Trail Talk: A challenging trek on the Bruce Trail

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Although I mostly hike in Huron County, I occasionally venture to trails outside of the region. A recent trek was with a group of local hikers on the Bruce Trail between Rush Cove and Hope Bay on the Bruce Peninsula.

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Although this was shown as only 14 kilometres, it was made challenging by the rocky path. As one member put it,”On the Maitland Trail, there are places where you constantly have to watch where you put your feet, but these don’t last long before you are on a good old logging road. On this section of the Bruce Trail, you had to be careful about 95 per cent  of the time.”

The day was hot and humid — a high of 27.8 C — and the predicted afternoon rain did not occur. We found we were taking longer than expected in the heat, and we had not taken enough liquid refreshments. Not a big problem, but a bit more liquid would have been nice.

There were many different ferns and lots of trilliums and forget-me-knots. The more unusual sightings for me included a smooth greensnake, a western rattlesnake plantain (a plant),  a carpet bugle, rock polypody and wild sarsaparilla. Researching wild sarsaparilla (Aralia),  I realized that a better name is false sarsaparilla since it is not related to the Asian sarsaparilla (Smilax), which is used to make the herbal sarsaparilla drink common in the 19th century, when it was considered as a remedy for skin and blood problems. Our wild (false) sarsaparilla root has been used as a substitute for true sarsaparilla. The plant develops purple black berries that are sweet and spicy and edible.

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Congratulations to another of our local hikers, Susan Ethelston, on recently completing the whole Bruce Trail, and to Boris Rajic, who completed the Maitland Trail both ways (104 kilometres) in one day. What a remarkable feat.

Notes

The work on the G2G tunnel under the county road has started, so that portion of the G2G and county road will be closed  until at least mid-June.

Saturday, June 8, at 9 a.m. Maitland Trail. Hike River Line to Sharpes Creek – meet at 80918 Sharpes Creek Line and carpool to River Line. Expect some large hills. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact George Cantin at streamsideinc@gmail.com or Jonah Melville at Jonah.melville@ gmail.com. This is moderately paced level 3 hike for 2.5 hours.

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Sunday, June 9, at 9 a.m. Cycle Point Clark Lighthouse. Start at Point Clark Lighthouse and ride along the beach roads to Bruce Beach Road and then return to the lighthouse. Meet at parking area at Point Clark Lighthouse. Highlights: Views of the lake and fascinating cottages/homes. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Donald Andrew at 519-530-9019 via call or text. This is a beginner crushed-gravel trail, with some pavement and some off-road trails. The one-way distance is 14 km.

Saturday, June 15, at 10 a.m. Cycle – Naftel’s Creek Conservation Area. Start at the parking lot of Naftel Creek Conservation Area on Bluewater Highway 21. Highlights: Forested area. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Donald Andrew at 519-530-9019 via call or text. Difficulty: Moderate, with some small hills and roots on the trails. The distance is eight kilometres one way.

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Saturday, June 15, at 1 p.m. Hike the Maitland Trail from Cherrydale Road to Sharpes Creek Line. Meet at 80965 Sharpes Creek Line (near Bishop’s Road) to carpool to Cherrydale Road. Expect to take about 2.5 hours. For more information and to confirm your attendance, please contact Patrick Capper at pcapper99@gmail.com. This is a briskly paced Level 3 hike.

All participants taking part in the Maitland Trail events should sign the waiver for 2024, preferably the online version.

Tuesday Trompers meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to hike for about an hour. If you wish to be on this email list, send an email to mta@maitlandtrail.ca

Midweek Hikers hike for 90 minutes to two hours on Wednesdays or Thursdays, contact Patrick Capper.

Both groups meet at 9 a.m. and are open to non-members provided they sign the MTA online waiver.

If you have questions or something of interest for Trail Talk email me, Patrick Capper, at pcapper99@gmail.com.

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