A few days on the Bruce Trail

Mentor

Mentor

Joined
Nov 27, 2004
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3,124
Hi all,

I spent Saturday, Sunday, and this morning hiking the Bruce Trail, on and around Blue Mountain, Ontario. With the exception an hour of rain, thunder, and lightning (which was awesome) on Sunday, the weather was great. The area I was in is part of the Niagara Escarpment, and is essentially a mix of forest, cliffs, meadows, and caves. The Escarpment is constantly eroding, which makes for some amazing crevices and caves. This is my regular hiking spot, and one of my all-time favourite areas for year-round outdoors enjoyment. There are a few designated camping areas along this stretch of the Bruce Trail. Thankfully, Ruby (my lab) and I had the trail to ourselves most of the time. We spent the days hiking, and the nights in the tent, as the mosquitoes were out in force. Ruby's getting on in years, and her hips are starting to give her trouble in the morning and at night, so I tried to avoid the steepest parts of the side trails (which can be difficult, as it is, after all, a mountain). Nonetheless, we had a few excellent days of hiking, including a bunch of off-the trail exploring.

Best moments I did not get pictures of:

1. Fireflies! Around 22:00 (and for hours thereafter), both Saturday and Sunday, we were treated to a real light show in the canopy. I spent a good half hour just enjoying the sight of thousands of fireflies wandering about under a clear sky. Absolutely awesome.

2. We walked past at least 3 deer (including a large buck) hanging out in a patch of undergrowth, at the bottom of an embankment. They saw us before we saw them, and bolted, making a heck of a racket. The look on Ruby's face was priceless.

Anyway, as they say, this thread is useless without pics:

My intrepid hiking companion:

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Some shots of the forest greenery:

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Obligatory knife content:

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My BK-9 didn't come along for the full weekend. It saw some use on Saturday when I was grooming the hiking trails on some family property. It did a great job on fallen green wood, and, with some effort, took care of hard, dry wood as well. The bicycle tire tubing around the handle really helps with grip. I left this knife behind when I went hiking / camping, as I didn't foresee any need for it.

My Delta 5 and trusty EDC scandi saw use over the whole weekend, for food prep, whittling, and light trail grooming. No complaints here, but I was stoked to return to Toronto this morning and find my new JK Anniversary knife waiting for me! Next time I hit the trails, this knife will replace my Delta 5:

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All the best,

- Mike
 
As I said, this section of the Bruce is known for its amazing topography, with crevices running throughout the forest, and many large caves. You have to know the terrain if you want to enjoy the area safely - an errant mountain biker could easily bail into a 30-40 ft crevice. But, if you know what you're doing, there are some real hidden gems:

A long crevice. The snow at the bottom of this one has just melted, but it's still only a few degrees above freezing in parts:

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View from a lookout:

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Forest crevices and caves:

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Blurry shot of a new crevice forming. Give it 500 years or so, and it will be nice and deep.

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Bridge. Use at Your Own Risk:

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Some tenacious trees:

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Thanks for looking!

- Mike
 
Nice stuff Mentor. I've always enjoyed the climbing and hiking of the Bruce Trail near Milton.

Jeff
 
You took some great pics Mentor ... I like that JK Anniversary knife alot :thumbup:
 
Great shots, Mentor, thanks for sharing. Those Cedars sure are tenacious - they'll anchor on to anything.

Reminds me of the section, north of Burlington - Mount Nemo and Rattlesnake Point.

Doc
 
Great pics! I love the shapes the trees are growing there. I would like to see something like that around here.
 
Hey PorcupineMtns66,

The knife in question is a Delta 5 drop point, from knifekits.com. It's a Darrel Ralph design, and comes with a hollow ground and heat treated blade. The handle is normally square, but I wanted mine contoured, so I went nuts with my grinder. The scales are black G-10. It's a terrific hiking knife, and it takes (and keeps) a great edge. Plus, the kit was fun. After using this as my primary belt knife for over six months, I decided to opt for a knife with thinner steel stock and a flat grind, and JK's Anniversary knife fit the bill perfectly. I'm sure my Delta 5 will see lots of continued use, though!

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All the best,

- Mike

PS - here's a different version of the same knife, this time with partial serrations, a front bolster, cocobolo handles, and a lanyard hole. This was my go-to hiking / fishing / camping knife for several years, and it currently enjoys semi-retirement in my display cabinet:

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That looks like an awesome place, I can easily see why its a favorite spot of yours!
 
Nice shots Mentor! I love it up there too but haven't been able to go in the last couple years. Hopefully that'll change this summer though.
 
Great pics buddy, keep us updated with when you use the new JK !

Ruby looks a great hiking companion to have, gotta love our four legged friends eh !!!!
 
Great trip brother!!!

That JK looks awesome in black micarta. I wish Id have had the $$ to jump on that run....

You think it will live up to that Delta? I know you have to be pretty comfy with that one!!
 
Those rock formations look fabulous! Any idea what they are?
 
My initial guess was that the rock formations are limestone. I checked the Niagara Escarpment Commission website, and the Bruce Trail site, and came up with this:

The 725 kilometre long Niagara Escarpment began to take shape over 450 million years ago as the bed of a tropical sea. During the millions of years that followed, the sediments were compressed into rock, mainly magnesium-rich limestone (dolostone) and shale. The progressive action of glaciers, water flows and the elements caused the more resilient dolostone to weather at different rates than the shale, resulting in the very dramatic land forms that we see today: sea stacks, karst formation caves, deep valleys, scenic waterfalls, rugged hills, and perhaps most remarkable, the spectacular cliffs along the Niagara Escarpment itself.
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The Niagara Escarpment is recognized as one of the world's unique natural wonders. Essentially, it is a landform -- a ridge of rock several hundred metres high in some locations -- stretching 725 kilometres (450 miles) from Queenston on the Niagara River to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Today, in Ontario, the Escarpment contains more than 100 sites of geological significance including some of the best exposures of rocks and fossils of the Silurian and Ordovician Periods (405 to 500 million years old) to be found anywhere in the world.

The Niagara Escarpment has origins dating back into geological history some 430 to 450 million years, a time when the area lay under a shallow warm sea. This sea lay in a depression of the earth's crust, the centre of which is now the State of Michigan. Now geologically known as the Michigan Basin, the outer rim of this massive saucer-shaped feature governs the location of the Niagara Escarpment. In the shape of a gigantic horseshoe the Escarpment can be traced from near Rochester, New York, south of Lake Ontario to Hamilton, north to Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, beneath the waters of Lake Huron to appear again on Manitoulin Island, across northern Michigan and down the west side of Lake Michigan into the State of Wisconsin.

As occurs with present day water bodies such as Hudson Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, rivers flowing into this ancient sea carried sand, silt and clay to be deposited as thick layers of sediment. At the same time lime-rich organic material from the abundant sea life was also accumulating. Over millions of years these materials became compressed into massive layers of sedimentary rocks and ancient reef structures now visible along the Escarpment. Some rock layers now consist of soft shales and sandstones while others are made up of dolostone (a rock similar to limestone which contains magnesium and is more durable).

Today, fossil remains illustrating the various life forms can be found in many of the rocks as they are slowly exposed by the action of wind, water and ice.
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So, I wasn't too far off. The shale is more pronounced in some areas, but the majority of the stuff you see in my photos should be limestone. The whole Escarpment (well, at least, the whole of the Ontario portion) is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. I first explored the area when I was a kid - my parents would drop me off in the morning (sometimes with a mountain bike, sometimes without), and I would spend the day wandering about the trails and caves, then return to a trailhead at the designated hour, scraped up, bruised, and chewed up by mosquitoes. Great times.

There are some amazing caves along my section of the Bruce, including the Scenic Caves. Personally, I prefer the smaller unnamed caves, crevices, and formations that can be found at various points along the trail.

All the best,

- Mike
 
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