I met my brother who followed me to my end point where I parked my car. He drove me to the start of my day's hike at the 144.1km mark of the Sydenham section at Dodd's Hill.
The trail headed west off Kemble Rock Road along the top of the escarpment - there was some woods but mostly open and across outcrops of rock. Here are some photos from this section including the area around Graham's Hill Road and Big Bay Road, looking north towards the village of Big Bay and Georgian Bay beyond.
The trail followed Big Bay Road north for about 1.5km and then headed west along Cape Road to the 148.2km mark. At this point the trail headed west into the woods skirting the northerly side of the Slough of Despond. This place name is from a fictional, deep bog in John Bunyan's The Pilgrims Progress which the protagonist, Christian, sinks into under the weight of his sins and the sense of guilt about those sins. The ANSI (Area of Natural and Scientific Interest) designated area is actually a significant geographical example of a "bay mouth bar". This area was a bay on the glacial Lake Algonquin millions of years ago. When the glacial lake retreated, a barrier was formed across the bay mouth retaining the lake and wetland. Today there is a significant wetland area with a small lake or lagoon surrounded on 3 sides by the elevated Niagara Escarpment. Bruce Trail side trails travel along the upper escarpment to the south of the wetland. The main Bruce Trail follows Cape Road and along Colpoy's Range Road to the north of the wetland. Here are some photos from along Cape Road, Colpoy's Range Road and up the climb up onto the escarpment at the 152km mark.
Foundation of a pioneer structure.
From the 152km mark the trail headed north and then west along the top and edge of the escarpment towards what is one of the most picturesque parts of the Bruce Trail. The escarpment in this area is known as Skinner's Bluff and can be as much as 60 meters above the land below. The bluff affords incredible views to the north and northwest over Colpoy's Bay including Hay, White Cloud and Griffiths Islands.
White Cloud Island is famous for an early steamship, the Jane Miller, that sank off it's shore in 1881. It had refuelled at Big Bay heading to Wiarton and encountered a snow storm, capsized and sank. Oars and other debris was found on the island. Griffiths Island is home to a 2300acre private sports and hunting club established back in the 1970's. It is also home to a 26 meter lighthouse. Also of historical note, it is said that Samuel de Champlain, the early explorer landed on this island in 1609. Lastly, Hay Island is owned by a single landowner today - a lot of the island was used to grow hay as far as back as the 1850's when British troops were on the island.
Here are some photos along the Skinner's Bluff section of the trail.
Here are photos of my lunch - I sat on a rock on an outcrop with these views - stunning!
At the 157.1km mark of the trail, I took the Len Holley side trail south for about 1.7km to where I had parked my car and headed home.
Another wonderful day of hiking!
Completed:716.1km
