My Bruce Trail Blogs

This week was perfect for a hike - the sun was out, the temperature was supposed to get as high as 20 degrees Celsius (although it probably only got as high as 17 degrees, and started around 7), with absolutely no rain in the forecast. And only a little rain yesterday - so the ground was mostly dry, with only the occasional puddle or patch of mud.

Mike's friend Yang (from university) and Yang's friends - 6 in all - joined us for today's hike, bringing the total to 15 for the day. This is more than twice the largest group we've had so far. So it was looking like it was going to be a fun hike. And it was. Yang's group were very laid-back about hiking, and were actually playing around and joking with each other. My friends, for the most part, tend to be more serious hikers, who usually prefer to get it on and get it done with in as little time as possible. But I like to take it a little more slowly and enjoy my surroundings more fully, even pausing to take a second look at some things. So I was glad for the new group that joined us today.

This week's hike started on a side street in Grimsby, and we are now in the Iroquois section of the Bruce Trail. From here, we enter into a woods that runs along the stream that we crossed at the end of last week's hike, and then immediately climb to the top of the escarpment. The trail stays up there for a while, and there are several lookout points where you can see pretty much the entire city of Grimsby, and across Lake Ontario to Toronto, or over to St Catharines near the start of the Trail.

After hiking on the edge of the escarpment for a short while (about 20 minutes or so), the trail went across a small clearing (there is a side trail here, I believe; and a washroom, which is rare!) and out onto the road. We hiked for 2-3 km on the outskirts of the town, alongside numerous vineyards and then through a subdivision before re-entering the woods.

Only at this point did the trail start to go downwards, which meant that it would inevitably go upwards again later on. This week we made sure to take regular 5-minute breaks, which was just what we needed sometimes to get the energy to go on (more so in the second half of the day's hike). This is the longest distance we've hiked in one day so far: 19.1 km!

I should also mention that this section of the Trail was very well-maintained. Wherever we came across a patch of mud, there were usually flat stepping-stones to walk on, and whenever we came across a fallen tree that we could not simply step over, it had been cut so that we could stay on the path (and not disturb the surrounding habitat by trying to walk around the trees, which were quite tall).

There were some very nice views from today's hike out over the edge of the escarpment, and there were many birds and squirrels about today. The woods was very green - the trees are full of foliage, the plants were growing tall on the side of the path (we saw many more trilliums, ferns, and other types of plantlife today), and today we noticed lots of moss everywhere. In the past few weeks there were many large, mossy rocks, but this week even the fallen logs - which were many - and the parts of branches that were resting on top of the logs, were covered in a bright green moss. How beautiful!

Surprisingly, though, we didn't encounter too many people in today's hike, other than those that passed us at the beginning (near the lookout points). There was a family sitting at a campfire - who helped us find the trail when we almost lost it once, and some other people close to a road, but that was it for today. We passed behind a couple of backyards, and close to a few houses, and we even saw a treehouse and a teenagers' clubhouse close to the trail. We also saw another tepee today, and possibly a second one in the process of being built.

But of course, the most memorable part of today's hike was the ending. After having walked over relatively even ground for several hours (the hills weren't nearly as high as those we encountered in the first two weeks), we ended today's hike by climbing over 150 feet practically straight up. Well, there was no rock climbing involved - the trail zigzagged back and forth up the side of the hill - but the climb still wasn't easy. Every time you think you're getting close to the top, you look up and groan because you can see that you're still nowhere near it. And the sugar that I'd just eaten for a quick burst of energy wasn't nearly enough to help me get to the top of that hill. But we all made it, more or less alive. :)

Oh yeah, did I mention that the area where we ended is called the Devil's Punch Bowl?

Continue on to the next hike (Hike #15)