43 Days With Bruce

Day 17 – Hiking Day 15 – Friday September 22 2017 K108 Euphrasia-St. Vincent Townline to K81 Sideroad 7A Distance  27.39k Time on the trail: 8:05 We had some lovely walks today along country roads with cattle and farmers fields on either side. We loved in particular the secluded fields which we walked along the side of surrounded by beautiful wild flowers such as purple wild aster, daisies, and yellow goldenrod. We passed through another wetland, several waterfalls, and some amazing forests. Towards the end of the day we had some enormous steep climbs up the west side of the Beaver Valley and then walked across the hill wishing we had one leg longer than the other at the bottom of the white escarpment rock. And, of course the Bruce is always challenging, so in the last 3 k we had one last steep climb up masses of wooden steps, then across the hill, down the side of some fields, and out to the car park to meet Ray. He wasn’t there. Our faces dropped! Ho...

Day 16 – Hiking Day 14 – Thursday September 21 2017 Sydenham Section K18.7 4 th Concession South to Beaver Valley Section K108 Euphrasia-St. Vincent Townline Distance - 25.82k Time on the Trail: 7:45 Ray hiked with us for 2 hours this morning as we headed along 4k of delightful country roads bordered with farmers fields to the beautiful Walters Falls. Not a very impressive “resort” area around the Falls but the Falls themselves were quite beautiful. Once past the Falls, the route followed through a number of forests including a beautiful beech tree forest where the sunlight shone in and lit up the fall coloured leaves, and some overgrown trails down the side of farmer’s fields. We came to a very peaceful river where there was a plaque in memory of “Our beautiful gentle Anthea…..” Anthea was born in 1948 (the year I was born) and lived to be 23. The tranquility of the scene brought tears to our eyes. This was our easiest day so fa...

Day 15 – Hiking Day 13 – Wednesday September 20 2017 Sydenham Section K 44.2 St. Vincent-Sydenham Town Line to K18.7 4 th Concession South Distance – 26.94k Time on the trail: 9:05 Ray shuttled us to our start point this morning. Our first excitement was following the trail into a crevice with a warning notice that read: “The trail ahead passes through a crevice. Consider using bypass trail if carrying heavy backpack or are claustrophobic.” It wasn’t very scary at all, although it was quite narrow. We safely passed through and out into the forest with its path of slippy rocks, roots, and ups and downs where extreme care was required. We passed through a type of forest that has now been named the cedar bones forest…..the dark trunks and leafless branches create an aura of spookiness but, the footing over layers of fallen cedar needles is kind to the feet. We were quickly into a brighter cedar forest, came to some beautiful lookouts over the...

Day 14 – Rest Day 2 - Tuesday September 19 2017 Bliss!!! A sleep in! It was a real treat not to have to wake up to the alarm at 6:30 a.m. We were out of bed by 8:30 a.m. and at breakfast by 9:00 a.m for a delicious breakfast of cheesy eggs (done like coddled eggs), cheese bread, and fresh tomatoes….and coffee!! After breakfast we took a walk around the amazing mansion that we had been staying in. Paul, one of the hosts, spent about an hour with us after breakfast telling us about the history of the mansion, the families who lived there and Owen Sound. Fascinating pieces of information about the design and building of the house in 1872, Miss Moore’s Maternity Hospital from 1919 to 1940 where over 2000 babies were born, up to 2001 when he and Linda bought the home and opened it as a B and B. Ray collected us from there around 12:45 and of course we had to show him over the beautiful rooms in the house, the library, the drawing room with the grand piano, the d...

Day 13 – Hiking Day 12 - Monday September 18 2017 Sydenham Section K69.2 Side Road 22 just east of 6 th  Concession to K44.2 St. Vincent-Sydenham Town Line Distance: 27.18 k Time on the trail: 8:55 We took a taxi to the start and were on our way by 9:45. We had thunderstorms overnight together with heavy rain so when we set off it was really wet in the bush. The day started with the gnarly forest that we had left the night before but soon we were hiking through land that hadn’t been “weed wacked;" at one point the pretty yellow flowers were taller than Robin, at others the tall grasses would hook our feet and try hard to trip us up. Soon we were out on the concession roads some dirt and some paved. That was the first 13k. The second 13k was spent in the forest; a mixture of gnarly forest and inviting walking trails. Just when we thought about lunch the rain poured down, but we rather enjoyed it as it cooled us down and actually quelled the on...

Day 12 – Hiking Day 11 - Sunday September 17 2017 Sydenham Section K 95.4 Inglis Falls, Owen Sound to K69.2 Side Road 22 just east of 6 th Concession Distance: 26.56 k Time: 9:05 hours Well, that was quite a day! We started out at Inglis Falls in Owen Sound and Peter and Rachel waved us on our way. Immediately we were into the rock and boulders and picking our way up the Escarpment and down over very slippy rock. The going was slow. We did 5k in 2 hours!  This translates to 1.58 k per hr at times, or even 0 k per hr when we stop and stare at the rock trying to figure whether it is safe to place our feet at a certain point. We decided that this was not our favourite hike. Not only was it the rocks but also the forests were dank and the trees leafless. It was like the Middle Earth!! Creepy! On this section we met a guy who said he “loved hiking this section”! I guess everyone sees things differently. The difficu...