to nap. By the time I got my camera out, he was hidden among the branches so I only have my phone pictures, but it was awesome to be able to see our little porcupine friend in the wild going about his day.

Fairly soon after our animal encounter we came to Trafalgar Road. You cross the road and again head into the forest on the other side. This area again was marshy and had a lot of boardwalks, mud and rocks. Eventually you’ll cross 27 Sideroad and enter Silver Creek Conservation Area on the opposite side. Here the trail is nice and wide, flat with few rocks. We saw a little garter snake sunning himself, so take care where you step. You’ll then cross Eighth Line and continue through Silver Creek Conservation Area. This section was the muddiest yet as it follows just underneath the top of the escarpment and so is crossed numerous times by small streams running down into the valley below. Eventually, you’ll get to the bottom of the valley and cross over lovely Snows Creek before ascending the hill on the opposite side, which leads to a bench right before the road, Fallbrook Trail, which you cross and again continue through Silver Creek.

In this section you’ll find a lookout over the valley, but the coolest thing are the turkey vultures perched pretty much at eye level in the trees and circling around overhead. This section was also quite karsty and and then descends again into a valley before reaching the parking lot. It was about 11:45am and there were some logs upon which to sit, so we decided to stop for lunch, at which point the skies opened and torrents of rain poured forth. We again got absolutely soaked, however, we had earlier when the skies began to darken put our rain gear on ourselves and our backpacks. The heavy rain didn’t last long, but came on and off for pretty much for the rest of the hike.

The parking lot is at Tenth Line which you follow before popping into Terra Cotta Conversation Area. You’ll cross a river and then climb up to the trail that runs along the top of the hill through the forest for a bit. Again the heavy rain started so I don’t have many pictures from this section but the trail was nice and wide with few rocks. At one point there’s a fence with a wooden step ladder leading you over it which marks the end of Terra Cotta Conservation Area, however, the trail and scenery remain much the same. You can hear the river flowing quickly at the bottom of the valley to your left. At Winston Churchill Blvd. you again cross back into Terra Cotta Conservation Area. There was a nice big rock near the road on which to rest. My plantar fasciitis, although not gone, is considerably better. My feet never really started hurting like they did last year until the end, and then I think it was more just regular foot pain from walking 8.5 hours with a heavy backpack on two days in a row.

Again the trail goes through the forest, however switches at one point to a nice coniferous forest before again going back into the muddier deciduous woods. You’ll eventually come out onto Heritage Drive, upon which you walk a bit before crossing over to pop back into the woods on the other side. However, I noticed a nice concrete block on the other side of the road, to have a nice rest before the last leg of our hike as my legs were getting pretty tired by this point. So we stopped, sat and had a snack, we also took our raingear off as it was getting a bit sunny. However, a dark blue pickup truck drove up the hill and past us. A few moments later the same truck was driving back towards us from the other direction. This road is deserted, there aren’t really any houses nearby, so for any women doing this hike, be extra vigilant. The truck stopped in front of us and the 50ish man in a plaid shirt and baseball cap asked my mom and me if we were parked around here. I said ‘no’ and then he replied ‘That’s good.’ and drove on before pulling over at the bottom of the hill and stopping. That was enough for us, we grabbed our gear and ran into the woods. The whole encounter was weird and unsettling. I’m not sure why he needed to ask us that, or why he drove by twice and then stopped at the bottom of the hill. But we were scared enough not to hang around and find out. Not all snakes are poisonous, but some are.

The rest of the hike was kind of ruined as were we pretty scared. I called my partner to let him know what had happened so if we weren’t at the pick up location at least he’d have some clue. My mom was worried he’d be waiting for us at the exit of this forest track on the other road, so that was disconcerting and caused much anxiety in this very mucky section of the hike. We also kept looking behind us to see if maybe he had followed us and didn’t dare stop in case he had. Unfortunately, this is the reality of just trying to be a women in the world and doing your own thing. It could have been nothing, although the encounter was very strange and creepy, but again not all snakes are poisonous, but some are and it only takes one poisonous snake to do you harm. All we could think of for this section of the hike was what did he want, why did he do that? Why ask us if we were parked around there? If we had said ‘yes’ would be have said something along the lines that its illegal and offer to drive us to our vehicle to move it? For real or for an excuse to get us in his truck? Also, is he not aware how much that scenario resembles the start of a horror movie, why do that?

Luckily when we came out onto the dead end road of Boston Mills, there was no pick up truck and there were houses, and people and cars driving along Mississauga Road, so our anxiety was immediately lifted. But so frustrating and annoying that someone’s small action, whether meant in malice or not, can have such a big impact on others. I’m very anxious for our next section of our BT hike, which goes along roads a good chunk of the time. Although scary, I did have to laugh a bit when I thought of the question making its rounds on social media for women of would you rather meet a man or a bear in the woods? Although there aren’t bears this far south in Ontario, I guess we would definitely choose the bear over a man, seeing how quickly we ran into those woods.

Anyway, you continue along Boston Mills Road, across Mississauga Road, past some houses and then turn left onto Creditview Road. At the start of the trail into Cheltenham Badlands Conservation Area, the Toronto section ends and the Caledon Hills section begins. This is where we ended our hike for the weekend. My partner drove past right before we got to the finish and so we didn’t have to wait along the side of the road at all. We then stopped at Tim’s for the washroom and got some tea. My partner had brought us homemade sandwiches and we got back home around 5pm.

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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!

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 4 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

Part 3 – Keddy Access Trail to Guelph Line – 165.7/890km

Part 3 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, September 16, 2023 – 34.6km-58.2km Iroquoia section

We left Toronto at 6:30am and arrived at our starting location around 7:20am. My partner again drove us out. We started hiking where we left off last time at the Keddy Access trail in Hamilton at 7:30am.

It was a lovely day, bright and sunny but not too hot, humid or cool, it was perfect. We also didn’t need to use any bug spray as almost all of the mosquitos were gone for the season. You start by climbing up Hamilton Mountain beside the Claremont Access road before heading into the trees at the top beside a very impressive example of the escarpment rock face.

You continue through the woods along the escarpment, passing the Dundurn stairs and the Chedoke falls before coming to the Chedoke stairs, which you descend to the Chedoke Golf Club club house, there are washrooms located inside. From here you continue along the wide paved Chedoke Radial Trail, which passes Mountainview waterfall. Again, hardly any water flowing. You continue along a bit more, passing through the escarpment rock walls on both sides of the path at one point before passing a stone wall, labelled as the Rifle Range stone wall on Google maps. Shortly after you’ll come to a lookout and then pass Princess falls, which did actually have flowing water!

You’ll enter the woods, passing Scenic Falls, one of my favourite Hamilton waterfalls, it was completely dry! After going through the woods some more beside Highway 403, you’ll pop out into an open field in Iroquois Heights Conservation Area, before heading over top of the highway.

You’re now in Ancaster, and continue along a quiet residential road before heading back into the woods. You eventually reach one of the best and most accessible Hamilton waterfalls, Tiffany Falls. Here there’s a short side trail that takes you to the falls. I’d recommend going to see the falls. Even though we’d seen the falls several times before, the side trail is short enough that it wouldn’t add much time, so we went to see them. Although not as full as they usually are, it was a proper waterfall. There are also benches along this trail, which is where we stopped for lunch around 11:30am and a much needed rest for my feet. I seem to be able to last 3 hours or around 10km before my planter fasciitis becomes really painful. This usually means I end up hiking for 15km or 5 hours in a lot of pain, which also really slows our pace.

Leaving Tiffany Falls you walk through the woods parallel to Wilson St before arriving at Sherman Falls. Again, it’s a very short side trail to the falls and these were some of the fullest falls we’ve seen all summer. The falls are on private property but the owners have allowed access via the marked trail to the falls so be sure to follow the signs and stay on the marked path. You’ll then continue through the woods to Canterbury Falls, again this one was only a trickle. You’re now in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area and there’s a noticeable difference in the trail quality. They’re a lot wider, well groomed, with few rocks. This is because these trails are not only for hiking and biking but are equestrian trails as well. If you do pass a horse, hikers must yield to the horse, bikes yield to hikers and horses.

You’ll follow along the Heritage Trail before linking up to the Main Loop Trail, which goes past the Hermitage. We arrived here at 1pm and rested a bit with a snack as there are several benches here. There are actually a lot of benches located throughout the entire Dundas Valley Conservation Area! The Hermitage are ruins of the wealthy Leith family’s 1855 summer estate that burned down in 1934. The Gatehouse, near the parking lot houses artifacts from the estate and also offers a Haunted Walk around the Hermitage in October.

Leaving the Hermitage, you’ll walk through Carolinian forest, likely passing a horse or two before arriving at the Dundas Valley Trail Centre housed in a Victorian train station. A bit of trivia for any Anne fans, the photo on the promo poster for the 1980s Sullivan Entertainment Anne of Green Gables mini series has Anne sitting at this train station and not the one used in filming which is located in Westfield Heritage Village.

Inside the Trail Centre is a washroom and tables and chairs if you want to stop for lunch here or a rest. Continuing along the McCormack Trail, you’ll go through forest and meadow before crossing Governors Road and heading back into the forest beside the picturesque Valley Farm red barn. There’s a forest pond along the trail before you reach the train tracks. You can’t see them but you’ll hear them if a train goes by. Along this section were a number of old apple trees which were laden with fruit. This part of the trail must have been an orchard at one point before becoming overgrown.

You’ll eventually pop out at the Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club. I found a concrete slab in the parking lot to sit on as I was really suffering at this point. But we were so close to the end of our day’s hike as we were now in Dundas. It’s a lovely town with very nice houses and quiet residential streets. The trail winds through these streets before coming to St. Augustine’s Parish at the corner of Sydenham and Melville streets at km 58.2. This was the end of our day’s hike at 4pm. And there was a bench right there!

Unfortunate for my feet our walking was not done for the day. We still had about 2km more to get to our Airbnb. If you’ve never been to Dundas before I’d recommend taking a detour to the downtown along Hwy 8, some very lovely buildings and restaurants! However, our mission was to get food and then get to our accommodations. En route was a Subway and a Tim’s. We stopped at the Subway to eat and got tea for the road. After resting for awhile I thought my feet could take a bit of a detour, so we stopped at Canal Park beside the old 1837 Desjardins Canal, which connected Dundas to Lake Ontario. It ceased shipping operations in 1876 with the coming of the railway.

We finally reached our Airbnb around 5:30pm. It was in a quiet residential area under Dundas Peak and was very clean and cosy. They even left us some snacks and Bubly sparkling water! I put ointment on my inflamed feet and fell asleep around 9:30pm. I was in a lot of pain and was apprehensive about our hike the next day.

Sunday, September 17, 2023 – 58.2km-82.6km Iroquoia section

We got up at 5:15am and got our stuff together, leaving the place around 6:15am. It was still dark outside as we walked to the Tim’s for some breakfast wraps and then back to the start of our day’s hike at km 58.2. We started at 7am, having already hiked 2km to get there, which normally wouldn’t be an issue, however I woke up with the sharp pain still in my right foot and was very unsure if I would be able to complete today’s intended walk.

Immediately you start walking up the hill from Dundas to the top of the escarpment. The sun was rising at this point and was gorgeous! You walk beside the road for a bit before dropping down into the woods on a path parallel to the road. You end up a little past the Sydenham Lookout, which you’ll want to double back for. It’s only 100 or so meters, and well worth the view over Hamilton and the lake.

Heading back along the road, you’ll turn down a residential street at the end of which is the entrance to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) Rock Chapel area. The RBG has a number of formal gardens and natural areas around Burlington Heights and is well worth a visit, my favourite being the Lilac Dell at the end of May!

The path goes through the woods with a couple of lookout spots before coming out on Rock Chapel Road which leads you to Borer’s Falls. You’ll skirt the field next to the falls before heading back into the Borer’s Falls Conservation Area woods.

After crossing Valley Road you head back into the RBG’s Berry Tract for a bit before continuing along in the woods for awhile. You’ll eventually descend some stairs to the Hwy 6 underpass. We got here around 9:30am and I was pretty much done. There was a guardrail beside the underpass on which I rested my feet a bit but I was not sure I’d be able to go much farther today. On the other side of the road are some stone ruins. I’m not sure what the structure was but there’s a fire pit and bench inside so perhaps someone is using it for shelter or it’s a local hangout? You’ll then come to Sheppard Quarry where there’s a pond and it’s directly behind a Walmart if you wanted to venture out and have a rest there. But if not, the trail continues through Clappison Woods. There are nice wide trails here and we encountered a lot more people as it’s close to the town of Waterdown. The path leads you across some train tracts and then to Snake Road.

You continue through the woods until you get to the Grindstone Creek bridge, which has built in benches. My feet were really bad at this point and all I wanted to do was get to Smokey Hollow Waterfall. Waterdown downtown was right next to it so I wanted to go to a cafe and rest asap!

The section from the bridge to Smokey Hollow Waterfalls goes along Grindstone Creek and is gorgeous! However, there are a lot of ups and downs and roots and rocks and I wasn’t able to really enjoy this section of the trail. We finally got to the falls and sat on one of the benches for about half an hour and had lunch.

With planter fasciitis, the bottom of the foot where the fascia is gets inflamed and so you can imagine the pain of putting pressure on something that’s inflamed, it’s an awful kind of pain. My mom said I looked like I was really suffering and that maybe we should stop here. We still had about 10km left of our planned hike and we only had one more weekend left to hike the BT planned for this year. After resting a bit, I felt I could do maybe another 5km and then call it quits. So at 12:30pm, we set off again.

After going through a field and residential area you’ll come to the woods again. At this point you’ve now entered Halton Region and the path here was wide and had wood chips on it! It was lovely! You walk for a ways through Waterdown Woods and will eventually get to Kerncliff Park where there’s a nice view of Burlington and the lake. You skirt a meadow and then come out onto busy Dundas Street. Crossing this, you head back into the woods before coming to Cedar Springs Road. This was where we had planned to stop but I had been sitting down to rest my feet whenever I could and felt I could finish off the 3.5km to our intended destination. So we continued along.

You go into a residential area and then into the woods at the end of the street before crossing a lovely meadow beside Fisher’s Pond. There were a whole lunch of monarch butterflies here and a lovely little lookout spot with benches. The last 2km is through the woods and then you pop out onto Guelph Line at km 82.6. We got there around 3:40pm, it was really slow going for me due to the pain but I was pretty happy I was able to finish the hike as intended, although I maybe shouldn’t have pushed myself as I’m sure I’m making the plantar fasciitis worse. My partner picked us up at 4pm and we got some well deserved tea. He had also cooked us some ribs, bok choy and sweet pepper soup for dinner.

Until next time! (I hope, I’m working on my stretching exercises, so I hope that improves things! )

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Part 2 – Mountainview Conservation Area to Keddy Access Trail – 117.9/890km

Part 2 was a weekend hike.

Saturday, July 22, 2023 – 73.5km Niagara section – 11.9km Iroquoia section

We left Toronto at 6am and arrived at our starting location around 7:15am. Again my partner very kindly drove us out. We started hiking where we had left off last time at Mountainview Conservation Area around 7:20am. It was a bright, sunny day, hot and a bit humid but the majority of today’s hike was through wooded areas so it wasn’t too bad.

After walking through Mountainview Conservation Area, you pop out onto a road. Walking past vineyards and farms, you’ll turn right onto Thirty Road and then head back into the woods near Thirty Mike Creek Falls. There was actually flowing water in these falls, not a lot but it was an actual waterfall!

Continuing along the little path through the forest, you’ll eventually pop out at another road briefly before heading back into the trees. You’ll cross a few streams, all were dry when we crossed them, but the berries were out and there were a whole bunch of mushrooms everywhere. We saw deer tracks at one point but didn’t actually see any.

You’ll cross another road and then make a steep descent down the ridge to a residential area, which is in Grimsby. If you want to stop and get some food or find washrooms, this is the best spot as the downtown is just a couple of streets over from the trail at this point. If not, you’ll follow a dead end road that leads to a bridge over Forty Mile Creek. This is the boundary between the Niagara Club section and the Iroquoia Club! Our first club section completed! The Niagara club is about 83km. This means we can also order our Niagara Club End to End badges now.

You’ll cross the bridge and find a lovely red stone house, the trail goes to the left of this house and into the wood behind the barn. There’s a sign welcoming you to the Iroquoia Club section. Now that you’ve climbed down the ridge you have to climb back up. At the top of the steep climb is the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area. There are a couple benches(!) here as well as a few great lookout spots. It’s amazing looking back along the Escarpment and seeing how far you’ve walked! There is an outhouse by the parking lot but I don’t think it’s ever been cleaned, it was one of the grossest things I’ve ever seen, you’d be better off going in the bush.

Exiting the conservation area, you’ll walk along Ridge Road West past fields and houses. The shoulders are narrow so make sure to walk facing oncoming traffic. After a couple kilometres, you’ll turn right onto Woolverton Road and then pop back into the trees at Woolverton Conservation Area. There are a couple great views of Grimsby along this section as well but by this time my planter fasciitis was really hurting, I was tired and the mosquitos were relentless no matter how much bug spray we kept putting on.

You’ll cross Fifty Road after a few kilometres and go back into the woods. There was a little wooden platform over a dried up stream at the entrance. I had to rest here a bit for my foot. The last 3km of our day’s hike was awful as I was in so much pain and so tired, but we finally made it to our stopping point at 11.9km (Iroquois Club – the km starts at 0 again at each club’s section) at McNeilly Road near Vinemount around 3:10pm.

I had noticed that quite close to where we ended for the day was a restaurant I had heard was good and had been wanting to try. So we walked another 1km to Memphis Fire Barbeque and had some pulled pork and brisket for dinner. Their mac n’ cheese was so creamy and good and I absolutely love me some corn bread!

After dinner we got an Uber to our hotel, a Quality Inn located in the new development of Grimsby-on-the-Lake. There’s a nice trail along the waterfront with a little beach where people were swimming and SUP’ing. The hotel was good, it even had a pool which I hadn’t realized otherwise I would have brought a swimsuit.

Sunday, July 23, 2023 – 11.9km-34.6km Iroquoia section

The hotel had a complimentary breakfast which opened at 7am, so we had that. It was alright, eggs did not taste real, I’m not sure what they actually were. I tried to get an Uber to take us back to our starting point for the day, which was almost unsuccessful as it was 7:30am on a Sunday in Grimsby, but we managed to get one.

We started hiking at 7:40am and immediately could feel the humidity, it was disgusting. Also the mosquitos were relentless, despite constantly spraying ourselves with bug spray. To be honest, this day was the most difficult hike of my life. My planter fasciitis, now on both feet, started hurting pretty soon into the hike and was excruciating, that in itself was bad enough but the humidity, the mosquitos and not being as well rested as I should have been all combined to make today really, really tough for me. I was definitely questioning life choices on today’s hike.

You start off going through the woods for about 7km, crossing Dewitt Road about halfway through. The trail wasn’t too bad, not too rocky and pretty level. You’ll then pop out at a train track, which I believe is live so take care when crossing. New Mountain Road runs under the tracks. You’ll then pop back into the trees on the other side of the tracks and again continue through the woods.

You’ll come to some very steep stairs leading down to a creek. This is the bottom of the Devil’s Punchbowl. the trail skirts the stream and starts climbing up the other side. If you’ve never seen the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls before, I’d recommend a detour following the stream. You’ll reach the Lower Falls and if you continue the Upper Falls, the much more impressive of the two.

We’d seen the falls before so just continued along the trail, which winds through more forest before going under Centennial Parkway beside the train tracks again. You turn back into the woods and have a few steep climbs to take you into Felker’s Falls Conservation Area. The path becomes much wider and smoother here. There was actually water flowing in Felker’s Falls, the second waterfall of our journey that wasn’t dry! You’ll see patches of dirt near the edge showing where people have stood to get a better view of the falls, however the trees and roots holding the ground together are jutting precariously out over the edge. Again remember the cliffs are very soft limestone so take care when trying to get a good view.

You pass over Felker’s Creek and come to the parking lot. There’s a playground with benches and picnic tables here, which we used to have our lunch around 11am. My foot was in desperate need of a rest as well so really happy to see benches! This area is right next to a subdivision and if you walk about a kilometre down Paramount Drive you’ll find Heritage Hill Shopping Centre with some restaurants if you’d like a food stop or bathroom break. I didn’t want to add 2km to our hike as at this point (only halfway through our hike for the day) I was pretty much already done.

Starting again around 11:30am, we passed over to the other side of the falls. No great views here due to the foliage, but it might be better in the winter when the leaves are gone. The trail through this conservation area is really nice – level, smooth and wide. You’ll then come out onto a paved bike path before heading back into the woods.

You’ll come to what I’m assuming is a no-longer used section of Mt Albion Road as there were no cars, but lots of bikes as it’s a steep descent and I’m sure really fun on a bike. This road runs parallel to Red Hill Valley Parkway and will lead you under the highway and into King’s Forest.

Following the path through the woods, you’ll have the option to follow a side trail to Albion Falls and Buttermilk Falls. Again, if you’ve never seen them, I’d recommend taking the side trail, however we’d been before so just followed the main trail to Red Hill Creek. Crossing over the creek you’ll start climbing up the other side and continue along through the woods for awhile.

You’re now on Hamilton Mountain and there are several paths leading into the surrounding suburbs or stairs leading up to Mountain Brow Blvd. This part was the worst for me, I was in so much pain, overheated from the humidity, absolutely done with the mosquitos and very, very cranky. There’s luckily a bench at Uli’s Stairs where I rested my foot.

After a bit more walking through the forest, you’ll come to the Kenilworth Stairs. No climbing, you just walk over them to the other side and into the trees again. This next section was the worst part of the trail for me so far. The trail is very narrow, almost disappearing in places and goes through overgrown plants, lots of mosquitos and there’s a bunch of unstable rocks on the path. I was already tired, in pain and cranky and this awful trail only made it worse. You come up to the Escarpment Rail Trail twice, the first time you just cross it to the other side and back along the awful path. The second time is a real treat as you actually get to walk along this paved, wide and level path for 2.5km!

You then reach the Wentworth Stairs, much climbing required. Lots of Hamiltonians use these stairs in their exercise routines. When we got there, one guy was running up and down the steps blaring the theme song from Rocky. It helped inspire me to push on to the finish.

You’ll cross Sherman Access road and continue into the trees again. Not as bad as the forest right before it, you’ll soon pop out at Jolley Cut and cross the Arkledun Avenue bridge where you’ll get a fantastic view of downtown Hamilton, the lake and the Burlington bridge in the distance. We stopped our hike at the turn off to the Keddy Access Trail at 34.6km around 3:30pm. While waiting to get picked up by my partner I continued down the street to St. Joseph’s Park, site of the now demolished Arkledun Mansion. Until our next hike!

The post Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End – Part 2 appeared first on The Wandering Kat.

A bit of background

This past weekend was the start of our Bruce Trail End to End adventure. If you’ve not heard of it, the Bruce Trail is a hiking trail that follows the Niagara Escarpment from Queenston Heights to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada, coming in at around 890km in length.

There are several ways to tackle the trail, and if you’re doing the trail End to End, that is from Queenston to Tobermory or vice versa, then it will take on average 30+ days to hike. The record is I believe 12 days, which is insane, and of course if you hike under 20km a day, it’ll take longer. Some people hike straight through in one shot, needing of course at least a month off from work or school in order to do so, some do it in weekend chunks, or some tackle it in individual day hikes. Depending on how often you do the next section, it can take years to finish.

The trail is divided into nine sections or ‘clubs’, who are responsible for the maintenance of the trail through their section. Each club offers end to end badges for hiking from one end of the section to the other, in addition to the Bruce Trail End to End badge for hiking the trail all the way through.

Our Trail Plan

Even though I grew up in Ontario I only heard about the Bruce Trail about 8 years ago. My mom and I hiked the Camino de Santiago 800km across the north of Spain in 2015 and had heard from other Ontarians along The Way that they had practiced for the Camino along the Bruce Trail. This peaked my interest and my mom and I decided to hike the Bruce Trail at some point. We’ll it’s been 8 years and my mom’s turning 70 this year so I figured we’d better start.

Back in 2015, I had wanted to do the Bruce Trail straight through like we did the Camino (33 days hiking straight, no rest days!!), but not only would I not be able to get the time off to do so, I don’t think I physically and mentally could at this point. In my experience hiking a bit of the BT, the terrain is a bit more challenging, it’s about 100km longer and the logistics are a nightmare (more on that later)!

So, I decided we should tackle it in weekend chunks, 2-3 days at a time on the trail, a few weekends per summer, meaning it’ll take us a few years to finish. I bought the official guidebook to see how best to break it into parts. Now, I am no camper, I like to have a proper washroom at the end of a long day of hiking, however, given that this is Ontario and after leaving Hamilton, rural and northern Ontario, logistics require more research and planning. Some people on the Camino will just ‘wing it’, walk until they’re tired and then find a place to stay the night. For the most part, especially since the revival in popularity of the medieval pilgrimage route in the 1990s, this is completely feasible. The only problem is everything might be full up if it’s the high season and you’ll need to walk to the next town to find something. But along the Camino are hotels and ‘albergue’ (pilgrim hostels) as well as restaurants and cafes for your meals. The towns may be small but they have what you’ll need for the day or night. And if you’re too tired, they have taxis and buses as well as luggage/backpack ferrying services, so you can send your luggage on to the next town if you can’t carry it anymore. Rural Ontario not so much.

So to get back to not being a camper, which is how most people I believe spend nights on the trail while hiking it for a few or many days at a time, I broke it into chunks where we could find non-camping accommodation. To be honest, it’s not like the camping accommodation is plentiful either, and there are many parts of the trail where it is prohibited, so the BT requires a lot more advance research and planning than the Camino in my experience. And so, onto our hiking adventure…

Part 1 – Southern Terminus Cairn to Mountainview Conservation Area – 73.5/890km

As this was the start to our hiking the BT, I figured we should get a good chunk of it under our belts and decided to make it a 3 day weekend hike.

Friday, June 9, 2023 – 0.0km-26.8km Niagara section

We packed our hiking backpacks with clothing, gear and snacks for the three days we’d be on the trail. Starting off from Toronto at 6am, we were lucky enough to be driven to our starting point by my partner. We arrived at Queenston Heights Park around 7:15am, took the required pictures with the Southern terminus cairn and started walking around 7:30am.

It was a bit overcast and in the low 20s (Celsius) and started raining a bit at one point, which was actually quite refreshing. The sun came out a bit in the afternoon, but for the most part the weather was pleasant.

The trail starts through the Queenston Heights Park and links up with the Laura Secord Heritage Trail. You then walk down a somewhat busy road to another forested area, walking parallel to the train tracks.

You’ll pass over the QEW highway on a pedestrian bridge and then come to the haunted ‘Screaming Tunnel’ which takes you under the above mentioned railway tracks. The early 1900s limestone drainage tunnel is said to be haunted by the screams of a girl burnt to death in the tunnel, with differing levels of gristliness in versions of the story as to how she became alight.

After walking along a quiet road of farms and vineyards, you’ll come to Woodend Conservation Area, with one picnic table. I’d suggest stopping to rest and/or eat lunch here as I found a dearth of benches along the trail and the increasing threat of ticks makes me wary of sitting in the grass/woods.

You’ll see some of the cliff face of the escarpment on the western end of the trail through this area, but for the most part there aren’t many good views. I’ve heard the BT called a green tunnel and indeed it is. You’re walking mostly through a mix of deciduous and coniferous forests in a karst landscape, so expect lots of rocks and roots along the trail. The karst topography is due to the escarpment you’re walking along, which is mainly limestone, a soluble carbonate rock in which cracks, crevices, caves and potholes are easily formed. Although the trail goes along the top of an escarpment or cliff for most of the way, there are trees and shrubs blocking the view. There are several lookout areas along the trail but for the most part you’re looking at trees. If ‘forest bathing’ isn’t your thing, then this trail might not be for you.

You then follow the trail from Woodend through the Royal Niagara Golf Club to the Third Welland Canal (in operation from 1881-1932). You’ll follow the trail between the golf course and the canal before coming to a busy road along which you’ll cross the currently-active 4th Welland Canal, which is a shipping canal that links Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. From here you’ll follow the 4th canal to a wooded area and then pop out into a residential area before coming to a major road with fast food chains and a mall along it. Good place to stop for food or washrooms.

You’ll then turn into another residential area, steadily climbing until you get to a forested area belonging to Brock University. This is where we ended our first day of hiking at 26.8km.

There are a few hotels in the area, but the closest and cheapest (still not cheap) was the 4 Points hotel just south of the Brock University campus, which also has a Tim’s, McDonalds and Subway close by. We ended our hike around 3:30pm and got to our hotel around 4pm. By this point I was exhausted and very sore. I had developed planter fasciitis about 6 months prior to our BT adventure and my foot was so sore by the end of the day. I was fine for the first 3 hours before it started bothering me, which just got progressively worse. I also discovered the elastic ankle band of my pants had given me an awful heat rash all around my ankles. So I had a shower and put on my creams and ointments I had brought and passed out around 8:30pm. My mom had gone out to get us subs and a well-deserved iced coffee for myself and tea for herself as I couldn’t walk anymore due to the throbbing in my ankles and foot. And we still had two more days of hiking. I was trying to remember if I had suffered this much on the Camino or not… probably.

Saturday, June 10, 2023 – 26.8km-52.7km Niagara section

We got up around 6:30am and got our gear together. Still very sore but it’s amazing how much the body will repair itself with 10 solid hours of sleep. We walked to the nearby Tim’s for breakfast and then back to our starting point of 26.8km, starting our day’s hike around 8am.

You continue through Brock University’s woods, skirting the campus. You’ll then come to a fence with Ontario Power signs, walking a beside the fence before turning back into the woods, which is still right beside the Brock campus, meaning you’ve just done a big circle around the campus. Back into the woods, you’ll walk beside Lake Moodie, cross a bridge over it and then walk along the lake on the other side through DeCew House Heritage Park passing the First Nations Peace Monument.

Coming out of the woods you’ll follow a path that runs between the lake and Ontario Power property until you come to the dam, at which point you drop back into the woods at the back of the Morningstar Mill property where DeCew Falls are located. At this point there’s a hairpin turn in the trail with signs pointing one way to Queenston and the other way to Tobermory. If you’ve not been to DeCew Falls or Morningstar Mill before (and don’t have a long walk ahead) I’d recommend taking the side trail to the mill and falls. We’d been there before a few times so felt ok skipping it on this hike, and headed down the ridge on the opposite side of the falls.

After descending the ridge you’ll come to a bit of a clearing with a little bridge over a creek. We decided to stop here for a rest and snack as again we hadn’t encountered any benches along the trail and the base of the bridge offered a good seat. Crossing the bridge, you’ll go a little ways before coming to a road, on the other side of which you enter Short Hills Provincial Park.

You end up walking along four different trails within the park, walking beside a river along the Very Berry trail, through the forest on the Black Walnut trail before popping out onto a gravel road. Follow the road until the outhouse, really gross but better than the mosquito and tick filled bush. At the outhouse the road is barred to cars, continue along the road until you get to the Terrace Creek trail. The creek as well as the Terrace Creek Falls were completely dry! Most of the creeks we passed were also dry or just had stagnant pools of water in parts of them. The ground was also dry and cracked. No wonder wildfire season is unprecedentedly bad this year!

Once on the Swayze Falls trail, you’ll go through some meadows and woods before coming to the falls… which also had no water flowing. There’s a little boardwalk with a bench(!) at the lookout point, where we stopped for lunch around 12:50pm. At this point I was very tired and hot, we were running out of water because it was sunny, hot and humid out, and my foot had been hurting since 10am. However, we still had to walk to Louth Conservation Area before our day was done.

Leaving the falls, you’ll go through more woods, then pop out at a quiet residential road. My mom actually asked someone she saw in the driveway of one of the houses if we could refill one of our bottles as we were completely out of water and still had a couple more hours of walking.

A little way along the road you’ll pop back into the woods following a narrow path through forest skirting peoples’ farms and fields. This part seemed interminably long to me, but you’ll eventually get to Rockway Conservation Area. Again, Rockway Falls and most of the streams were dry. Rockway CA is actually quite lovely and we’d been there before but I was really beginning to suffer at this point as my foot and the rashes on my ankles were being jarred with every step. In hindsight, we probably should have called it a day once we got out of Rockway, but it was only a few more kilometres to our planned destination for that day so we pushed on to our goal.

The part between Rockway CA and Louth Conservation Area was the worst for me. It’s a section of the trail you should probably start your hike with rather than end it as it’s rocky with lots of descents and ascents, and, although in and of itself not that challenging, when you’re in extreme pain and fatigued, a pleasant hike it does not make. Tears were involved, thoughts of just giving up and sleeping on the trail were had. In short, neither myself nor my mom thought I’d make it. But we eventually reached Louth CA and the end of our day’s hike at kilometre 52.7 around 4:20pm.

I had reserved an Uber ahead of time, as Jordan doesn’t have a lot of amenities or services, lots of beautiful vineyards though. Additionally, many of the inns or boutique hotels in the area, in addition to being hella expensive, generally require a minimum stay of 2 nights, which obviously we couldn’t do. I was able to find a nice B&B in Jordan Station that allowed us a one night stay, however it was a 10-15 minute drive away and was not within walking distance of anywhere for dinner, so we ordered in UberEats… not ideal but again, the logistics for hiking this trail aren’t great.

Sunday, June 11, 2023 – 52.7km-73.5km Niagara section

I had booked an Uber to pick us up from the B&B and take us to kilometre 52.7 by Louth Conservation Area. We started that day’s leg at 8am. It was sunny, hot and a bit humid but better than the day before.

You walk along the road beside vineyards for a bit before turning into the forest which then connects with Ball’s Falls Conservation Area. You’ll walk along a rocky path next to Twenty Mile Creek before coming to some wooden stairs. You’ll then go down some stairs on the other side of the ridge and find yourself in the historic village of Glen Elgin in Ball’s Falls. You might want to take a break here to look at the historic buildings and see Ball’s Falls. There are also benches here. The water level of the falls was pitiful. It started raining a bit which was refreshing, but we’ll need a lot more to fill up all the dry streams and waterfalls we went past.

You’ll loop around Ball’s Falls, however there aren’t any good views from the other side due to the foliage, unless you go in the winter. You’ll continue along in the forest, skirting vineyards before coming to a little residential road. This leads to a major road which is very busy, so take care in crossing it. You’ll climb up a slope on the other side and walk along the edge of farms and vineyards into forest again. This continues for awhile before connecting to Cave Springs Conservation Area.

Cave Springs has some very karsty trails, and also has a lookout. Crossing the road will bring you out of Cave Springs into more forest which is also very karsty. You’ll pop out at Kinsmen Park, which has benches! Following the trail from here will take you to a dead end residential road, where we saw two friendly cats before going into the woods at the end of the road. The trail here was nice and wide and the walk is quite lovely. Skirting vineyards again will bring you to another little forest before popping out into the parking lot of Locust Lane Winery. Following Locust Lane, you’ll pass vineyards before turning onto Mountainview Road, on the left of which is the entrance to Mountainview Conservation Area and kilometre 73.5, which was the end of our hike for the day and for this segment!

I was tired and sore but nothing compared to yesterday. We finished around 2:50pm and got picked up by my partner around 3:20pm. After which I got an iced coffee and a burger from MsDonalds. I also discovered a number of mosquito bites despite our constant spraying of bug spray. Do not forget the bug spray, you will be eaten alive! And so, until our next leg!

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