It was April 29th and my goal was to complete the final 25km of the Niagara section of the Bruce Trail. I again benefited from the shuttle services of my buddy Nathan. He met me at my end point in Grimsby, before taking me back to Balls falls to start the hike. I’m not sure how I missed it, but I clearly did not see the real Balls Falls when I wrapped up last time.
It had been raining all week, so the trail was again muddy, slick, and underwater at times, but the temperature was quite cool, and ideal for hiking.
There was a nice mixture of topography on this hike, but more rock that I was used to. I’m actually quite surprised with how rocky the terrain is, but given it’s the Niagara Escarpment, it likely makes sense.
One of the real noticeable changes is how much the green is coming in. When I started hiking, there were no leaves on the trees / ground cover, so you could see forever. Now I often feel like I’m in a green tunnel.
I was mostly in the woods on this hike, not much in the way of road walks, but boy did it finish with a bang. I had some really steep ascents, on some rocky trail, with some nasty switchbacks. When I got to my truck I was exhausted, but satisfied to have completed the entire section.
Next up I start the Iroquoia Section, which is about 120km in total length.