Bruce Trail - Governers Rd to Rock Chapel, Dundas

After an excellent breakfast at Serenity Ranch (fruit, yogurt, croissant, bacon, sausages, eggs, tomato with salsa and lots of coffee) we dropped one car at the parking spot on Valley Rd. The Bruce Trail Reference book not only gives us a map of the trail but also suggested parking spots and the number of cars that can fit there.

It was actually warmer than yesterday but the lack of sun and damp feeling made it seem colder.

Groups of people kept running past us and we asked at this gathering what was going on. It was some sort of competitive orienteering run. They had maps and compasses and were serious runners.

We knew from the map that there was a lot of "urban hiking" and after the golf course,

down a road,

over a river

and past this beautiful old school converted into loft apartments,

we were hiking through the streets of Dundas. Beautiful large Victorian homes with well kept gardens so it really wasn't a chore although our hips and ankles are happier hiking on dirt than on cement.

And above, the ever present escarpment.

To get up the escarpment the trail follows the Sydenham Rd hill. Jason biked the hill this year, and last, to raise money for research into a disorder that his nephew has.

It's quite a hill - long and steep. These cyclists were going at walking pace but took off when we challenged them to race.

Near the top it was back into the woods.

The trail wasn't as well used or as well maintained on this stretch.

We spent quite a while trying to get a decent photo of this Pileated woodpecker, Nicola with her phone and me with my little camera. The Pileated is listed as "uncommon" in my birdbook and worth the effort to try and get his picture.

None of the pictures turned out well. He was a dark bird, high in a dark tree, with other trees in the way, back-lit and pecking rapidly. He really did look like Woody Woodpecker.

A little more walking on the road and then we were into the Rock Chapel area.

The trail was quite smooth and well traveled

and the lack of leaves meant we had good views over Cootes Paradise

and Hamilton Bay with its industrial side.

Although there were some yellow leaves left it was the copper and burgundy foliage of the oaks that were most noticeable.

We saw lots of squirrels (grey and black) but not much other wildlife.

Another waterfall and we could hear that it was quite high but couldn't get beyond it to look.

Neat ice formations though.

Back onto the road, over a bridge and onto RBG property

and we got around to the other side to see the waterfall

and the ring of ice it created at the base.

Each time we hike we get better at reading the maps. We knew that the last section would have some steep climbs as the contour markings on the map were close together.

We hiked for about 4 hours, stopping to take pictures, eat snacks and drink water. We walked 10.7km.

Bruce Trail 2017 Summary.
We started this journey on June 18th at Brock's Monument, Niagara. This hike, November 12 is probably the last for this year. We hiked on 9 days. Our shortest hike was only 6km and our longest (on November 11) was 12.5km.
Our total for this year is 81.9km. As the trail is 898.6km long we have completed 9.14%. At this rate it will take us more than 10years and to quote a friend of Nicola's "the Bruce isn't conducive to walkers" (and he meant the kind you use if you have mobility issues) so we will have to step it up a bit if we want to get it done in 3 - 5 years.
We are going to plan to start earlier next year, set aside more days for hiking and keep increasing our distances.