43 Days With Bruce

Day 43 – Hiking Day 36 – Wednesday  October 18 2017 Niagara Section K 18.2 North Side of Glendale Ave. 50 m east of the Welland Canal Fifth Bridge to K 0 Southern Terminus Cairn Distance: 18.2 k Time: 3:00 We did it!! What an exciting day! It was a beautiful sunny morning and dressed in clothes suitable for running in 18C and our running shoes laced up, we drove ourselves to the start of the last 18.2k on the Bruce Trail and set off. Running the last day was a perfect idea! It felt so good not to have the weight of hiking boots nor a pack nor poles! We felt free and strong. The route was kind to us. We ran along the side of the canal, past the edge of the golf course…we actually tried to run on the golf course cart paths but when we got some really strange looks from a group of golfers we realized we were on the wrong route and went back to find the blazes….then it was up to the top of the Escarpment (yes, a steep climb, but the Escarpment is only about 200 ft high here, so

Day 42 - Hiking Day 35 – Tuesday October 17 2017 Niagara Section K40.5 Swayze Falls (Roland Road) to Niagara Section K 18.2 North Side of Glendale Ave. 50 m east of the Welland Canal Fifth Bridge Distance –  24.04 k Time  - 6:05 We had a lovely hike today in great weather. Started out by making our way through the Short Hills Provincial Park to the Swayze Falls. Then we had some climbs and descents on the ravines, past some farm pastures and fields and crossing several streams. After a short stint on the roads and passing Morningstar Mill, we came to Lake Moodie and followed along the side of the lake until we came to the recently restored ruins of DeCew House. This is the home of British Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon the army chap that Laura Secord alerted to an attack by the Americans and thus saved the bacon of the Canadians!!    We continued along the edge of the Escarpment to Brock University ca

Day 41 – Hiking Day 34 – Monday October 16 2017 Niagara Section K65 Quarry Road to Niagara Section K40.5 Swayze Falls (Roland Road) Distance –  25.03 Time  - 7:25 Today was cool. More accurately, the wind was cool and the sun warm. About 8C feeling like 5C when we set off and only warmed up to about 10C. For the most part we had a more attractive hike today with only some parts in scrappy forest and not nearly so much slippery rock. I guess it was dry too and the wind had dried up the ground quite a bit. It still surprises us that there is so much “wetland” and we are very often walking on boardwalk over wet, muddy paths. The trail was varied and we walked past vineyards, wineries, and apple orchards as well as at the top of the Escarpment, and again on trails on a slant, rock, roots, and about 8 careful maneuvers down the sides of the Escarpment ravines, often crossing rivers on stepping stones and straight up the perpendicular side

Day 40 – Hiking Day 33 – Sunday October 15 2017 Iroquoia Section K14 Jones Rd to Niagara Section K65 Quarry Road Distance –  30.54 Time  - 9:10 Today’s hike was not chosen for its beauty, nor its trail! Sorry!! But I may as well say it as it was! The day started off straight up the Escarpment. The first 9.5k were through a scrappy forest over clay mud paths across the ravines, so, trail on a slant; the footing was slick rock jumbles, roots to kill, and in some cases badly maintained trail so that we were plowing through growth up to our shoulders including nettles, and burrs; it didn’t seem to matter where we were, the top, the middle, the bottom of the Escarpment. Then we had stints on the road and through Beamer Conservation Area which were quite manageable.  Around 14k we were back on the slippery paths in the scrappy forests.  Around 22k we entered a severely damaged forest which looked as if a hurricane may have gone through