Sunday 5 February 2017

Bruce Trail Hike 10 - (6 km)

(222 km of 894 km) 25% completed

It was a frigid -9 degrees and fresh snow covered the trail.  We were lucky to be joined by a special furry friend but also suffered an unfortunate event which caused us to cut this hike short of our 20 km goal.



Our friend seemed to really enjoy hiking.




Here she is showing us the way.  The only tacks on the trail were animal tracks.




"I think I saw something over there!"




Sometimes you have to cross streams.




Look at that smile.  She's so cute!




Friends in the distance.





The fields were so windy.  Sometimes we had to traverse through a foot of snow.





Taking a break to dust off snow.







This this brings us to the unfortunate event.   Coming down the rocks in the picture below, my friend planted her foot, took a step down but didn't realize she stepped on solid ice.  Her foot was planted so well, it stayed in the same spot while the rest her fell down.  Her knee bent in a way knees aren't supposed to bend.





Thankfully, we were only about 300 meters from the nearest road.  Due to a couple steep hills and rocks to climb, it still took us a very painful hour to reach the road.  I started running back for our car which was parked about 5 kilometers away.  Luckily, after about about 2 km and four people who drove by ignoring my plea for help, someone finally stopped and drove me back to my car.

I raced back to my friend and off the hospital we went.

She's in a soft cast and in a lot of pain so the BT Hike is delayed until further notice.

Wishing her a speedy recovery!

Saturday 21 January 2017

Bruce Trail Hike 9 - (16 km)


(216 km of 894 km)

After a bit of a break, we decided to re-start with a moderate 16km hike.



There is really something majestic about hiking in the snow.  



There was also a heavy fog which brought an eerie beauty to the trail.










Unfortunately, my friend had another little slip around this area.  It was pretty muddy and slippery in some sections.  That's fall number four, but who's counting. ;)

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And this is my favorite picture of the hike.







Tuesday 3 January 2017

My Hiking Plans

Happy New Year!  Due to the weather and the busy holiday season, I'm not getting much hiking done so I thought I'd make a list of hikes I would love to do.  I'll start with the ones in Canada:

End-to-End Bruce Trail
Location: Ontario, Canada
Distance: 900 km
Time: 20 days

End-to-End Ganaraska Trail
Location: Ontario, Canada
Distance: 500 km
Time: 10 days

East Coast Trail
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Distance: 500 km
Time: 12 days

La Cloche Silhouette Trail
Location: Ontario, Canada
Distance: 100 km
Time: 6 days

West Coast Trail
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Distance: 75 km
Time: 6 days

Sunshine Coast Trail
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Distance: 150 km
Time: 8 days

Fundy Footpath
Location: New Brunswick
Distance: 82 km (in and out)
Time: 7 days


Hikes in the USA:

1.) Pacific Crest Trail
Location: California, Oregon, and Washington, United States
Distance: 4,270 km
Time: 6-7 months

2.) Continental Divide Trail
Location: Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana
Distance: 4,270 km
Time: 7-8 months

3.) Appalachian Trail
Location: Georgia to Maine, United States
Distance: 3,515 km
Time: 5-7 months






Note: Completing all three hikes above is known as the Triple Crown.  The total length of the three trails is about 12,700 km; vertical gain is more than 1,000,000 feet, a total of 22 states are visited. Only a few hundred people in the world have completed all three.  I'll most likely start with #3.


Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim Hike
Location: Arizona, United States
Distance: 70 km
Time: 4-6 days



Yosemite Grand Traverse
Location: California, United States
Distance: 100 km
Time: 6-7 days



Sierra High Route
Location: California, United States
Distance: 315 km
Time: Around 13 days


International Hikes:

Camino Trail
Location: Spain
Distance: 800 km
Time: 20 days

Kilimanjaro
Location: Tanzania, Africa
Distance: 56 km
Time: 7+ days

Everest Base Camp Trek
Location: Nepal
Distance: 115 km
Time: 16 days

Tour du Mont Blanc
Location: France, Italy, Switzerland
Distance: 170 km
Time: Around 10 days

Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Location: Urubumba, Peru
Distance: 50km
Time: 4 days