1. The Blistered Sisters hiked for the SEVENTH time together, entering our FOURTH year of hiking the Bruce.
2. WE ARE STILL FRIENDS!!!!
3.We have now completed just under 400 kms of the Bruce Trail and at the end of this trip, we will be nearing the 500 km mark, with a good 394 kms to go.We are still in the Beaver Valley section of the trail, a little south of Meaford and Thornbury, but by the second last day will cross into the Sydenham section of the trail and a bit beyond. Good progress.
Special Note: For the record, it should be noted that this time, The Blistered Sisters ran into a few problems issues horrors "technical difficulties".
But all survived to tell the tale.
But all survived to tell the tale.
We began this trip with an early start, meeting for coffee in Bancroft first. The plan was to subsequently meet in Stayner, near Collingwood, and travel in tandem to the trail head. However, E and D inexplicably ended up in Peterborough, Ontario. Yes, Peterborough. Untroubled, they stopped to admire and photograph the Trent-Severn Waterway, and then continued on to Lakefield College School where they took the full tour of the grounds, playing fields and dorms, met the Head of School for tea and crumpets, and made whispered inquiries to the custodial staff as to Prince Andrew's indiscretions as a student there.
Meanwhile, S and K waited patiently in the town of Stayner.
Trust us, there is nothing happening in Stayner, ON.
👎😑
We finally hit the trail at 1 pm, a bit later than we'd hoped but not fatal.
We finally hit the trail at 1 pm, a bit later than we'd hoped but not fatal.
Day #1 (half day)
Start and End Pts: Sideroad 7B parking lot to North St parking lot
Distance: 12 km
Hike Time: 4ish hrs
Weather: sunny, beautiful fall day
Terrain: steep escarpment climb, cedar forest, undulating paths
Wildlife Sightings: None. Except for road kill and one skinny emerald green snake.
Observational Notation: One of the Screaming Banshees MAY have let loose her Banshee scream and scared the bejeezuss out of the Princess Warrior who was supposed to be protecting her from the tiny snakes. For one brief moment in the history of the universe, that trusted Warrior also became a Screaming Banshee. T'was uncool.
Fit Bit Step Count:22,000While this day started out quite nicely with a big scamper up the escarpment face through lovely tall cedar forests studded with mossy rocks and beautiful ferns, the climb down again was hard on the knees and hips on the first day out. We also missed a turn at a poorly marked crossing and ended up doing a solid 5 km on the road. Everyone had sore feet after pounding the pavement and slipping on the gravel overlay. It was hot too, with no protection from the sun.
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| And off we go--with middle-aged attitude.... |
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| Yass, we headed straight up that road. |
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| Some people have gorgeous timber frame homes right along the escarpment face. Nice views! |
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| These sunflowers in the town of Kimberly were at least 8 feet high and formed a giant hedge along the road! |
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| Who needs "Marie Among the Hurons" when we have "Liz Among the Cedars"??? |
We stayed at Ebeneezer Schoolhouse, a quaint little reno'd schoolhouse at a quiet cross roads. It was well positioned for the trails and worked for us. There were three bedrooms, a decent kitchen, a washer and dryer, and a hottub.
K and S provided the first "in house" meal--pasta with wild boar sauce and warm foccacia. Followed by Sue's Sweet Marie Bars which are rawther spectac.Recipe follows.
Sweet Marie Bars
1 cup p butter
1 cup b sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 T butter
4 cups rice krispies
2 cups chopped peanuts
1 large good quality chocolate bar
Combine and heat p butter, b sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to boil. Add cereal and nuts. Spread into 9x12 pan and cover with melted chocolate.
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| Ebeneezer School House. The bell on top works. |
K forgot to make/bring the salad.
Oh--and there was a....
Day #2
When Day Two began, noone suspected anything. In fact it started out pretty normally. But mistakes were made.
1. We got a late start (our first mistake), only hitting the trail around 10 am.
2. We dropped the shuttle car at a parking lot on Hwy 30 (or so we thought...our second mistake).It was a parking lot much further along.
3. We did NOT ping our shuttle car (our third mistake) and headed out for what we thought would be a 21 km, full-day hike, starting at Hoggs Falls.
4. We did not pay enough attention to the elevation markings on the map and subsequently did not notice that the trail went up and down the the escarpment face several times. Our fourth mistake. We should have altered our mileage accordingly.
The day started out mostly sunny but then became overcast with spots of rain, and then increasingly hot and humid and muggy as the day wore on, with the humidex in the 30s! The forest was quiet and ferny, there were some babbling brooks and cascades, and we saw a pretty house that straddled a waterfall. We had a nice lunch and lovely walking meditations.Things were looking good.
Start and End Pts:Parking lot on North St to what we thought was parking lot on Hwy 30
Distance: 25 km
Hike Time:TEN (F-ing) Hours
Weather: both sunny and overcast, spotty rain, very humid
Terrain: steep escarpment climbs,wild flower meadows, waterfalls
Wildlife Sightings: one beautiful fawn
Fit Bit Step Count: 45,000 ish or more. Too tired to record.
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| At this point, we were all pretty cheery. Check the reflection in S's glasses. |
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| We found this sign. Not convinced it is 100% accurate. We haven't quite hiked 508 kms from Queenston. |
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| Maidenhair Fern. We never did see the Hart's Tongue Fern that apparently grows along the escarpment. |
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| Of course someone was singing "Climb Every Mountain, ford every stream".... |
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| This pretty baby stood very still as we passed. |
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| The house that straddles a waterfall. |
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| Lunchtime on the trail. Samosas from D! |
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| Creative fencing! |
At about 7 pm, we finally hit a deserted gravel road in the gloom and decided to exit and make a plan. Thankfully we had a phone signal and were able to make an SOS call to K's daughter and son-in-law in Collingwood. We pinged our position and threw ourselves onto the corner lot lawn of a rural home to await rescue.
By these two angels. Who brought water and bananas and saved us from Certain Death.
We are eternally grateful.
🙏🙏🙏🙏
That evening we soaked our sore legs in the hottub and drank White Russians, this trip's Featured Debauchery. We then soaked our feet in L's awesome teatree oil foot bath. And ruminated over our various mistakes and the need for better safety measures, including:
a) ALL of us pinging our parked cars
b) ALL of us bringing more water in bladders
c) ALL of us reading and verifying maps and distances
d) ALL of us bringing warm clothing ie down jackets
e) ALL of us remembering headlamps
f) ALL of us downloading the Bruce Trail app so we have an additional map reference as our BT current maps are sometimes not quite accurate!
Random Asides:
1. The polite members of the Blistered Sisters (L and D) call this day The Day that Fun Forgot.
The less polite (S and K) simply call it a Cluster F%$#*!!
2. Not one to be left out, K was officially initiated into the Blistered Sisters private blister club for the first time. She is somewhat honoured. The original plan was to wear new and old boots on alternate days to avoid this but an unnamed daughter donated the old boots to Value Village and all plans fell apart....
Because K has massive insomnia, she ran about in her underwear early in the am of Day #3 and caught the sunrise over the fields. It was very beautiful except for the sounds of a wild turkey being murdered in the corn stalks, likely by a coyote.
On Day Three, all were determined to have a much BETTER day. We checked our maps carefully and realized that a major part of the day would be spent on the road, something none of us wanted to endure. We therefore adjusted plans and decided to do a couple of smaller shuttles to avoid the road sections but also to allow K, still feeling unwell, an earlier exit. And off we went.
Start and End Pts: Parking lot at Blantyre to Walters Falls, followed by a second shuttle (from Sideroad 3 to Sideroad 6)
Distance: 14 km
Hike Time: 5 hrs
Weather: hot, humid, 26 degrees
Terrain:undulating trail, forest, open meadows and fields, farmland
Wildlife Sightings: tree toads, toads, one startled farm cat
Fit Bit Step Count: 25,000
This was a pleasant day with lovely trail winding through farms, corn fields, open meadow and deep green forest. We were a little off the escarpment too which meant the trail was easier on the legs.The meadows were particularly lovely as there were many flowers in bloom-Goldenrod, Clover, Aster, and Queen Anne's Lace- as well as many butterflies, from Monarchs to small fluttery yellow ones. At times there were shoulder-high yellow flowers, as well as haystacks and apple trees heavy with ripened and slightly sour apples.
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| Hail, Children of the Corn. |
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| More misleading signage and... |
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| ...old teapots in trees. |
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| Shoulder-high yellow flowers! |
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| Walter's Falls |
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while D and K went off in search of some "entertainment."
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| AKA "cold beer" |
Bognor has few redeeming features.
It was completely deserted...except for some creepy scarecrows...
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| Like what exactly is going on here? The Burning of the Bat Child? |
💀👹👻😱
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| ....doing some beauty mask treatments... | 😱 |
Our final day dawned pretty nicely but by mid morning had deteriorated. We packed up all belongings, garbage, recycling, and headed out to the trail, skipping once again a long haul on the road to start at Bognor Marsh Management Area. This area contains upland forest, three large marshes with boardwalks, natural regeneration areas and several small springs. It has a variety of waterfowl as well as other marsh animals, plants and birds. (Can you tell we read the Guide...?).
Start and End Pts: Parking lot at Bognor Marsh Management Area to parking area on 2nd Concession
Distance: 8 km
Hike Time:3ish hrs
Weather: hot, humid,spotty rain that turned torrential, thunder and lightening
Terrain:marshlands with boardwalks, forest trail along escarpment top, rocky, crevasses
Wildlife Sightings:rien de tout
Fit Bit Step Count: about 10,000
We hiked the marshlands easily, but as we moved into the forest, it darkened and started to rain. Thunder rolled above and it looked like a storm might just pass us over as the winds favoured our position. But that was not to be. After a couple of hours, a full on torrential rain storm began, complete with thunder and lightening. This was the first lightening storm the Sistahs have ever had to hike in!
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| Before the rains came! |
On our way down, we passed through the Wilson Homestead. This site has the ruins of the first settlers to live on the land, with a hand-dug well and the remains of the foundation of a home and barn. The trail also passes the crash site of a Cessna aircraft that killed 4 people in 1970.
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| Remains of the Cessna that crashed here. |
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| Oh, those famous ponchos sure come in handy! |
Once off the trail and back at our car, the rain stopped as quickly as it started, and we were able to dry off a bit, change our footwear, and take some celebratory pics. Of us in giant red chairs...
We will indeed be back.
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| ONWARD!! |
