Hike 23 : Unicorns and Hope - Maple Lane to Metcalfe Rock

Bruce Trail Beaver Valley Section

 

After an extended break of 4 years from the Bruce Trail, we are at long last back and ready to take on the final three sections – Beaver Valley, Sydenham, and Peninsula.  Our delay in both continuing and completing the BTC has occurred because in our time off it we undertook a 14,000 km hike across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail, which over the course of 556 days took us from Cape Spear, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia.

 

Beginning and Finishing the Trans Canada Trail, 2019-2022

 

To check out this amazing adventure click on this link: Come Walk With Us across Canada.

 

Our return to the Bruce Trail presents a number of logistical issues, which again means that we have to shift how we approach our hike along it.  For the first fifteen hikes from Queenston Heights to the Cheltenham Badlands we ventured out on day trips.  Then, given the increasing distances from our home base, we switched to participating in three organized End-to-End ventures through the Caledon Hills, Dufferin Hi-Land, and Blue Mountains sections.    Unfortunately, we missed the Beaver Valley End-to-End last year, and this year’s event was recently cancelled.  As a result, we have to change our approach to the Bruce Trail once again – this time shifting away from day hikes and organized End-to-End events, and instead setting off on a thru-trek of our own.

 

Thru Hiking the Bruce Trail

 

Thru-hiking the BTC system has over the years been both severely looked down upon by the trail organization, and challenging to do given a number of logistical realities. 

 

First, there are very few places to legally camp, or even to find paid accommodations along the route. Second, much of the Bruce Trail is on private property, in small communities, and traversing large cities, which makes wild camping a legitimate challenge. Third, given the location of the trail – which in sections is further from communities – regularly being able to resupply and get water is also extremely problematic. 

 

Unfortunately, if we want to trek the Beaver Valley section, our options are now very limited – and so we by necessity need to both thru-trek and occasionally wild camp the Bruce Trail from Craigleith until Blantyre. Our estimate suggests that we will be able to cover this distance in four days.  This means that we are leaving our rental vehicle parked ahead of us at one of the designated BTC parking areas, and being brought back to the beginning of the Beaver Valley section courtesy of a local trail angel and volunteer.  We will then spend the next several days slowly hiking back to our car.  This is only possible because of the kindness of a regional BTC trail angel who has offered to transport us from our parked car to our starting point!  A HUGE THANK YOU!

 

Beaver Valley: Our Hiking Unicorn

 

Every hiker and pilgrim will speak of the need to trek as much of the trail, if not every step of a pathway, as possible.  Those sections that hikers cannot cover on foot, whether from the lack of time, physical limitations, or natural barriers, often become mentally frustrating.  As a people, we often focus more on our supposed failures, and the gaps in our achievements, rather than on the other accomplishments that we have undertaken.

 

Almost a decade after starting the Bruce Trail, and despite having trekked some 5000 km across Spain, France, and Portugal, as well as walking 14,000 km across Canada, one of the most frustrating and unobtainable trail sections for us has been the Beaver Valley Section of the Bruce Trail.

 

Our inability to complete the Beaver Valley section is not for a lack of trying.  Indeed, we have sought, several times, to get to and trek the Beaver Valley.  In 2015 we made two attempts, the first being undermined by bad weather, and the second being stopped when our vehicle broke down en route to the trail. In the years that followed, we enrolled in one organized End-to-End, but it was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute.  Then, between 2019 and 2022, owing to the global Covid pandemic, both travel and trail usage was limited. 

 

The Beaver Valley section is therefore our unobtainable Unicorn.  We have constantly and without success chased after this seemingly unobtainable trail for a very long time.  And now after 4 years, we are able to get the opportunity, rent a car, and make the necessary arrangements to again attempt to hike the Bruce Trail from Craigleith, at the beginning of the Beaver Valley, to Owen Sound in the midst of the Sydenham section. 

 

Sacrifice and Loss

 

Given that you are reading this blog, you likely can already guess that we have been there, hiked it, and come back.  Yet, the fact remains that little in life is achieved without sacrifice.   In this case, there was a high cost to catching our unicorn.  This cost requires a bit of explanation before we share an account of our trek. 

 

Readers of our blogs will immediately notice that in the next few entries there are far fewer trail pictures - only place holder images.   This of course is certainly not the norm for us.  The simple answer is that after we had trekked the Beaver Valley section in a single venture over the course of 3-4 days, we then made a basic mistake – the result of which led to the loss of all our images for this section. 

Having completed the Beaver Valley section and reclaimed our car, we went into Owen Sound for a celebratory dinner … and left the DSLR camera on the passenger seat.  This was a mistaken entirely of our own making.   Sadly, when we returned to the vehicle an hour later we discovered that the car door had been pried open and that the camera and much of our camping gear had been stolen. 

 

Hence no pictures.   All that remains are the memories and our journal accounts. 

 

Beginning Beaver Valley

 

Our first day back on the Bruce Trail would see us trek from the Maple Lane parking lot – the dividing line between the Blue Mountain and Beaver Valley sections – some 27 or so kilometers to the western boundaries of the Kolapore Uplands.

Setting out from Maple Lane we uneventfully followed the trail along the escarpment and soon arrived to the Craigleith Ski Club.  There we enjoyed stunning panoramic views of Georgian Bay before continuing on.  Our route took us to an access road and led us into a deep valley amid a dense forest as we followed the undulating landscape.   Our trail alternated between being a packed dirt tract and being on slippery rock and shale.  After passing signs for the Loree Side Trail we again climbed to the top of the escarpment into the Len Gertler Memorial Loree Forest. 

 

Len Gertler Memorial Loree Forest

 

Venturing into Len Gertler Park, the trail took us through a forest of Eastern Cottonwood trees.  This beautiful forest was the result of a reforestation project done in the late 1940s to help restore the escarpment after a forest fire in 1906 had cleared it.   Walking through this lush area, it seemed impossible to imagine that at one point in recent memory it had been devastated.  As an interesting side note, apparently this forest was renamed in 2007 in memory of Len Gertler, whose research confirmed the need to protect the Niagara Escarpment and the essential lands around it.   The loop through the outcropping soon brought us back to the road, and with the first 8 kilometers of our day’s trek behind us, we took a break on the edge of the Len Gertler Memorial Forest before crossing the 21st Sideroad concession.

 

The Turn South

 

At this point it is worth noting that for the next 2-3 days the Bruce Trail ventures south rather than north.  This is part of the unique nature of this section – where the northerly momentum of venturing from Niagara to Tobermory is replaced with a 65 kilometer detour in the opposite direction.

 

In the process of weaving south we spent the next 13 kilometers descending, crossing a gurgling stream, climbing back up onto the escarpment, and then following a combination of road accesses, side roads, and concessions.   Although walking along country lanes is not normally our favorite type of hiking, this stretch nonetheless provided a nice break for our tired bodies - which were weighed down by full backpacks and camping gear - after the tough ascents and descents at the outset of the day. 

After an hour of following concession roads, we briefly turned to walk through a forested field where we crossed a small brook.  There, in a lovely patch of shade and with the cool of a stream nearby, we unstrapped our backpacks and took our second break for the day.  Pushing on, we descended into a ravine, making our way to the 6th Line, along which we crossed a stream, dealt with muddy trails, and rejoined another roadway.

 

Walking along the empty HWY 119, we trekked for some 15 minutes toward the crossroads at the village of Ravenna.  Our route however turned south, taking us across fields and crossing more small streams.  What followed this minor adventure was another several kilometers of road walking – which by this point had ceased to be enjoyable and started to feel as though we were simply walking a highway to Tobermory.  Interestingly, according to the BTC guidebook, in this stretch one point we had followed the “old Mail road” which is a historical pioneer route used in the mid-nineteenth century.  

 

Kolapore Uplands and Wilderness Trails

 

Pushing south, in short order crossed a number of concessions, following the landscape to a point near the community of Kolapore.  The village of Kolapore was first named Paradise.  Given the wealth of trees in the region, it began as a lumber community in the 1860s, and by 1865 it was a bustling mill. The Kolapore Uplands was a region that was logged to support these mills throughout the late nineteenth century.

 

We entered the Kolopore Uplands off of Grey Country Rd 2, passing a large white and green sign denoting that we had reached the park.  While the Bruce Trail there is a relatively direct route through this area, the Kolapore Uplands apparently has more than 50 km of trails, many of which are maintained as ski paths in the winter. We hiked west through a field and along a cedar hedge, crossing steams on small wooden bridges and passing through marshy lowlands before climbing uphill. 

An hour after entering into the Kolapore Uplands we climbed to the top of Metcalfe Rock, which provided a wonderful perspective of the park and forest around us.   Nearby, the cliffs were covered in short twisted cedars that seemed unique to the area.   Enjoying the view, we took off our backpacks and decided to have a cold dinner of wraps and cheese from the amazing vantage point.  An hour later we retraced our steps, descending from Metcalfe Rock and navigating off the BTC pathway and through the network of ski trails to find a quiet, unobtrusive place to hide away for the night.

 

Stealth Camping and Reflecting

 

Throughout the Kolapore Uplands the Bruce Trail moves through a dense forest that after 27 or so kilometers of trekking we welcomed.  With daylight fading we set about finding a quiet spot, purified and treated some water, and settled in to camp for the night.  The task of finding a campsite that was off the main trail, hidden out of sight, and on level ground was somewhat challenging.  Yet ultimately everything worked out as the day came to an end.  As of tonight we have completed more than 450 km of the Bruce Trail, but I have to admit that the weight of our full backpacks and gear has made this one of the toughest treks yet.

 

“More and More

In a Place like this

We feel ourselves part of wild nature

Kin to everything”

                                    John Muir