Day #1
Start and End Points: Queenston Heights to Brock University
Distance: 25 km
Hike Time: 7.5 hours
Weather: Superb, sunny, 15 degrees
Terrain: rocky formations, woodland trails, stunning hardwood forest, Niagara escarpment
Difficulty: Easy-moderate
Of Note: You can see the Welland Canal from the trail and walk over it at one point and through a bit of an uninteresting urban sprawl area. The trail also skirts a large golf course, and the vineyards in places. The trail end comes through a natural quarry area (Glenridge) with beautiful sloping forest paths and enormous straight trees. There are several side trails that one has to be careful not to get off onto. For example, the Laura Secord Legacy Trail.
Random Asides:
1. We are now in awe of Laura Secord, snatching up her skirts and hightailing through these woods in the dead of night for 32 km to warn the British about the Americans!
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| Here's Laura. We are hopeful we don't look like this. |
3. You CAN roast a side of salmon in a toaster oven.
Day#2
Start and End Points: Glendridge Quarry to Lough Conservation Area
Distance: 25 kms
Hike Time: 8.5 hrs
Weather:Sunny and warm
Terrain: rocky escarpment, waterfall (Decew Falls), Moodie Lake, old mill, deep gorges, and pristine green forest, perfect for leprachauns or hobbits
Wildlife Sightings: dogs, horses and one very tiny snake. The Snake Basher Princess Warrior (self anointed) protected all by brandishing poles wildly.
Difficulty: Moderate. The last five km has some steep climbs and ascents that would be difficult in the dark or in rain.
Of Note: By the end of Day #2, we truly were The Blistered Sisters (well, three of us anyway) in spite of our less than blistering pace. Bandages, foot massages and yoga helped ease accumulated discomforts. Oh, and alcohol too.
Random Aside: Numerous roles are starting to emerge. Liz assumes the Everly Optimistic Cheerleader role in the last 5 km, "smelling" the parking lot everywhere. Karen has special gifts for prompt and accurate DSAs (dog shit alerts) and has also anointed herself Snake-Basher-Princess-Warrior. Sue is the Gorp Queen, while Diana is (although she can still redeem herself) the Biggest Loser for the number of pairs of glasses she has lost so far.
Day #3 Start and End Points:Staff Rd to Mountainview Rd. (Organized Crime Winery)
Distance: 22 km
Hike Time: 7.5 hours
Weather: Superb, sunny
Terrain: Easy to moderate with some rocky areas with tricky footing. Poles are good.
Wildlife Sightings: Numerous squashed snakes on the road, chipmunks, squirrels. Vultures tend to circle us during the last five kms. We think they think we are older ewes, separated from the flock. Coming in for the easy kill.
Of Note: Most of this section is beautiful woodland trail along the escarpment edge. At times the vineyards are close by, and you can smell the grapes and hear the loud air cannons blasting to scare the birds away. We met an octogenarian couple of the trail. She had long, dyed red hair and cat-eye sparkle glasses. He lingered longingly by our picnic and was happy to be offered some cheese and apricots. We aspire to be like them! Esp the cat-eye sparkle glasses. The last five km of the trail seemed difficult because it took forever to finally reach the parking lot. If one was not sweaty and tired and dirty, it would be nice to sit at the Organized Crime Winery overlooking the vineyards and enjoy a nice glass of Cab Sauv.
We ended the day with G and Ts and Diane, host of the Garden House AirBnB we stayed at. Diane has three Pomerarians. She lit a little fire on the patio. A blood moon hovered over the trees.
Random Asides:
1. ALWAYS pay very close attention to your brother-in-law when he provides details about how to turn off the wonky car alarm.
2. Secret stashes of Lindt chocolate balls at lunch are a superb idea.
3. Malfunctioning GPSs and loss of eye glasses make for slow returns home after the hike.
4. You CAN cook roasted vegetables in a pastry crust in a toaster oven.
5. We are getting matchy slippers.
Day # 4 Start and End Points: Mountainview Rd to downtown Grimsby
Distance: 10 km
Hike Time: 3 hours. (An early finish was vital as we had a long drive back home.)
Weather: Sunny, humi, with MOSQUITOES!
Terrain: Easy to moderate with some rocky areas to scramble over, lots of fallen trees. Some parts of the trail are on the private property of kind people who allow hikers to pass very close to their homes and back gardens. Once out on top of the escarpment we accidentally trespassed on some enormous estates that looked like they belong to the likes of Mike Weir or Wayne Gretzky. No humble abodes here.
Wildlife: Nothing noteworthy. Lots of well-mannered leashed dogs on these more urban areas of the trails.
Lessons Learned:
1. Never ask large groups of Japanese tourists where the Bruce Trail head is. They don't know.
2. A thermos would be a useful thing.
3. Headlamps-we should all bring them.
4. Don't split up. We did that once and it didn't work out.
5. Prepared meals are best. Making dinner after a 25 km hike is not what anyone really feels like doing.
6. Early starts make for the best hiking day.
7. A handsome masseur would be a great
8. Matchy puffy jackets are on our must-have list.
Lingering Thoughts and Unsolved Mysteries:
a) Karen shall aspire to NOT TELL any more Dead-Dog-In-Suitcase stories even though Diana was in stitches in the back seat. .
b) Diana's cooler weighed the same at the end of the trip as it did at the beginning.
Speculation: hidden, unshared stashes of Gin? OR souvenir rocks from the trail?
c) We know EVERY WORD to EVERY SONG on the Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water album. "Feeling Groovy" may become our theme song.
Next Up: Spring 2017. The Iroquoia section of the Bruce Trail.
http://www.iroquoia.on.ca/
