Day 4 - Three in a row....

Today took us from Woolverton to Felker's Falls, just south of Hamilton. At just under 20 km, this was a welcome releif as my feet have been very sore after 10 km each day. I've tried all the footware I have with me and nothing seems to help.


We did take a short side trip to the Devil's Punchbowl....awesome...and well worth a visit if you are in the area. I believe you could drive to the top.

Let's try a little video action.....

We're not sure when the next trip will be but will keep you posted. Be sure to check out the progress page and Bars we've visited page.....

Day 3 - Much Nicer......

A little delay on this post, but better late than never. After the long hike of yesterday, finishing with sore feet and in the dark, we decided to reduce our goal and set at 20-25 km per day. This turned out to be a much better option and we could finish with a little left in the tank.

We picked up where we left off at Quarry Road and finished at Woolverton Road. This took us through Grimsby and several ups and down the escarpment.

Day 2 - Nice Rack !!!!!

Ok, now get your heads out of the gutter.....we actually were about 30 m from a large buck in the afternoon today.

Our second day of hiking was quite a learning experience for us. We got a late start after leaving from my house in Milton in the morning, set the cars 36 km apart and both of us ran into some foot issues....we ended up finishing at about 7 pm, in the dark, just before we were forced to dig through our packs and find our flashlights. This lead to much reconsideration of our goals and options.

We started this journey inspired by two of our friends - This summer Charlotte set the record for this 900 km trail by running it in 13 days, 10 hours and just recently Henri (let's just say he's a bit older than even me) covered the distance with 18 x 50 km days. Our 36 km day (that whipped both of us) seemed paltry by comparison. Over a couple of beers at the bar that night, we decided that for the near future we should plan 20-25 km segments so that we can enjoy the time, stop for photos, eat a leisurely lunch and take side trips when desired. This will allow us to possibly work our way up to longer hikes, but currently we are hiking at 5 kph and averaging 4 or less kph overall.

While it was still light out, we saw several awesome waterfalls:

Decew Falls at Morningstar Mill

Ball's Falls from the north side

We were very tired at the end of the day, got to the hotel in Jordan at about 8 and while we did have dinner and drinks in the bar, had an early night of it to get ready for the next day......

Stumbling the Bruce 1.1

We were originally going to have our next weekend hiking in mid Dec but trying to salvage some dignity and make up for Day #2 we decided to insert a Special Edition hike. Through a whole bunch of conversations like "I'll have my people call your people!" we managed, at great personal sacrifice, to arrange for a special edition 3 day weekend (and we hope we actually hike more than one of those three days ;-) in the near future.

Our next hike is scheduled for October 24th, 25th, 26th (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). We are starting about 30k in (In St. Catherines) and hope to knock off about 90 to 100 km over the 3 days). I have no idea where that will have us end, but nonetheless it should be fun!

If anyone want to join in, let us know. We realize that weekdays aren't too good for most people but this was one of the more convenient ways for us both to have free time at the same time.

So, stay tuned and keep in touch ...

Weird.....

OK, this one was a little weird......this photo was taken on a clear day with no sunlight to produce glare......there were many other clear photos taken of this old tunnel under the railroad track from this spot, but then we heard the rumour that this tunnel is actually haunted...... you be the judge ......

Our First Major Challenge

We encountered our first major challenge about 2/3 of the way into our first day! Being somewhat tired and parched we looked up and, reaching to the heavens, towering above the trees was a tower with the following words ... "THE KEG". I want you all to imagine the willpower and self control we had to come up with to bravely, with heads held high, march right on past. The temptations didn't end there as we almost immediately had to resist the siren's song from both Boston Pizza and Kelsey's! You could certainly liken this adventure to a modern day "Odyssey".

I have a feeling that had the weather been a sunny 90 degrees we would certainly have yielded to that blond seductress, Ice Cold Beer!

The challenges are greater than anticipated but I believe, that in the end, we will reign triumphant!

Day #2

Don: I don't think we're hiking today!
Gary: What do you mean? Why?
Don: It's like 12:30!
Gary: No Way!!
Don: Oh yeah!

So combine a late wake-up with various minor ailments like a blister, sore muscles etc, and our Day 2 total = 0km! We had a leisurely morning (afternoon), a great brunch thanks to Sue and Ralph and then headed to Gary's in Milton to plan our next assault on the mighty Bruce!

We have a few dates in mind and will post them when we know for sure so that if anyone is interested in joining us for a day or two on the trail you can let us know. Keep in mind that our daily totals on this total adventure are likely to be anywhere from 50k to zero ;-)

Our next trip we are thinking about a 36k day and maybe a 25k or 30k day which will result in completing the Niagara section of the trail. We will be starting at km 30.1 and heading from there. Hope to see some of you join in at some point along the way (approx hiking speed is 4 to 5 km per hour).

cheers

Minor Setback!

We need your support now more than ever! After a minor setback we have fallen off the pace for setting a new World Record for traversing the entire Bruce Trail. The current record is 13 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes (held by our friend Charlotte). Given our start time of Sept 25, 11:00 AM we have until October 8th 9:50 PM to reach Tobermory in triumph! We are trying to rally but, FYI, if I were a betting man I wouldn't be taking time off to be in Tobermory on Oct. 8th! Stay tuned for up to the minute updates ;-)

First report from the trail ...

So, here's the day 1 report ... We got up sort of on time and traveled from Milton to St. Catherines where we dropped off Gary's Rav 4 at approx 30 km into the hike. We then proceeded to the Southern Terminus Cairn. We started our adventure at precisely (GDT ... Gary and Don Time - which means not very precise at all) 11:00 AM! Yup, no point in getting all crazy about this. We had a leisurely morning, a coffee, filled our camelbacks with Nuun, enjoyed a Tim Horton's bacon/egg/muffin thing (and some people will totally get the importance of this ritual ;-), and we were off.



The hike went well! We had good weather - not too hot, not to cold! It was a bit windy but overall very good hiking conditions! Part of the hike was a bit urban but considering the population density they hide the trail very well!

One of the highlights was an abandoned section of the Welland canal. Pretty interesting, historical, and amazing considering when this was built!

We had a great lunch of Gary's veggie burritos (recipe to be shared later ... If Gary can be convinced to give it up).



We ultimately hiked around Brock university and ended up at the dropped car at approx 5:30. 6.5 hours total time - counting a lunch break so were averaging just under 5 kph which was the upper end of our anticipated speed range. Yay us!

We drove to Ralph and Sue's place in St. Catherines, cleaned up, had supper, and then went out on the town. Pub #1 in the books! The Niagara Wine Festival was on and while we didn't partake in that per se we went to a lovely pub called the Merchant Ale House and had some surpisingly good house micro-brewed ales. Things carried on from there and pleading the fifth (get used to it), we will jump ahead to Sunday ...

Continuing the adventure......

We're scheduled to continue the adventure on the weekend of December 11/12 from where ever we get on the first weekend. Hopefully it will be about 50 km in, but given Gary's toe injury from Crank the Shield and our affection for beer.......anything is possible....we might still be in Niagara Falls at the terminus....

Embarking on an adventure ....

Well, we are getting ready (drinking beer) and will be ready to hit the trail tomorrow morning. Updates will be sporadic, usually just before, during, and/or after one of our adventures. Feel free to follow along, comment, and share our fun!

Well, here we go!

Follow along as Gary and Don explore the Bruce Trail, Canada's oldest and longest footpath, providing the only continuous public access to the magnificent Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve ... except we'll be doing it OUR way!! Inns, Pubs, and a whole lot of fun! ...

This summer Gary and Don had the opportunity and privilege to crew for a friend (Charlotte V) who ran the entire Bruce Trail end to end in world record time. As a result we both had our interest in the Bruce rekindled (Don previously lived in Wiarton and Gary lives in Milton). We decided to hike the trail in a somewhat more sane fashion and anticipate a total time of between 3 and 5 years depending on how much life gets in the way. While anyone hiking the entire Bruce Trail truly is undertaking a project of epic proportions, after seeing what Charlotte accomplished we downgraded our description to "Sub-epic". Gotta stop hanging around with overachievers! ;-)

Oh, and did we mention there just may be beers involved ... cheers!!