Bruce Trail Hike: Day 24 Hurontario and Hwy 89 Mono, ON to 10 Side Road Shelburne, ON

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Today was a wet day for hiking. For the record I deliberately chose a rainy day for my hike. This is because I wanted to toughen myself up for hiking in bad weather. I drove north and reach my end of head of trail near Hurontario and Hwy 89 just south and east of Shelburne. It is a busy road but you can park on the side of the road because there is wide shoulders there. You can tell where the trail starts here by the large cell tower near the trail markers.

I climbed over some wooden Stiles and entered Boyne provincial park. The trail here starts off easy but it gets progressively narrower until you are basically walking through vegetation. I missed a trail marker and went through the center of the park instead of following the Bruce Trail. I was only off by about 500 meters so it wasn't too bad. Between the rain and the close vegetation I was fairly wet by the time I exited the park. Once you leave the park you walk around the perimeter of a farm field so it is fairly easy going. After that I entered the forest again and froze when I heard something large in the underbrush. It was a large deer that darted across my path. The trail at this point gets harder and there is a lot of uphill and downhill parts to this trail. It went on for a few KM until you reach 1st Line EHS. The next 5 KM of this trail gets more and more difficult. The hills are not steep but they go on for a long time. Take your time and watch your step because the rain will make the trail slippery. Finally I reach Side Rd 8 and I walked along the road for about 250 Meters before taking a break along the side of the rd. I had increased the time between breaks to 90 Minutes and 7.5KM instead of 1 Hour. This allows me to cover more distance in shorter time. The final 5KM of the hike takes you through a place called the Enchanted forest. I will admit the skinny trees and the overall lack of sunlight in the area gave it a kind of creepy and mysterious feel. It was probably my imagination but I felt like something was watching me from the forest.

I exited the trail at 10 Side Road in Shelburne and hiked back to my car. It was raining hard at this point but I had my rain poncho so the last 8KM hike went well enough. Total hike distance 23.5 KM and 5 Hours. I am now over halfway done the Bruce Trail 😊 😊

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