Hike #8, November 28 2020

Another solo hike. This time I am determined to (a) plan this the right way and (b) not end up Ubering back to my starting point. 

I have now invested in a high visibility vest. Not because it's hunting season (well, it is but I'm not currently hiking thru hunting areas) but because I'm going to be doing road walking and I want to be super visible to drivers. It's a look. 

Lots of folks get pissy about this, but I actually listen to podcasts when I'm hiking solo. I'm *supposed* to be listening to nature around me, but that is not enough to keep me from overthinking during the entire time. So I listen to these podcast episodes:

This American Life: Ten Sessions is about a type of therapy called Cognitive Processing Therapy, specific for unhealed trauma. 

Off the Cuffs: A-hole New World delves into using kink to work through trauma. 

There's a theme here. I don't want to get into it, namely because healing from trauma feels so out of reach right now, as does engaging in sex/kink. 

I cover a lot of different terrain on this hike, from rocks to roads to roots. 

This hike has me ending in Ball's Falls, but neither falls are on the route that I take on this day. I do hang out at Twenty Mile Creek for a bit to eat and enjoy the sound of the water. 

I already knew I was going to encounter these stairs, and was prepared for them. I was not prepared for the small kid that started down the stairs as I was going up them. Even when I told him to back up six feet, he kept coming. He eventually turned around, but perhaps because I "gestured " with the 5 foot stick I had picked up along the way to use as a walking stick. His dad told me to 'stop being so afraid of life' and I told him to fuck off. No shame. Encountering people is slowly becoming my least favorite part of passing through the conservation areas and parks. 

I did encounter a lot of downed trees. I wonder how this tree survived whatever attacked it in those early days and how it recovered enough to keep growing. 

And this...if a tree falls in a forest, and it is caught by its comrades, has it really fallen? 

Metaphors for life, probably. But also look at these lovely rotting things...

Aiming for a 10 km shuttle hike next weekend but the weather isn't looking great. I'm still not at the point of wanting to invest in microspikes for my boots, or hiking poles. 

Stats:

starting near marker 52.2

ending near marker 57.9

total hiked today: 5.7 km (x 2 except I took the Jim Rainforth Side Trail on the way back, which probably saved me 1 km on the way back so let's say 10.4 km) 

total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 57.9

Hike #7, November 21 2020

What the fuck am I doing? 

I have taken on this ridiculous project as a solo person during a pandemic. 

There are no trail angels as the pandemic continues. There are no hiking buddies on this journey with me. The Bruce Trail FB group is full of couples and friend groups and it is depressing as fuck. How nice it must be to have someone waiting to pick you up at the end of the trail, instead of spending $20 on an uber to get you back to your car. 

It's just me. Like always. Just me. 

There was a big storm six days before this hike, particularly bad in this specific area. So, there were a lot of downed trees. 

This made the trail hard to navigate in some spots, climbing over big trees at some part. Around marker 45.9, I was joined by a number of birds, including blue jays and a cardinal. Down the hill I could see an alpaca farm and shortly after that I saw my first white-tailed deer. Not far from there I came across a dead deer mouse. 

This portion took me down into a beautiful ravine. 

I find a curious little find here, which I later identify as a Hen of the Woods fungi. I'm told they're both edible and can be used as a dye. 

Again, I didn't plan well and where I thought I would turn around, there was not the parking lot I had envisioned. I saw that there was Uber service in the area (and I was tired as fuck from the terrain - I have no idea how to figure out what the elevation is going to be on these hikes), so I walked through Louth Conservation Area, past another dry waterfall, and to a parking area where I could leave my car next time. 

Stats:
starting near marker 43.6
ending near marker 52.2
total hiked today: 8.6 km
total hiked since starting: 52.2 km

Hike #6, November 14 2020

So I make plans for this hike. I intend to drop Annie with KB, hike with a friend and then spend the night with R in Hamilton. 

Except he dumps me the night before. Friday the 13th. Just what I needed. 

Feelings are inconvenient. I might now have to process the emotionally abusive end to a previous relationship now that I don't have R to distract me.  

I decide to go along with the plan to leave Annie with KB, but warn her to hide her dog's kibble this time. Annie is happier where people are and this way she gets to hang with KB and her household. 

When I ended my last hike, I didn't think about where I would park to pick up the trail next time. I just hit a road, realized I needed an Uber and got out of there. So with this hike, I need to park close to where I ended last time, hike back to where I left off, and then hike back along the trail. 

L has joined me for this hike and we meet at the trail end where she leaves her car and we shuttle (wearing masks because fuck 2020) to the start point. Along the way we figure we've known each other for 12 years and that hardly seems possible, but our kids are 15, so the math works out. It's really hard for me to hear about my friends' kids at times, especially the ones close in age to N. It just highlights the giant loss in my life. This giant tree is beautiful, even/especially bare. I imagine it has seen so much from its spot on the banks of Twelve Mile Creek. 

L amuses me as I tell her we need to hike out and back and then join the trail again. I manage to trip going UP a hill and this hurts! Walk it off. Walk it off. Might as well be a life motto. Feels like I've been walking things off since I was an upright human. 

All the falls we come across today are dry. It's been dry in Southern Ontario for a few weeks now and all those waterfall chasers are disappointed. A few months previous, at Balls' Falls, I had the honor of explaining to some dude that the reason the falls are dry is because it hasn't rained. He didn't know that rains feed rivers which feed waterfalls. I don't know how we end up losing connection to nature to the point that we don't even know how an ecosystem works. 

Yes, this looks like a vulva. #lookslikeasnatch

It's great to have L along as a distraction, as she has a lot going on and is happy to tell me all about it. I think I would have cancelled on myself if this was going to be a solo hike, as I don't really want to be inside my head following being dumped. Even listening to podcasts is hard when my brain just wants to pick apart everything I ever did. 

The days are getting shorter and I realize that I'm going to have to start having earlier mornings in order to get in some decent time on the trail. But since I won't be overnighting in Hamilton any longer, at least I know I'll have one weekend morning to laze about in my own bed. Bright side, right? 

I'm up to marker 43.6. The Niagara section is 73.5 km. Roughly 33 km to go. 

The pandemic is...out of control? I'm looking at a long lonely winter but this project is a good distraction. I have to plan a route, check weather, etc etc. I'm still hiking in just a hoodie and waterproof shell, but I've got thermals ready to go. Really hoping I can be out doing this as long as possible. 

After the Niagara section comes Iroquoia. I haven't yet checked out the terrain on the maps, but I expect a lot of hills and I know there are stairs involved. I might skip over this section and do the Toronto section over the winter months and return to Iroquoia in the spring. I realize I also need to collect with the clubs in these areas, as I've been doing this solo and that just isn't a great idea during the winter when there are less people who would find my frozen body because I fucked up along the way. 

Stats:
starting near marker 36 (estimate)
ending near marker 43.6
total hiked today: 7.6 km
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 43.6 km

Hike #5, November 7 2020

I didn't set any goals for this. I'm pretty good at failing, so I didn't want to set myself up to fail. But November has hit and I begin to wonder whether I can finish the Niagara section before the end of 2020. This fucking year has been brutal on me and my mental health is fragile, to say the least. I'm trying to be gentle on myself but that's not my best skill. 

I'm completely solo on this hike. Annie is at home and I set out from where I left off on the Brock campus (marker 28.3). I learn about Biden's win before starting out and it makes paying $15 for parking less painful. 

The weather is incredible today. I end up in short sleeves and sweating. It shouldn't be 23 C in November, but climate change is real. If you look closely at this photo, you can see some standard classroom chairs have been dragged into the woods. Probably a great place to chill out when school is in session and not virtual.

I cross a couple of bridges and evidence that beavers are closeby. 

This stretch takes me on a gravel road around a hydro dam and I already know it's going to be a drag hiking back along this road with the sun beating down on me. This also reminds me that, come summer, it will be too hot to hike. 

In bending over to take a photo for iNaturalist, I discover what I must look like to plants when I lean in to take their photos. 

I would really like to know what this fungi is. Anyone? 

I come across someone using a tree branch to take a selfie and wait for her to move on so I can use the branch myself. We exchange a few words - she's also aiming for an End to End but has the support of friends and family at each end so she doesn't have to worry about parking and shuttling and the like. Later, on FB, she shares with me the photo she took that shows me hovering in the background, not wanting to startle her and not realizing I'm still in her frame. 

I can't remember the last time I saw a full-body photo of myself, especially one that didn't make me cringe. After years of being overweight, I've shed a lot of weight and have had several awkward convos with neighbours and family about this. No, I don't know what I weigh because I don't own a scale. No, I do not want to borrow your scale. No, it wasn't entirely on purpose. I look great? Well, it's related to health issues. Oh, you still think that's wonderful. Well, fuck you. 

My weight loss secret? Eating low carb because I was diagnosed with diabetes in the fall of 2018. Add pandemic stress. Add grief over being estranged from my kid. Add the emotionally abusive end to a toxic relationship. It's been 4 months since the relationship ended and only because he cheated, not because I had the ability to recognize it as being toxic. I'm still not invested in feeding my body because this pandemic makes investing in life and living very unappealing. 

Right, I was writing about hiking. I end this hike just outside Short Hills Provincial Park and call an Uber. I need to not be inside my head any longer. All told, this hike costs $35 between parking and an Uber. 

Stats:
starting near km 28.3
ending near km 36
total hiked today: 7.7 km
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 36 km

Hike #4 October 31 2020

I had made plans to stay in Hamilton for Halloween, so I had Annie with me for this hike. I had planned to do 4 km and then back 4 km but Annie had other plans. 

This portion was my first experience hiking the Bruce along city streets. I parked outside the Pizza Hut and walked along Glendale Avenue before following the blazes into a quaint neighbourhood which led to a dead-end and then into a forested area. 

Annie loves a good scrabble along rocks and hills and this did not disappoint. Because we were behind those houses, it was clear that folks treat the area like an extension of their backyard, which is lovely. 

It's hard to pee in the woods during this season, as there's nothing to hide behind. Pretty sure an entire family saw my bare ass. 

One of my favorite things is watching nature take over not-nature, like this tree swallowing a metal trail marker. 

Still the odd mushroom to be found. This is a shaggy mane and when I stopped to photograph it, I realized that Annie was limping. 

I stopped to snack and I thought that perhaps a little rest would do her some good. And salami. She loves salami. 

It revived her for a little bit, but by the time we reached the end of 4 km, it was clear that she was not going to be able to hike back to the car. Uber to the rescue. At this point I was on the Brock campus, so it was easy to have a car pick us up and take us back to my car. Of course, I hike with a mask attached to my pack with a carabiner, it being a fucking pandemic and all. 

Stats:
starting near km 23.4
ending near km 28.3
total hiked today: 4.9 km
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 28.3 km

Hike #3 October 24 2020

Arranged to do a shuttle hike this time, with that dude. I dropped Annie with KB and met R at 23.4 where we left his car. 

Drove back to 11.4, peed outside the tunnel (the disadvantage of driving 90 minutes to hike is that I've had 3 coffees by the time I've arrived) and set off. 

This was a fairly easy stretch and I enjoyed hiking with that dude. We hiked thru a section that had a golf course on one side and the old Welland Canal on another. 

It's the tail end of mushroom season in Southern Ontario but you can still find them if you look for them. 

Another nice find was this yellow flower, called butter-and-eggs, along the busy roadside near a lift bridge. 

It got a little confusing around 21.9 where we found ourselves following yellow blazes instead of white, but we got back on track and returned to his car, conveniently parked right at a white blaze on a concrete pole.

After a stop at the Niagara Community College so he could buy wine, he returned me to my car and I went and picked up Annie from KB. 

Total of 12 km. I didn't see the shoe tree until after I was in my car and leaving, but I stopped and got some photos anyway. 

Stats:
starting near marker 11.4
ending near marker 23.4
total hiked today: 12 km
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 23.4 km

Hike #2 October 19 2020

Asked KB to come along, as she lives in the area and we had previously met up at Ball's Falls one weekend to catch up. 

Working backwards, we met and parked at Screaming Tunnel (11.4), with the goal of hiking back to where I had left off the previous weekend. 

We had the best talks and I was able to unpack some of the shit that went down over the summer, with another man who isn't worth naming. We both agreed that we would not date 29 year old men again. 

We were pretty delighted to come across this cluster of pear-shaped puffballs.

Once we got to 5.3, we turned around and returned to 11.4. 

12.2 km in total and we only got turned down a little bit around Fireman's Park. Oh, and I learned that the technical term for those damn cannons is 'bird banger'.

Stats:
starting near marker 5.3
ending near marker 11.4
total hiked today: 6.1 (x 2)
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 11.4 km

Thanksgiving Weekend Kick Off, October 11 2020

 

Started on Thanksgiving -  Sunday October 11th, with R, a man who will only appear here once again before dumping me, and our dogs. 

This was an easy stretch, starting from the Southern Terminus and hiking to marker 5.3 in the trail guide. Annie was great but constantly stopped to pee and needed to be carried at one point, and wasn't graceful about it. 

Had to hike back to our start point, making this 10.6 km in total.

Stats:
starting near marker 0
ending near marker 5.3
total hiked today: 5.2 (x 2)
total Bruce Trail hiked since starting: 5.3 km