For those of you who are new here, Kattina and I are attempting to complete the Bruce Trail End to End. Now we're not doing all of this at once, but going out to the trail and coming home each time.
August 26th is when we started our third leg.
Now we had a lot more stuff this time because we had planned to sleep in the bush. One of these stuffs was a Magellan GPS that Brother Drew gave us after he replaced it. We hung it to our pack and set out. For the first 4 km, everything went smoothly. Shortly after this we attempted to check our stats and found that we had travelled no less than 18km...in less than 2 hours. That's right, we pwn! So needless to say we abandoned that method of logging stuff and we just had to jot stuff down based on the time (we're working on this folks).
So anyways, here we go! Tripblog #3
We arrived at Brock University at about 6:45pm and started hiking at 7:30. We had a few hiccups with gear which delayed our departure slightly, but hey, we still got out of there with some light.
8:10pm - We came accross 3 White Tailed Deer eating their supper not far from Brock University. They spotted us as we tried to snap a few shots of them and took off a few minutes later. The low light wasn't great with the zoom lens and we didn't yield great results.
Shortly after this, we were walking toward Lake Moodie and noticed a fantastic sign on the fence that read 'Caution, Crossing this fence may result in drowning'. Other signs so far have included, 'Shooting Range Do Not Enter', and 'Beware of Flying Golf Balls'.
8:25 - We arrived at Lake Moodie in the knick of time to catch an awesome sunset and a freaky bird! We also realized at this point that we were all out of blazes and had missed a switchback a hundred metres ago...Back track number 1. we found our way and kept up the pace.
8:30 - Little run in with a bat. Nothing to worry about. Forward.
8:40 - Time for the headlamps!
9:10 - We emerged once again at Lake Moodie but this time with a gravel path to follow. We had a clear view of the stars and and a great time just chatting together. We didn't even need our lamps; the stars and moon did all the work. I'd have to say this was probably one of the best parts of the trip. It took about 45 minutes to get back into the forested part of the trail after rounding the lake.
10:20 - We thought it was time to stop for a bite and we happened to find this AMAZING giant oak tree growing just off the path but hanging over an extremely steep hill with the sound of a rushing waterfall in front of us. Unfortunately because of the dark, we were uinable to actually get a look at the waterfall. But the food was amazing! Samosas courtesy of India Spice House and some delightfully crispy apples.
We chilled here for a bit while Kattina read out a beautiful letter from a beautiful friend that was given to us on our first anniversary. Shout out to Gabzilla/Gabbitronix/Gab-EE/Gabasaurus Rex/Gab 0210/Grabby Gabby/G-Dick.
From here we hiked around the waterfall and came out of the forest at the Morningstar Mill where we checked the map and travelled down the most frustrating part of any trail ever! We walked about a km up the road before realizing that we hadn't really seen any blazes for a little bit...we hadn't even seen a path off the road. So we turned around and backtracked (again!) to the mill where we revisited the map and went back up the road on the opposite side. We finally found the blaze...behind a road sign...awesome...
So around 11:30 we finally found our way back onto the trail! We went for another 20 minutes before finding the perfect place to rest for a bit. It was divine provision if you ask me. We had, to our left, a beautiful pine needle bed behind a load of tall grass nearly invisible from the trail.So we went in pitched the Wanderer 2, got into our warm clothes and snuggled up.
Now you should know that we opted out of bringing sleeping bags or thermarests for the sake of space and weight and we thought track suits and a tent would do the trick. Boy were we wrong! We woke up about 3 times each hour to readjust or to put more socks on or just to pray for warmth!
We do know that camping on the trail is considered trespassing and we do know you have to get busted while trespassing to be charged with trespassing and we did know we were taking a risk. But it was awesome.
We had the alarm set for 4am and we were up by 4:30. We started our day with Rice Crispy Squares and some phenominal peanut butter and jelly (RASPBERRY!) wraps. We packed up the tent, checked our gear and we were back on the trail by 6am.
The cool air was amazing. We walked along dew soaked fields and meadows and listened to the birds chirp with the sunrise. There was a cool mist over the earth and which seemed to make the morning that much more beautiful.
6:20 - We arrived at the entrance to Short Hills Provincial Park and were able to watch a doe and her fawn make their way up one of the short hills near the park entrance. We entered the park and found out quickly that it is appropriately named! The hills were pretty short for the most part but we did have some doozies. The park was filled with open meadows, waterfalls, and beautifully matured trees. It was kinda crappy because all of the waterfalls have dried up from the drought. Very cool to walk in though!
7:40 – We arrived at what looked like the summit of Short Hills. We walked up to a picnic table and a parking lot for horses. We sat down at the table which we dubbed 2nd Breakfast Table. Here we enjoyed a fine pint of breakfast beer and a couple samosas and fruit and we relaxed until 8.
8:00 – Back on the trail! We headed down an awesome hill and then back up a less awesome hill. We came into a path along the side of a wide open field and met an awesome Brown Snake. He was about a foot and half long and a little bit aggressive. I think we came up on him pretty quick and scared the little guy. We let him be and made a little note. Soon after this we found a road and exited the designated park area to cross a couple stiles behind some horse farms.
We saw a lot of cool creatures on this hike. It all kind of kicked off with the deer but the brown snake led to cicada, to two Butler Snakes, to a hawk, to many neat little interesting birds, to about 100 little toads, to big dirty vultures!
9:55 – I noticed a steep ridge to the right of the trail and saw some movement. About 30 feet away from us, I noticed a large, black turkey vulture! I kept going while switching to my zoom lens. By the time I turned around he was gone. I noticed a little cave in the rocks with some vulture poo and down feathers and I had a glimmer of hope that I might find a vulture feather. As I maneuvered my way toward the cave I started to get really excited I approached the opening and noticed that there were two vultures right inside!!! I scurried back up the hill to Kattina and got the camera. I came back and they were still there…I put J-May’s Vultures on the music box and snapped a few shots of the birds! I learned that vultures hiss when they mean business and I took that as my cue to move along…So I did…
From here on out, we knew our picker-upper at the end of the trail would be here soon and we had some distance to cover still so we attempted to boot it. We had to hustle through some really interesting parts of the trail that consisted of giant hunks of rock that we got to hop and skip across.
12:44 – We found the road! We were exhausted and sweaty and excited and we found the road! We made our way to the lot where we met our picker-upper, Laurene Wittich. We snapped one final photo and we were on to our next adventure. Yes, a trip to Mec(ca). We ate a pleasant lunch at Timmy’s and drove to Burlington!
When we arrived we had a few things in mind, packs were at the top of the list! After a stroll through the GPS, Water purifier, Bivy Sac, and Hiking tent sections, we met with Dina. Dina is a brilliant MEC employee and an even more brilliant person! She rocks, She was able to give us a ton of information on packs and backs! We learned how to properly pack a pack and strap a pack. We got the lowdown on sleeping bags, and therm-a-rests and she even gave us some rock solid financial advice! Thanks Dina! We’ll see you again bro!
NOW we were headed home. For real.
What did we learn this time? Well, nothing new. But I was reminded of a very important thing when it comes to marriage. It’s better together (Thanks Jack Johnson). We found that we had packed poorly and planned poorly when it came to the distance and the frigid night’s sleep. But while we were hiking around Lake Moodie, I looked at Kattina and told her I was glad she was with me. Two are better than one, especially when going through tough stuff. I’m sure we will encounter more challenging hikes, heavier packs, colder nights and wetter days, but as long as we are together, we can encourage one another and lead each other through the muck and the dark and the blisters and the chills. It’s also great because if one of us falls off a cliff or something, the other can dial 9-1-1. I think that’s in Ecclesiastes somewhere…The Message maybe…
The next hike is going to polish off the Niagara section of trail and it will be glorious.
If anyone is up for joining us, catch me on FaceBook or in real life.
Love Zach + Kattina + Bruce
xoxoxo
P.S. Photos will follow soon!
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