I had arranged to meet the owner of the Hope Bay Campground, Len, in Hope Bay and he drove me down for the start of my hike on Coveney's Hill around the 21km mark of the Peninsula section. I was carrying my full camping pack, so a heavy haul at about 35lbs.
The trail headed northwest from Coveney's Hill through woods and escarpment before coming out on Crooked Toe Road (I love that name) around the 22.5km mark. Here I entered again the Chippewa's of Nawash First Nations territory - this time to stay for awhile. The area is referred to as Neyaashiinigmiing.
Here are some photos from this section.
I signed my name in the registry.
Crooked Toe Road was actually pretty straight!
The trail followed Boundary Road for about 1km before it headed off to the north to head around Jones Bluff. The trail hugged the top of the escarpment as it headed north, then northwest, west and then southwest as it travelled around the bluff. Here are photos from around the bluff looking out over Cape Croker and eventually Sydney Bay.
At the 30.2km mark the trail met Sydney Bay Road and then to Park Road, leading down to the base of Sydney Bay to the Cape Croker Campground. This is where I camped for the night. The campground was nice and the First Nations people working in the office and throughout the park were great - note, no running drinking water so you need to buy bottled water at the front desk. Photo of my campsite.
I woke up next morning and headed out through the campground to the camp beach and then across a wonderful boardwalk called the Snake (Ginebec Miikaan) boardwalk. The 900 meter boardwalk traverses the large marsh at the base of Sydney Bay. It was built by volunteers and funds from both the Bruce Trail and the Cape Croker First Nations peoples. Here are some photos from this section.
Once across the boardwalk and Hope Bay Road, the trail headed towards and up the escarpment. The trail climbed steeply over a large boulder talus slope to the base of the vertical escarpment and then climbed up the last vertical part of the escarpment on a steel staircase. Once to the top of the escarpment the views were incredible. Here are some photos from this section.
Looking up from the bottom.
Looking down from the top.
The trail, as with the earlier Jones Bluff, hugged the edge of the escarpment around Sydney Bay Bluff. At the 36.3km mark there was a very nice lookout over Sydney Bay, after which the trail headed northwest across the bluff. At the 38km mark the trail hit the northwest edge of the Sydney Bay Bluff and followed the edge of the escarpment for almost 3km, again with beautiful views out over Hope Bay
Around the 41km mark the trail steeply descended the escarpment via some steep wooden ladders and then down Brock Street to Hope Bay Road. The trail followed Hope Bay Road into the small cottage village of Hope Bay. Lots of nice cottages along and overlooking the bay.
I arrived at Hope Bay campground where I had left my car. The campground has a nice store on the waterfront and beach with snacks, drinks and ice cream - I sat in a Muskoka chair on the store deck and enjoyed an ice cream cone!!
Another nice couple of days of hiking and camping.
Completed: 77okm
