Hiking the Bruce Trail End to End + Other Adventures: Colpoy's Bay and Wiarton

I'm late getting this next hike logged but better late than never.

Early June, my older son and I headed north for a long single day hike. The weather was very nice - sunny and warm. We drove to Wiarton and parked the car there and got a local taxi ride out to our start for the day.

We started the day at the parking spot at the corner of Colpoy's Range Road and Gleason lake Road and hiked the 1.7km in on the Len Holley side trail to where it met the main trail at the 157.1km mark of the Sydenham section. The trail followed the brink of the escarpment through both wood and open areas for approximately 3km. At the 160.6km mark we took the access trail to the Bruce Caves. After about 0.5km we arrived at the caves - much more spectacular than I was expecting. The Bruce Caves are examples of caves that can be found all along the escarpment that were formed as a result of wave action of the post glacial Lake Algonquin 7000-8000 years ago. These caves are some of the largest along the escarpment. History recounts that Robert Bruce, a hermit, lived at the entrance to the caves in the 1800's. He would charge tourists, who arrived by horse and buggy, admission to enter and see the caves. Here are some photos of this section and the caves.

We continued towards Wiarton with a long 2.5km hike along Highway 1 looking north over Colpoy's Bay.

At the 164.3km mark the trail turned south and entered the Wiarton-Keppel International Airport property. The airport was built in 1948 as an emergency airfield for flights travelling between Toronto and Winnipeg. Today the airport is municipally owned and operated. Of significance, Governor General, the Honorable David Johnston, arrived and departed the airport for his May 2016 visits to Owen Sound and Meaford. Here are some photos around the airport.

At the 167.5km mark we entered the town of Wiarton, with the trail following streets into town towards and along the waterfront to Colpoy's Bay. At the waterfront we concluded the Sydenham section of the trail.

Wiarton was established in 1855 and by 1894 the population was 2000, similar to the population today. It is known as the "Gateway" to the Bruce Peninsula and is home to Wiarton Willy, the albino ground hog that each Ground Hog Day emerges to forecast the length of the remaining winter. Wiarton's climate is warm and humid in the summer and very cold and very snowy in the winter - the area receives on average 405cm of snow annually due to the surrounding waters. Here is Wiarton Willie - felt sorry for him as he looked old and not very happy in his cage.

We stopped at the car and picked up our cooler and had lunch at a picnic table on the waterfront looking out over Colpoy's Bay - a very nice and relaxing break!

After lunch we headed north out of Wiarton along the base of the rising escarpment - beginning the Peninsula section of the trail - the last section of the Bruce Trail. At the 2.9km mark we arrived a steep climb up the escarpment to the "Spiral Staircase" which got us up the last 10 meters of elevation to the top of the escarpment. The area here is also known for the "Spirit Rock Lookout". Legend has it that a young First Nations woman jumped from the escarpment in this area and perished on the rocks below because her tribe disowned her for falling love with an enemy chief. Here are a couple of photos from this section.

We continued on the trail northeast through woods and fields to the 4.3km mark where the trail was recently re-routed. The trail headed further north and then crossed Highway 9 into a newly acquired/managed property called "The Vanishing Stream Nature Reserve". The trail cut across farmer fields - as we hiked the area proved very interesting as we came across many glacier carved rock formations including sinkholes and crevices with many very beautiful rock outcrops with flowers. This 105 acre property is a wonderful addition to the trail! Here are some photos from this last section along the escarpment and along this newly acquired property.