Bruce Trail End to End Part 1
Welcome to the first of doubtless many entries that will attempt to document the efforts of dairymilk & me, as we attempt to hike every kilometre of the Bruce Trail within 365 days.
This Sunday was a great day for an outdoor hike. Lots of sun, a bit chilly, mostly-fresh snow everywhere. We piled into a pair of cars along with westacular, pundigrion, mooseb0y, S, and J. Leaving K-W at 10am, we got to Mono Centre shortly before noon and parked in the Community Centre, where we met up with (another) S and A, and their two jack russels terriers in hilarious winter coats and booties. Our goal for the day - the Bruce Trail section that goes through Mono Cliffs Provincial Park.
The trail crosses the road about 50 metres from Mono Cliffs Inn, diving into the park. It is used (along with various side trails and park trails) by many cross-country skiers and snowshoers. Thanks to this, the trail was pretty well packed, if single-file. Us lowly hikers were treated to good footing and no sinking into the deep snow that abounded.
Our hike took us over the crests of windswept hills, through snow-filled hardwood forests, and past the picturesquely frozen McCarston's Lake. The sky was very clear, and the snowy valleys that we hiked around were particularly beautiful in the early afternoon sun. After about 90 minutes of hiking, we exited the park and left the nicely packed ski trails behind. Luckily, the snow was nice and fluffy, and I had my gaiters on, so I was able to wade through the shin-deep accumulation without much trouble. It was certainly much more tiring than hiking on the hard-packed trails, but it at least it was downhill!
At the bottom of the ungroomed hill, we met up with a series of snowmobile trails. The majority of the group elected to take a break while dairymilk, A & I continued to our projected endpoint. It did not take long for us to get to 1st Line E, where the Trail continues along the road. Doing so allows us to park right at that dead end in order to continue our trek next time, with no backtracking.
For the route home, half the group elected to head South to link up with the other end of 1st Line E, then take roads back to Mono Centre. dairymilk, J, A & S & their dogs and I all went back through the park. Rather than following the Bruce Trail all the way back (the way out took us just over 2 hours), we took some of the route-shortening link trails and made it back to Mono Centre in just under an hour, five minutes faster than the group that elected to take the roads :) The dogs were too tired to walk back, so one went into A's coat, and the other got put in my backpack.
As a side note, Mono Centre was holding their Winterfest on Sunday! We celebrated with free apple cider, and, a special treat for dairymilk, a horse-drawn sleigh ride! Then, we went to Mono Cliffs Inn for dinner/lunch, it being 3:30, and most people not having had a meal since breakfast. Decent food, if a bit pricey. It's definitely an upscale joint. At least, the restaurant upstairs is. The pub downstairs was way to packed for the nine of us to pile in.
(Start Point km 1.0, End point km 9.6)
Distance covered today: 8.6km
Total Bruce Trail distance covered: 8.6km
Bruce Trail % completed: 0.96%
Total Dufferin Hills distance covered: 8.6km
Dufferin Hills % completed: 15.55%
This Sunday was a great day for an outdoor hike. Lots of sun, a bit chilly, mostly-fresh snow everywhere. We piled into a pair of cars along with westacular, pundigrion, mooseb0y, S, and J. Leaving K-W at 10am, we got to Mono Centre shortly before noon and parked in the Community Centre, where we met up with (another) S and A, and their two jack russels terriers in hilarious winter coats and booties. Our goal for the day - the Bruce Trail section that goes through Mono Cliffs Provincial Park.
The trail crosses the road about 50 metres from Mono Cliffs Inn, diving into the park. It is used (along with various side trails and park trails) by many cross-country skiers and snowshoers. Thanks to this, the trail was pretty well packed, if single-file. Us lowly hikers were treated to good footing and no sinking into the deep snow that abounded.
Our hike took us over the crests of windswept hills, through snow-filled hardwood forests, and past the picturesquely frozen McCarston's Lake. The sky was very clear, and the snowy valleys that we hiked around were particularly beautiful in the early afternoon sun. After about 90 minutes of hiking, we exited the park and left the nicely packed ski trails behind. Luckily, the snow was nice and fluffy, and I had my gaiters on, so I was able to wade through the shin-deep accumulation without much trouble. It was certainly much more tiring than hiking on the hard-packed trails, but it at least it was downhill!
At the bottom of the ungroomed hill, we met up with a series of snowmobile trails. The majority of the group elected to take a break while dairymilk, A & I continued to our projected endpoint. It did not take long for us to get to 1st Line E, where the Trail continues along the road. Doing so allows us to park right at that dead end in order to continue our trek next time, with no backtracking.
For the route home, half the group elected to head South to link up with the other end of 1st Line E, then take roads back to Mono Centre. dairymilk, J, A & S & their dogs and I all went back through the park. Rather than following the Bruce Trail all the way back (the way out took us just over 2 hours), we took some of the route-shortening link trails and made it back to Mono Centre in just under an hour, five minutes faster than the group that elected to take the roads :) The dogs were too tired to walk back, so one went into A's coat, and the other got put in my backpack.
As a side note, Mono Centre was holding their Winterfest on Sunday! We celebrated with free apple cider, and, a special treat for dairymilk, a horse-drawn sleigh ride! Then, we went to Mono Cliffs Inn for dinner/lunch, it being 3:30, and most people not having had a meal since breakfast. Decent food, if a bit pricey. It's definitely an upscale joint. At least, the restaurant upstairs is. The pub downstairs was way to packed for the nine of us to pile in.
(Start Point km 1.0, End point km 9.6)
Distance covered today: 8.6km
Total Bruce Trail distance covered: 8.6km
Bruce Trail % completed: 0.96%
Total Dufferin Hills distance covered: 8.6km
Dufferin Hills % completed: 15.55%