ONE BLAZE AT A TIME

This is my first blog. I'm not a writer, which you will quickly realize, I'm just someone with a passion for adventure and I'm always up for a challenge.  I hope you will enjoy my story of my End to End Trek of the Bruce Trail.

Timmie & Me

Day 1 

Arriving at the North Terminus Cairn was extremely emotional for me. I wanted to take time to "set my intention" and feel grounded for this epic adventure. Unfortunately, I felt rushed, as we wanted to get the first 6 km of road & trail completed before nightfall. With tensions high, this was my first of what will likely be a few breakdowns (aka tears) what can I say, I'm an Irish/French Canadian Redhead. 

A little about my travelling companions, these amazing women are as crazy as I am. We have hiked together for more than a year, we have shared stories, laughter and tears and I know that over the next  year together, we will strengthen our friendship and connection to one another - or kill each other.  No matter what happens, no one eats the dog!

We headed out at 6:35pm, finishing at Little Cove at 8:20pm. This portion of the trail is mostly city streets and parkland, except for the golf course. The rain had begun, so we didn't have to worry about getting hit by any stray golf balls. Thankfully, we reached Little Cove before dark.

"ONE BLAZE AT A TIME"

 As a yogi, mantras are important to me. They provide me with psychological and spiritual power. I also find they 'guide the way' to that power. For all who hike the Bruce Trail and other trails, we find our way with the blaze markers on trees or rocks.  The white blaze is of particular significance, as it indicates the Main Trail. When you set out to hike the entire 894km of the Bruce Trail, you hope you manage to stay on the Main Trail. Recently found out that to a younger generation (urban dictionary), my mantra  "one blaze at a time' has quite a different meaning.  I won't be getting this tattooed on my arm after all.  #stonerlife

It's all smiles until you hike for 6 hours in the rain. 

Day 2

This summer has proved to be a hot dry one, but that wasn't the case this weekend. We woke up on Saturday to not only the pouring rain, but wet tents. Not a great start to the day and the weather didn't get any better for most of our trek.

Beginning at Little Cove at 8:30am, we headed south to Cyprus Lake. The humour we usually share on many of our hikes together was dampened or should I say washed away by the rain. Even with rain gear on, we were soaked to the ass.

As was my poor little Timmie. It was my hope that Timmie would join me for the entire trek, I learned quickly on Saturday, that won't be the case. From the challenging terrain, to weather issues, it's all too much for a small Jack Russell. That's not to say, he won't be joining me for future hikes, just not the northern peninsula trails.

As we hiked, and hiked, and hiked, it rained and it rained and it rained. At times the rain was so heavy, I had to remove my glasses and trek very, very slowly - I couldn't see more than a metre in front of me. Thanks to a call out to the universe for a dry place to eat our lunch, the universe (or the Bruce Trail) delivered, we found a cave to eat our lunch. The rock formations/caves on the Bruce are a welcome respite from the soaking wet trail.

Hiking can usually be very meditative. You have to focus, become one with your environment, and basically put one foot in front of the other, over and over again.  I hoped to be more reflective in my trek today, but the rain damped my spirit. We all dug deep to finish the 14 plus km , but it was tough. Thankfully, the rain stopped for a time near a 'boulder beach'. One of many boulder beaches on this leg of the trail. It was a great opportunity to dry out our clothes and socks. Our usual banter and humour returned and so did our spirits.

Hiker clothes line!

Arriving at Cyprus Lake should have been amazing. The grotto, cliffs and terrain is some of the most beautiful geological treasures in the province. My memories of bringing my girls there 15 years ago were shattered by droves of people everywhere. There had to be at least 1,000 people in the area. Noisy chatter drowned out the waves of Georgian Bay and blocked the beauty of the area, not to mention the disrespect (cliff jumping is forbidden) and the amount garbage we found. We made a hasty exit and headed back on the trail. Arriving at Horse Tail Trail at 4:40pm.

Back to the campsite to dry out our tents and enjoy Trailhead Lager and a hearty meal.  A good campfire helped to dry hiking clothes & boots for the next day.

Day 3

We arrived at Cyprus Lake Trail Head @ 10:20am to begin our final trek of the weekend. No problem, 5km, we should be done in no time, or so we thought. This is the kind of trail that separates trail walkers from trail hikers. Even the BTC calls this terrain, strenuous. That said, this was by far my favourite hike of the weekend. Yes, it's up & down, and up & down, over and over, but WOW, the views are amazing, the trails are not crowded with 'walkers' and NO RAIN, just sunshine and laughter. This is what trekking should be like. It took us almost 4 hours of hiking to cover this section, but we did it. Back at our cars by 3:30pm and on the road home.

We "YIKERS" (hikers who do yoga)  have a tradition of stopping for a craft brew following a hike,  I honoured this tradition with a stop in Wiarton and Dockside Willie's for a cold Macleans Ale & a burger. Perfect ending to an amazing first leg of many to come.

Cheers!

REMINDER: 

I am hiking this trail in support of the Arthritis Society of Ontario's, Ease the Pain campaign, details here. While I suffer from Osteoarthritis in both my feet, I am determined to hike the entire Bruce Trail, all 894km of Main Trails. It is my intention to finish by my 60th birthday, December 11, 2017 - It's going to be one hell of a party!!!