Bruce Trail : Sectional Hiking or Thru Hiking?
Hiking the Bruce Trail
As we review our time on Ontario’s amazing Bruce Trail the most striking thing to us is the fact that, unlike the Camino Frances, East Coast Trail or Caminho Portuguese – and especially unlike the Trans Canada Trail – we did NOT thru hike the path along the Niagara Escarpment.
Instead, owing to the nature of amenities on the pathway - as well as a very stern email from a secretary at the BTC itself – we section hiked the Bruce Trail. As a result, our trek on the Bruce Trail was undertaken over the course of years rather than days, weeks and months of the pathway.
Geographical not Chronological
While the blog will flow along the trail from South to North following the geographic course of the Bruce Trail from Niagara Falls / Queenston Heights to Tobermory. The simple truth of this blog is that the various sections along the Bruce Trail were often hiked out of order as fit our schedule and ability to travel. In this way, step by step the Bruce Trail was undertaken as a combination of family trips, day hikes, weekend treks, and End to End organized hikes.
Years ago we had initially hoped to thru hike the Bruce Trail, however our brief inquiry about the possibility led to such a shocking and direct response that we soon reassessed our options. Simply put in our emailed inquiry to the Bruce Trail Organization we were unswervingly informed that we were
“absolutely not to attempt thru hiking the Bruce and that any attempt to do so would not be acknowledged as having hiked the pathway by the organization.”
At the same time our application to the BTC for patches indicating that we had completed the Penninsula and Beaver Valley sections over the course of a thru trek were flatly refused as
"hikes that your submitted journals and pictures admit to being thru hikes are not permitted on the Bruce Trail. Your hike cannot be considered as completed by the organization's Trail User's Code.”
And so when we set about planning our goal of venturing End to End along the remaining sections of the Bruce Trail, we knew that we had to do it within the bounds of the organization’s goals.
Naturally Beautiful, Logistically Challenging
The simple fact is that, while the Bruce Trail system is beautiful, inspiring, amazingly well designed as well as being wonderfully maintained it is also frustratingly not built around the needs of thru hikers or with thru hikers in mind. While this had not always been the case or the plan – given that the Bruce Trail is modelled after the Appalachian Trail – the challenges of balancing camping areas against conservation and historic problems which dealt with the destruction of built sleeping shelters has led to a move against encouraging thru hiking.
The nature of the Bruce Trail is such that finding regular sites were camping is permitted, the availability of water, and the distance of supplies from the pathway makes thru hiking a logistical challenge. Understandably one cannot simply camp anywhere on the Bruce Trail as it passes through private property, and such activities often lead to the accumulation of trash along the pathway. There are admittedly a few places where Bruce Trail hikers can camp legitimately, however they are infrequent and often spaced several days apart. As such even those who strive to thru hike in a legitimate fashion need to accept that it will require a mixture of long hiking days, the use of alternative accommodations such as motels, pensions, B&B's, as well as likely require the use of taxis to get off of and back onto the pathway.
Things Change...a little
Reflecting as we write this blog, years after our trek along the Bruce and it seems that the BTC is no longer so jaded against thru hikers, and has instead shifted towards a more passive acceptance of the situation. Despite this shift however the organization still does not encourage thru hikes nor has it worked towards adding the types of amenities needed to help those who wish to trek the entire system in one go. Instead the policy now seems to be one of passively ignoring those who admit to thru hiking the BTC and as a result we have subsequently have found more and more of individuals who have thru hiked the entire trail in recent years and been congratulated by the Bruce Trail organization! So attitudes are slowly shifting.
The benefits include:
There is no need to carry all of your camping gear, days of food, or manage resupply points!
You are able to rest in between sections and after tough days!
With day hikes and section walks you mostly get to choose your weather conditions!
Gives you more time to explore and appreciate each part of the trail.
The limitations include:
Longer time commitment to complete the trail.
Never really get your body to build up it's endurance.
Don’t get the same wider appreciation for the trail as you might if you were living on it
regularly from day to day.
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