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Published: July 10th 2016
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This was a difficult hike for a variety of reasons, I will detail them in the following paragraphs. Today would be one of my longer hikes. It would be somewhere around 35KM to Old Base Line Rd in Caledon.
I parked my at the Bruce Trail Parking lot at 15 Side Rd in Speyside. I was carrying extra food and water because I would be on the trail for 8 hours at the minimum. I walked about 1km to get onto the trail. This is where the hard part of the trail starts. The terrain was tough with swampy, rocky and slippery terrain. There is also a lot of mosquitoes and other bugs because the swamp in this part of the trail. I moved as quickly as I could through this part but it was a 6km hike to get out of. Halfway through the hike I heard a loud crash and there had to be some kind of large animal. I didn't get a look at the animal but whatever it was it didn't try to attack me so I was ok with that.
The next part of the hike started at 4th line rd and after climbing
Vegetation trail
There is a trail underneath all that vegetation a stile to get back onto the trail I was walking past a farmer's field. This was incredibly slow going because the vegetation had overrun the trail so you are wading through dense vegetation. This would be repeated in the Limehouse conservation area and combined with rocky portions made slow going. It was exhausting to navigate this portion of the trail and I was soaked walking through the vegetation. This caused a problem because my boots which were water resistant got overwhelmed and I ended with soaked socks as well.
The tough part of the trail ends at 6th line and you walk for about 1 km on the road until you reenter the trail at Silver Creek. The trail here is well maintained and wide and easier to hike in. You walk along the Escarpment in this section and there are some good views as well. A note here when you exit the trail at tenth line there is no trail markers that I could find. Just follow the road south and you will see some trail markers in a few hundred meters. There are some nice lakes in this section but I believe they are privately owned
because they had high fences around them.
I had hit the 25 KM mark at this point and I was starting to feel the strain. Because I wasn't wearing socks blisters were starting to form on my feet but I couldn't bring myself to put on my soaked socks again. I looked in my bag for my first aid but I couldn't find it. I than had a flashback to apartment and reorganizing my first aid kit but neglecting to put it in my backpack. Well it was a painful lessons because the bandages would have really helped with my blisters.
Anyway I exited the trail at Winston Churchill and then I took the wrong trail. I should have turned left at Winston Churchill and gotten back on the Bruce Trail. Instead I walked down the Caledon Trailway. In hindsight it was probably a good idea because the trail was both flat and well maintained and I was reaching the end of my endurance anyway. I was planning to walk all the way to Old Base Line Rd but I realized I was on the wrong trail at Creditview rd and decided to call it day.
Total
hike was 36KM and 8.5 hours. I am adjusting my hiking schedule after today and I will hike everyday for a few KM and I hope to finish some time in October.
Thanks to Richard and Gaby Willis for driving me back to my car.
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