History according to Peter

My son Will and I are on a mission to walk the Bruce Trail – all 900km of it – by Oct 2015. This article is part in a series that chronicles our hikes and hopefully sheds some light on what to expect through various portions of the trail: good places to rest, clean water refills, and even a hidden pub or two along the way.

Frequent single-rail foot bridges dot this portion of the trail, making for welcome navigation landmarks in some areas.

Support the Bruce! Whether you walk the trail or not, you can do your part to help preserve the Niagara Region UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve by purchasing a membership in the Bruce Trail Conservatory. Each year, the BTC spends millions in donations to buy and secure development-vulnerable land along the trail route for long-term conservation. Do the right thing, and pitch in to help!

Hiking Log, Leg 3: Niagara Region (81% complete)

(This is a raw copy of our log as recorded on the day. Don’t expect remarkable grammar or content).

Ingress: Niagara Club Region @44.5 Sun, June 15, 2014 10:00AM

Egress: Niagara Club Region @65.0 Sun, June 15, 2014 6:00PM

Total Travel This Leg: 20.5 km over exactly 8 hours

“Mud, Blood and the Dropoff” 

We decided to sleep in a bit today; the forecast called for cool temps and a good breeze, so there was no need to put trail behind us before the noonday sun.  After a hearty Father’s Day feast of Eggs Benedict (the best breakfast ever thank-you very much), we made ingress just east of the Rockway Falls at 10:00 AM sharp.

Weather at the outset was absolutely perfect:  16C with a steady, cooling breeze.

The mud decided to pay us a visit early on, just a few hundred feet from the road, and within 20 minutes, we were caked up to our ankles.  The deep trenches with wide tire marks showed the cause of the mud to be off-road-motorcyclists.

About 30 minutes in – with no cell coverage and on our own for the next 8 hours – our slippery, muddy shoes took their toll.  I took a nasty spill on the rocks by a creek and cut my right shin down to the bone.  The bleeding was pretty steady, but Will kept his head and was able to help with supplies from the first aid kit and frequent trips to the stream to rinse out our one clean cloth.  After about 15 minutes we slowed the bleeding enough to suture the cut closed and pack it with gauze.  This is the first time we really needed the first aid kit, and we were glad to have recently re-stocked with fresh gauze and antibiotics.

One of a half-dozen waterfalls scattered along this stretch.

Following our early, unscheduled break, we continued along the planned path, which was still muddy, but otherwise easy going.  Spider webs crisscrossed the trail for a few kilometres, and we took turns walking in front with Will’s “Galdalf stick” to break through the webs.

The Rockway falls were more impressive than we expected, though they were too distant for us to really aim any decent photos.  If weight were no issue, a proper SLR and some lenses would help us capture the unique vistas we pass every outing.

There are precious few landmarks along the trail between Rockway and the intersection with Louth Side Trail.  We tried to track our position by counting streams and eyeballing the wider curves, but it seems there are some discrepancies between the 2012 printed map and the current trail route.  We’ve seen this before, and while it can make pinpointing position difficult, the maps are generally excellent, well annotated, and, frankly, invaluable for any hiker.

The trail marries up with a few rural roads for about 2km, and both of us were happy for the respite from the occasionally difficult walking.  Portions of the trail up to this point involved some serious uphill and downhill treks in the mud – and wet rock surfaces – so a bit of asphalt traction and a chance to dry out really picked up our mood.

50% of the Bruce still crosses private property. Generous land owners allow passage for travelers, so we are careful to respect their privacy and their property.

Pushing on steadily as we regained the forest trail, fatigue, blood loss and dehydration were starting to take their toll.  Our breaks became more frequent.  Will was staring to show signs of deep exhaustion, and due to the strenuous terrain, bleeding became a constant problem for me.  Will helped changed bandages out every two hours or so to keep the risk of infection at bay.

Just as we approached the Balls’ Falls point, we encountered maybe 2 dozen people separated into a few groups.  None of them were equipped for hiking, and many of them were complaining about the terrain.  This was a sure sign that we were close to civilization of some kind – at least a parking lot.

A very interesting (but in our condition, difficult) roughed-in staircase lead us up the cliffside to a halting site.   We emerged – a little bewildered – onto a manicured lawn furnished with shade, a VERY welcoming bench and even a few point-of-interest plaques.  It wasn’t much, but it looked comfortable, and immediately, we knew this would make the perfect location for our major mid-day break.

Will drained the 1-litre Gatorade bottle like a shot of smooth whiskey and we both set to work on the dried beef provisions saved especially for our midpoint repast.  We tried to pace things a little better with the rations this trip… our theory being that during the last outing, we carried and ate too much.

The leg wound hadn’t taken kindly to the last uphill, and to keep the bleeding under control we elected to bind the leg fairly tightly with hockey tape.  I knew this would limit blood circulation, but some cramping and stiffness would be better than constantly worrying about bleeding and the state of the sutures.

With the first aid behind us, Will enjoyed a refreshing repast while I checked for signs of further civilization and the promise of fresh provisions – especially potable water or maybe an ice cream truck.

Wild Strawberries sprung up like weeds all around us. There will be some happy rabbits here for the next few weeks.

We tarried a full 40 minutes on that bench with our shoes off, feet tingling in the breeze before we decided it was time to take up the trail again.  Not 10 minutes in, we stumbled onto yet another manicured lawn, this time spanning acres, and spotted with little quardened-off buildings.  It turns out this was the Ball’s Falls rest point we had planned to stop at, but undershot by a good half-kilometer.  The area is actually a museum of sorts – called the Ball’s Falls Grist Mill, but with no running water or cantina (read: ice cream), we walked past without giving it much notice.

After regaining the main trail at Ball’s Falls, we were in good spirits.  The rest break had rejuvenated us, and it seems we may have found the right selection of food and drink to perk us up.

The trail on some of these stretches became quite difficult – as tough as we’ve seen on any of the Bruce so far, including the sheer climbs along the face of Mount Nemo a few years earlier.  The tight binding on my leg was causing cramps and stiffness, but at least the bleeding was in check, which to this point had weighed constantly on my mind.

Many areas we passed through late in the day appeared untouched.  We could see blazes in the distance, but no path before us.  Whether due to rapid growth of ground plants, or simple disuse from the difficult conditions, the trail was at times invisible to us.  The broad leaves of wild rhubarb obscured the ground below. The ramifications of a misstep still fresh in our minds, we traversed the rocky slabs and crags carefully.

A simple camera phone just can’t capture the scale of the trees and cliffs in this old Carolinian forest.  That’s Will standing by a boulder along the trail in the distance.

Tracking our position by traditional methods (map, observations, chronometer) proved even more difficult for us in the last 7km stretch of our hike.  A few stream-crossings made for plausible landmarks, but the in-betweens were essentially a blind forward push.

Somewhere in this stretch we stepped into a field of flat-top rock columns separated by deep divides.  Will remarked that jumping from stone plateau to stone plateau felt like a video game or something you’d see in a sci-fi movie.  Really, we faced no serious danger as the divides were easy to avoid, and the stone columns were flat and dry, but it was very fun.

Where it all began – a monument to the first blaze on the Bruce Trail.

Cave Springs treated us to wondrous, sky-scraping trees on one side and cavernous 200-ft drops on the other.  Again, our imaginations turned to the set of some sci-fi or fantasy movie.  More than once we stopped to take in the sheer scale of the trees and cliffs around us.

Knowing our egress was just a few kilometres off, our pace and spirits picked up.  The pressure bandaging we rigged up was causing cramping and stiffness from the knee down, and my right leg was no longer reliably holding weight.  I frequently stumbled to that side, but not yet to the point of falling.

There were several points along this section of trail where the escarpment drop-off loomed only a pair of meters to our right.  Variably, this sheer fall ranged from a matter of 30 feet, plunging up to 200 feet or more straight down onto the crags below.  Usually there was a buffer of growth there to suppress our vertigo.

In a small clearing, we encountered another pair who were camping and had a fire going.  They seemed hardly to notice us, even though we intentionally made a lot of noise on approach so as not to startle them.

With only 1km to go, we stumbled haltingly onto the ledge of a very high, sheer cliff, and thought perhaps we had lost the trail.  Certainly, we were happy to turn away from that perilous fall.  Doubling back and scouting, we could find no blazes or signs of passage.  We reluctantly returned to the ledge.  Apparently, to move forward, we would have to billy-goat our way along the edge of the rock face – maybe a foot-wide path of solid footing separating us from a certainly fatal drop into the chasm on our right.  Just looking out over the drop was dizzying, and knowing we had to pass through was a real moment of truth for both of us, and our commitment to this trail.

To make matters worse, I knew that another loss of control of my leg could cause me to stumble rightwards towards the deadly drop.   Will and I steeled ourselves for the short stretch of rocky path.  A deep breath and a few carefully placed steps later, and we were across – dizzied but unharmed.  The rest of the way would prove easy, as the adrenaline and promise of a warm meal hurried us to the end point.

We made egress at precisely 6:00PM, exactly on target.  An elderly couple passing in their car pointed us around the bend to a parking lot where we knew our drive was waiting.

My son Will and I are on a mission to walk the Bruce Trail – all 900km of it – by Oct 2015.  This article is part in a series that chronicles our hikes and hopefully sheds some light on what to expect through various portions of the trail:  good places to rest, clean water refills, and even a hidden pub or two along the way.

You’re never too old to stop and play in the water. Sadly leaflets for a missing person were placed along long sections of the trail, usually close to Ontario Hydro’s “Danger” warnings of steep drops to canals.

Support the Bruce!  Whether you walk the trail or not, you can do your part to help preserve the Niagara Region UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve by purchasing a membership in the Bruce Trail Conservatory.  Each year, the BTC spends millions in donations to buy and secure development-vulnerable land along the trail route for long-term conservation.  Do the right thing, and pitch in to help!

Hiking Log, Leg 2:  Niagara Region (56% complete)

(This is a raw copy of our log as recorded on the day.  Don’t expect remarkable grammar or content).

Ingress:  Niagara Club Region @22.6.  Sun, May 25, 2014 7:15AM

Egress:  Niagara Club Region @44.5.  Sun, May 25, 2014 3:30PM

Total Travel This Leg:  21.9 km over appx 8h15 (total 28.1 including side trail loop, mud reroutes and lost trail, according to GPS).

Will is a morning person.  For years, he has wanted to start our hikes at dawn and take the long, slow road through nature without a rush or planned exit point.  This was our mantra for today – dawn start, evening pickup – as it let the rest of the family deal with other commitments.

We hit the showers at 4:30AM with plans to make trail ingress around 6:30, accounting for packing and the drive southwest.  After a few equipment glitches (new day-pack), we wound up 45 minutes delayed and finally inaugurated the trek uphill at Tremont, leading out of St. Catherines at 7:15 AM.

A picturesque portion of the trail at dawn, running through Brock University grounds. This section was dry and solid – a welcome rarity on this leg of the Bruce.

The Bruce necessarily passes through towns, and the city pavement here with no shoulder and a winding, steady up hill exacted an early toll early on our feet and energy levels.  We soon entered the Brock University grounds which were serene and cool in the early morning, but otherwise unremarkable.

The mud started early.  Many of the trails leading through Brock territory were heavily trenched by off-road motorcycles, which meant frequent side steps and underbrush cutting.

As the morning progressed, we encountered a large number of people on the trail, many of whom we suspect were university faculty/staff/students out for their morning constitutional.  The heavy traffic made ‘bio breaks’ challenging, especially after pre-loading on coffee in anticipation of an 11-hour trek!

Portions of the trail directly pass through Brock’s back lots, and we were within arms length of the campus buildings at several points.  Picnic tables and opportunities for rest abound in this area.  It would also probably be quite easy to pop into one of the campus buildings to use the facilities, or even buy a meal at the cafeteria should the need suit a hiker.

Passing through the Ontario Hydro lands just past the University proved to be another major obstacle of mud and difficult underbrush.  A machete or perhaps heavy shears would have made it easier to avoid the mud trenches, but our choices came down to either pushing through shrubs or filling our hiking shoes with mud.  Wet feet are the bane of hikers, so we sucked up our scratches and scrapes and pressed on through the periphery.

The plaque at DeCew house (click for full size).

The circumnavigation of Lake Moodie was one of the easiest portions of the hike, and helped make up for the time lost due to mud and brush-cutting earlier on.   We stopped at the bridge to enjoy the calming waters and cool our heels.

Decew House Park was new to both of us.  Will took a break at the picnic tables there while I found the trail direction and examined the old ruins.

The Morningstar Mill was our planned first major break, and we approached it somewhat road-weary but determined to press on even in the increasing heat.  The volunteer guide provided an interesting tour, and we enjoyed a shaded picnic table on the museum lawn while picking at our (over-packed) food supplies.  There was a clean water supply here which we used to refill Will’s water belt and to wash our face and arms.

We decided that with a large portion of the day still ahead of us, we would do a loop around the Black Walnut side trail and back to our starting point on the main Bruce again.  This would add several kilometres to our hike, but Will was interested in that path.

The Morningstar grist mill is a national museum with guided tours. It affords welcome amenities like shaded picnic tables and clean town water to refresh supplies.

The blue-blazed side trail turned out to be nearly impassable due to mud and fallen debris, but we persisted, veering a few dozen metres south west of the marked trail where water permitted.  The side trail itself turned into a bit of a fiasco.  Some risky mud-avoiding measures left us scratched and weary, and 6.5km behind, as we still had to back-track around again to the Bruce to correctly finish this region’s end-to-end.

While resting at a shaded bridge, a fellow hiker – stopping as well at this natural waypoint – informed us that difficulties on the Black Walnut and Swayze Falls routes caused her to turn back to ingress and make another path for the day.  She looked the part of an accomplished, sturdy hiker so this news disheartened us, envisioning a repeat of the same treacherous Black Walnut we had just passed through.  Swayze Falls was the only possible route to safe egress without a major retreat for the day, and no hope of pickup for several hours.

The long, cold winter and heavy snowfalls still leave their mark. Groundwater and mud were the name of the game on this hike.

A kind of cold determination washed over both of us as we moved through the wet grassy uplands of the Bruce towards Swayze falls.  This was the general motif for the rest of the hike:  we were now quite travel warn and the walk was quiet but determined.

We made Swayze Falls early afternoon, taking a respite there on a bench overlooking the water.  A group of horse riders passed by, also dismounting for a break.  One of them informed us these falls were frequently dry, and it was a rare site to see them running so vigorously.

With one major leg left for the day, we pushed on along the ridge toward egress.  Wildlife abounded here, though houses and roads were never too far off.  We observed a distinctly red-coloured racoon scurrying down a fallen tree and out of site.  Shortly thereafter, we passed 2 white-tail deer – what I believed to be a female and male.  The female scurried away immediately as we approached, but the buck stood his ground, whether curious, unafraid, or other.  The male was finally scared away by a few loud bangs from my walking stick, for which I was thankful as neither of us was in any shape to tangle with an angry 300-lb animal!

We made egress at appx. 3:30 pm along the road leading to Balls Falls.  This will be an inconvenient starting point, but with so many unforeseen problems today, we decided it was time to cut our losses and pick up here again next week.

Living in the Toronto area, you take the good with the bad.   While the city offers innumerable benefits over smaller towns, you simply can’t “just get away” without committing to a few hours behind the wheel.  Well, that is what we thought until we found the Bruce Trail.

Perseverance through the downpour rewarded us with this rare and spectacular horizon-to-horizon double rainbow. The camera phone doesn’t do this event justice: the colours were more vivid and distinct than any I’ve seen.

The Bruce is a true hidden treasure:  not only is it the oldest and longest marked footpath in Canada, but it passes right through the west end of the metropolis area along the UNESCO-protected Niagara Escarpment.  Spanning 900km from Niagara to Tobermory, there’s more than enough nature, hiking, camping and climbing to keep you busy literally for years.

One of my sons and I started hiking along the Bruce a few years back, and have undertaken a mission to complete a full end-to-end run by October 2015.  We’ve wiped our old logbook clean, and restarted at the Southern Terminus Cairn this past Sunday, May 18.  I’ll be chronicling our progress here, as well as adding some tips and suggestions for those who may be undertaking the same route.

Hiking Log

(This is a raw copy of our log as recorded on the day.  Don’t expect remarkable grammar or content).

Ingress:  Niagara Club Region @0.0 (Southern Terminus Cairn).  Sun, May 18, 2014 2:30PM

Egress:  Niagara Club Region @23.6.  Sun, May 18, 2014 8:05PM

Starting conditions were excellent:  cool temperatures, light wind and no bugs.  Make great time over first 10km.  One break at 1h30 mark for 10 minutes.  Major break (35 mins) at 11.8 km mark along Warner Rd. before entering Woodend Conservation area.

At the intersection of several trails. The Bruce is marked by the ever-present single white blaze.

Finding lots of mud – some unavoidable – in lower-lying areas, roughly every 500m or so.  People have obviously been through here on motorized off-road vehicles, and have really ripped up the trail in places.  Mud nearly impassable in 2 or 3 spots… just have to walk through and deal with the consequences.  The mud itself and efforts to skirt it safely leading to slowdowns, fatigue, frustration, and some twisted ankles.

Heavy rain starts around the 16km mark as we pass by some of the Welland Canal.  This isn’t helping the mud situation, but has put the run to some evening mosquitos.  Will makes use of a dollar-store poncho to mitigate the deluge, but we end up pretty much soaked through.

A few scary moments at a steep zig-zag descent (did not note location) down a slippery ledge, then again with muddy tracks along cliff-top portions of the trail.  Also a few dizzying moments along the canal edge with just a few slippery feet separating us from a fatal drop.  I hope the conservation authority finds a way to route the trail further from that drop in future!

Lost the trail a total of 4 times today:  Once overlooking a steep gorge, but found the blazes after a bit of rooting around, then again at an apparent 3-way intersection with another trail.  We encountered another disoriented couple (mother and son), before we noticed the blaze painted on the side of what looked like a large sewer channel.  We called back to them after Will and I found a few clear white blazes on the opposite end of the dark and flooded tunnel.

The end of the Welland Canal was a welcome site. There were some hearstopping moments with a 30-foot sheer drop only 2 feet to our left with no barrier or warning.

Third lost trail was at the intersection of the Bert Lowe Trail.  We had to backtrack a few hundred metres to pick up the Bruce.  The fourth lost trail put us on a different track entirely, which was marked with yellow blazes, which we mistook for faded white Bruce markers.  Luckily this trail ran roughly parallel with the Bruce, which we were able to pick up about a kilometre later with little lost time.

This entire section of trail (the first 23km of the Niagara Club Region) was picturesque in places, but generally unremarkable, except for the canal zones which were breathtaking in both a good (awe-inspiring) and bad (fear-inducing) sense.  A beautiful double rainbow marked the end of our rain-inundated stretch along the canal, providing a landmark for the home stretch to egress, and the beginning of a warm, welcoming sunset.

Due to a very late start (2.5 hour delay with weekend traffic), and the general muddiness of the trail, we broke with our normal rest procedures.  We rested only twice, completing the last 12km of the trip without any real respite.  We encountered only about a dozen other hikers on the trail throughout the ~23km stretch.

Trillium Flowers abound in this section of the trail.

Will pointed out several ideal camping places along the way, and expressed interest in a 100km hike at some point with full packs.  We will need to toughen up significantly for that kind of trek, which will probably be necessary for the Peninsula Club section from Tobermory through Wiarton.

We encountered an uncommon number of small snakes along the way, though few other signs of wildlife.  A few rabbits crossed the path as it approached the outskirts of town.  Trillium flowers, both white and pink, carpeted the forest floor in many areas.

Our ankles are sore from dancing and hopping around muddy trenches – it may be worth investing in some low-cut light hiking boots for future trips.  Otherwise, the day has been successful and fairly easy, though we were working from an outdated packing list, and need to update our packing sheets based on some hiking logs from previous years.

It’s been a while since anything really extraordinary has come along to spur me into writing mode.

All that changed a few short days ago when my culinary life was turned up on its ear by a relatively obscure British invention.  My friends, I give you The Shooter’s Sandwich.

How an … uh… “avid” eater such as myself managed to pass all these long years without stumbling upon this recipe is probably a question better left to mystics and statisticians.  But now is not the time to lament lost years; today is the first day of a whole new life blessed by this divine creation!

Let’s get straight to the links – I know you’re already hungry – and you can read the backstory later:

• The base sandwich – essentially a portable Beef Wellington
• A decadent variation with bacon and swiss
• Video tutorial including some extra detail
• A healthier variant from Men’s Health (“The 48-hour Strength Sandwich”)
• One of many no-meat alternatives using salmon

Hunters – shooters – provide the namesake for this Grande Dame of the sandwich world.  In Edwardian times (first decade of the 1900’s) gentlemen did their hunting from horseback, which is an athletic affair to say the least.  These sportsmen needed a portable, tidy way to carry a full day’s rations, one sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of the hunt.

And so was born the Shooter’s Sandwich.  The hunt club cook would prepare the meal the evening before using bread crusts and Beef Wellington, and leave it to ‘press’ overnight.  By dawn, the sandwich was set to go: at first light the huntsmen were on the trail with a full day of delicious, invigorating rations at the ready.  This was truly a technological leap forward, and the idea carried forward into field provisioning during WWI.

Fast-forward 100 years, and the Shooter’s Sandwich is still providing wayfarers with robust, energy-rich nutrition on the go.  Whether you’re at a festival, sports tournament, road trip or a long hike, this 3000-calorie discus-sized chunk of mana will keep your tank on full and your spirits high the whole day long (or longer). Check out some of the variants above, and if you come up with something delicious of your own, be sure to share it in the comments!