Case's attempt to hike the Bruce Trail
End to End

(completed September 2016)

In the Fall of 2014 I realized I was spending too much time sitting at my computer. To get some much needed excersize I joined the Pathfinders Hiking Group at the Sir John Colborne Recreation Cemtre for Seniors in Oakville and started hiking two days a week.
I was introduced to the 'End to End' group on January 8, 2015 hiking as a 'Guest Hiker'. My first hike started at the Jolly Cut in Hamilton, in -16C temperature (My God it was cold!). I must have passed this initiation when Karen Nourse, the group leader, suggested (coerced) I give up my 'Guest' status and become a bona fide "End to Ender'

Click in the navigation bar above to see the sections completed to date. Click on the Section and see notes (mostly written by Karen) and pictures taken by myself, Karen and others members of our intrepid little troup.

The Bruce Trail

The trail follows the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, one of the thirteen UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves in Canada, for almost 900 km (560 mi). The land the trail traverses is owned by the Government of Ontario, municipalities, local conservation authorities, private landowners and the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC). The name of the trail is linked to the Bruce Peninsula and Bruce County, which the trail runs through. The trail is named after the county, which was named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin who was Governor General of the Province of Canada from 1847 to 1854.

The idea for creating the Bruce Trail came about in 1959 out of a meeting between Ray Lowes and Robert Bateman, of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. Ray Lowes' vision was of a public footpath that would span the entire Niagara Escarpment.

The trail begins in the Niagara Peninsula of Southern Ontario in Queenston, Ontario, on the Niagara River. The cairn marking its southern terminus is about 160 metres from General Brock's Monument. From there, it travels through the major towns and cities of St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, Milton, Halton Hills, Walters Falls, Owen Sound, Wiarton, and finally Tobermory.


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Deep Roots and Tall Trees
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