"There's dignity in suffering, nobility in pain, but failure is a salted wound, that burns and burns again!"
GCZZZ5: Bruce Trail Dufferin Hi-Land Section
As part of our goal of hiking the full Bruce Trail by 2017, which currently spans 894.1km (555.6 mi) from Niagara to Tobermory, we planned to hike the entire 53.8km (33.4 mi) Dufferin Hi-Land section this past Saturday.
53.8km would definitely be the longest I’ve hiked in a single day. Given how much I’d suffered trekking the first 38.8km section of Caledon (though the 2nd half of Caledon was not bad), I was worried whether my body would be able to endure. A few days before the hike, I came down with flu symptoms – chills and nausea. My legs felt so weak that I questioned whether I would be able to hike even 10km. Fortunately, a couple doses of Chinese herbal remedies and a strict diet and sleep schedule took care of my flu.
Our next obstacle was the weather. Heavy rains and winds were predicted for the entire weekend, with an expected 30-40 mm of rain. Rain or shine. No one said this was going to be easy.
Got up at 4am, departed at 5am, arrived at the end point just before 7am in moderate rain and dense fog. The end point is about 20 minutes from Collingwood, where I go skiing. I did not realize that we had gotten that far north. I’ve pretty much hiked more than my typical drive to Barrie on Hwy 400!
A bit ironic but perhaps fitting is that the end point parking is besides a cemetery, of all places. :|
NorthernPenguin and Fababoo shuttled us to the beginning. We also placed a bailout vehicle and some supply drops at strategic locations along the trail. Met up with a bunch more people at the start. After a group picture, the hikers got into formation and promptly raced off to the first stile.
The first stint of the hike started with Mono Cliffs. I have heard so much about this provincial park, mainly how beautiful it is and its famous Mono Cliffhanger multi. Being a cliff, the trail starts right off with an uphill climb. We passed by the artesian well from ages past. It was interesting to see water just bubbling out of a small little concrete hole. With its close proximity to the lake, I would have never guessed this was a well. Highlight of Mono Cliffs was a lookout from the top of the cliffs. The view was not as spectacular as it could have been, given with the gloomy weather and lack of foliage colours.
It was drizzling rain for an hour or so, which I did not mind too much. I had more problems with the wet ground, as I kept slipping on the boardwalks and logs. The worst was when I lost my footing at the top of a stile. I nearly fell down the rungs on my butt, but at the last possible moment, I pushed off with my other foot and jumped down to the ground. Fortunately, I struck the landing like an Olympic gymnast.
The big group broke up coming out of the Mono Cliffs section, and soon, it was Rovers3, jeff-trex, Team Goju and I leading the charge. As if following a trend of the hike, after Mono Cliffs, we would enter Boyne Valley Provincial Park. Cliffs, now valleys. Great.
The rain had stopped and the sky started clearing. It was turning into a beautiful day for “a walk in the park”. While most of the trees lost their leaves already, their colours blanketed prettily the floor of the trails and forest. I was actually expecting a lot of ups and downs upon entering the park. However, with the exception of detouring to search for our first geocache, the first part of the trail coursed through the valleys without too much change in elevation. The second half was a different story. The trail all of a sudden decidedly turned uphill. Coming out of the forest, we saw a big hill ahead with a snaking trail line; this must be the famous Murphy’s Pinnacle! Good thing that was the side trail in the distance we saw (though we came really close to the summit anyway). Afterwards, we had to trek through many valleys that gave Boyne its namesake. Whenever we came onto a ridge and looked down into a valley, we’d see the trail snake up the opposite ridge of the same elevation. :(
Rovers3 left our group at the 18.7km mark and we arrived at Team Goju’s first supply drop at 20.6km. After a short break for lunch, res2100 stumbled out of the trail to join us. Continuing on, we rode a ridge before coming out onto a road. Then we cut through Mulmur Hills with its rolling hills before arriving at our second supply drop.
Given my experience from the last BT hike, on this trip, I made sure I brought enough food. Hiking while hungry is not fun and with the long distances in this hike, I’d rather carry extra weight than go hungry. Ended up eating five of my six sandwiches and six of my ten bars on the hike. The fresh tomatoes from the supply drops were a godsend.
Continuing on, we saw some very interesting rock formations (aka earth cache) before embarking on 5km road section. Second half of it was all downhill, descending an astounding 150m in elevation into the Kilgorie area. Of course, as with any downhill on this trail, it only means we were due for an uphill climb on the other side. :|
We spent a bit of time exploring the Power House beside Pine River. The only things left standing were four concrete walls and a couple exposed pipes in the ground. Given the ghost town talks earlier in the hike, it felt pretty cool jumping around inside this building.
The trail turned sharply upwards to reach the Bell Lookout over the Pine River area. Daylight was fading fast at this point and we’d only reached the 34.8km mark. At least we were under the 20km to go. Res2100 was hurting quite a bit (feet and shoulders) at this point. For me, I had took a precautionary Advil Liqui-Gel a couple hours earlier, so while my legs were tired, they weren’t hurting yet.
Continued up from Prince of Wales Road before the trail veered off into the woods again. For some unknown reason, the Bruce Trail Association loves to route the trail up through hilltops. To make matters worse, it was pitch black already. Not really expecting any switchbacks up a hill, we spent a few minutes at the base of the hill trying to find the next blaze of the trail. No one expected to look backwards (up a switchback) for the blaze. :(
At 37km mark, I started to feel my knees tightening up. Another advil was in order. Road section until 39.6km, followed by a sharp uphill climb onto a ridge of open pastures. Since we were out in the open, the strong winds really slammed into us. Good thing it was mainly backwind. With the soft pastures, this section ended up being the perfect terrain for sore feet. Also, this was the first time in my life that I’ve seen cow pies. Holy crap, some were the size of small pizzas.
The trail turns backwards on Prince of Wales Rd again (I hate this routing), before descending into the valley towards our last and final supply drop. Despite being only a kilometre away to Centre Rd, the terrain was so rocky that I had to take extra care in my steps. In the dark and with the leaves on the ground, it was impossible to tell where the rocks and crevices laid. Any missteps translated into undue stress on my already painful knees.
During this portion of the hike, TOMTEC came over the FRS. We tried to reply back confirming our location and getting a ride out for res2100. Unfortunately, after some futile transmissions, we lost the channel. We got our final pit stop, spilled out the food and advils to fuel ourselves to the end. Jeff-trex and Team Gojus loaded up on the energy drinks.
Res2100 had considered taking the 5km road to the car, instead of the 9km trails to the end. Fortunately, He decided to finish the hike in the proper fashion, much to the relief of the group. We had heard from Rovers3 that the last 10km featured some nasty rocky descent. From the topographical maps, we assumed it was this section right after our supply drop. The downhill portions turned out to be some easy switchbacks, followed by a very manageable uphill climb. Once we got out of the valley, we trekked along road allowances (first time I’ve heard of such a term) and relatively flat terrain all the way to the end. At certain points on the trail, we spotted glowing red eyes tracking our movements. Also woke up some very large birds sleeping in the trees along the trail.
Well, it was a pretty uneventful hike to the finish. We had to cross a little stream that flowed out into a 20ft waterfall at one point. Knowing all too well how slippery wet rocks can be, I tried to be extra careful with where I was stepping. Ended up losing my step anyway. Dunked my shoe into the stream and broke my hiking stick at the same time. sigh.
From the 1st Line EHS, we made the final left turn onto the home straight to the chequered flag. As a final test of our perseverance, the road took one big dip before coming back uphill to the cemetery where our cars were parked. Not that we had much of a choice at this point but to keep going. The wind was strong and quite chilling, but the sky was crystal clear! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many stars in the sky.
Hiked the final 500m from the car to the finish. I was dead tired. The STOP sign with the final blaze marked the end of our journey. 16 hours and 21 minutes, arriving just before 1am in the morning. 53.8km officially (not accounting for elevation changes). We finished. Our accomplishment totally did not sink in at that moment. We took our pictures and scurried our way back to the cars to warm up. I had such a hard time climbing up the steps into Team Goju’s van. My knees refused to bend.
We waited for a bit, before travelling down 1st Line EHS to see if we can spot the second group of hikers behind us. Team Goju took out a mailbox while backing out his van on that road. I don’t know how he jumped out of his car so quickly given his sore legs, but he returned saying “My van is OKAY!!” lol. The second group ended up waving the white flag at the 42.8km mark.
We picked them up and I got home at 4am. It was a physical struggle to climb the stairs up to my bedroom (at least 5 minutes to get up that single flight of stairs). No words can describe how painful that experience was. I woke up the next morning at 9am (stupid internal clock!) and could barely walk. Both my knees were shot and every inch of my body was aching.
Contemplating back on the hike… Not everyone can hike 53.8km and I definitely paid a hefty price for this little adventure. The biggest satisfaction was not that we hiked the entire section or distance, but that at no point did I even think of bailing out midway. There were definitely many opportunities for us to quit early (especially that little voice inside Res2100’s head). But I was here to do 53.8km. No matter what time I’d finish the hike, I’m damn well going to finish. Knowing that I have this mental perseverance really builds up confidence for the future, and that in and of itself is what is most satisfying.
Of course, I’m a 1-day End-To-Ender now for a full section of the Bruce Trail too. $$
I did not really go through my photos from the hike yet. I’ll get those posted once I sort them out. However, here’s a short video I put together of some of the sights from the hike.
Till next time!
P.S. 53.8KM BABY!