 Finally! Back on the Bruce Trail after nearly two and a half years. I was excited. My sister and I had signed up for the Dufferin Hi-Lands end-to-end in 2020 but, like everything else, it got cancelled. So, when I saw that it was back for 2022, we registered immediately. The weather forecast was going to be abnormally hot for a weekend in May. Definitely not ideal hiking weather, certainly not when the day is 31 kms. In this case, when the temperature matched the number of kms for the day, we should have known it was going to be a challenging day. Having hiked five other Bruce Trail section end-to-ends though, I figured that this wouldn't be too difficult. And at first, it didn't seem to be, that is until the sun starting blazing down. But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Like all club-organized end-to-end hikes, hikers park their car at the end point for the day and a bus takes you to the starting point. It usually goes flawlessly but our bus driver was given the wrong address for the drop off location. It was quite amazing to watch how quickly a group of happy hikers turned into a group of not-so-happy hikers. It was almost embarrassing - some even started yelling at the driver and telling him where the starting point was. He was just following orders. In the end, a thoughtful hiker called the group organizer and handed the driver the phone at which point he was given the right location, which I must say, was only +/- 1 km away from the wrong starting point he was given. But, what this delay meant was that there was a bit of a traffic jam of eager hikers climbing the first stile to get to the trail because both buses arrived at the same time. We were on the first bus and should've been on the trail before the second bus arrived but the little miscommunication issue caused a queue up at the starting point. Watching people grumble about this only confirmed that we would stick with what we normally do, which is hang back and let all the super keen hikers get ahead and then we almost have the trail to ourselves. Also, I wanted to ditch the negative energy of all the grumblers on the bus. And that's exactly what we did. Today's trail began at the southern point of Mono Cliffs park where it meets the northern point of the Caledon Hills section. This is a gorgeous park full of side trails and the cliffs the park is aptly named after. Sadly, you don't actually see the cliffs when you're on the main trail, which is too bad, but it's still a gorgeous section, beautifully forested and flat terrain. If you're not doing a end-to-end, definitely check out the park.     On previous end-to-ends, I used the old Bruce Trail app. It was great. I could track where I was on the trail, the distances, the rest stop locations, and where there is parking available. Unfortunately they revamped the app and made it a bit more expensive and so this hike I went old school. I didn't use a map or an app, I just followed the white blazes. It was a blessing and a curse doing it this way. I tried to enjoy the hike without knowing what was coming. I knew the distances between check points and that was enough for me to gauge how much time it would take. We were asked to do at least 3.5 km/hr. We easily did 5km an hour for the first few hours until the searing heat slowed our pace gradually. From 5 to 4 to eventually 3km/hr.  Everyone once in a while the trail emerged from a forested area onto a dusty gravel road. Open to the elements and blazing sun, these sections of the trail were scorching. Early in the day, trees provided some shade but as the sun reached its peak there was no cover. There was one stretch of this kind of road that on a normal day, with normal temperatures, with even just a whisper of a breeze, wouldn't have been an issue. But I saw many hikers struggling and some just couldn't take it anymore and had to resign from the day's trek. After all, it's just an end-to-end, the trail will be there another day, it wasn't worth pushing beyond your physical limits. This was also the section that my sister got attacked by sand fleas or flies (the kind that leave very itchy welts). I say attacked, which may sound a bit extreme but any skin that wasn't covered, ended up bitten. I had long pants and a long sleeved shirt on and didn't get bitten. I think there is a lesson here.... The dust and dry roads meant it hadn't rained recently, which also meant that there wasn't any mud. If you've read any of my previous end-to-end posts you'll recall that mud was just par for the course of hiking the trail. So many days I had mud up to my knees. But not this time! I hate to admit it but I think I'd take a cooler day with mud than a scorching, cloudless hot day. (I may regret saying that!)  Our efforts to beat the unusually scorching +30*C heat & maintain our energy included: Wardrobe: As indicated earlier, I had on a light coloured long-sleeved merino wool top with lightweight long pants. My theory is that is kept me from over heating. A big rimmed hat for sun protection and shade. A light buff, which we dipped into a quick moving stream and used it to cool our heads and necks. Hydration: Water. Lots of water. I carried a nearly full 2.5 litre osprey water pack and finished it by the end . Nuun tablets. I'm fairly certain these electrolyte tablets are what kept me going. I had another insulated bottle that I refilled at each check point and added another tablet each time. Frozen Juice Boxes. We carried a couple of boxes in a small insulated lunch bag cooler. It amazed me how cold they stayed - one was still frozen half way through the day! Never did a juice box taste so good. Food Snacks. Lots of snacks. On an end-to-end, there really isn't a great place to stop, relax and eat so snacks are your best friend. We had granola bars, Mars bars, peanuts, orange slices, and the check points had watermelon and other snacks. In all honesty, I was more thirsty than hungry so I really had to force myself to eat something.  It was at the second check point, around the 19km mark, that my sister had had enough with the heat and opted out. She wasn't alone in her choice. Many other hikers did too. It's hard though, when you have a goal in your mind to achieve something you've done many times before, and then make and accept the choice to quit. I know how hard the decision was for her and I also know it was the right one. If she hadn't opted out, she would've most likely suffered heat stroke and we didn't want that. I opted to continue to the next check point and decide then if I could tackle the last section. I got to the last check point and had a lovely conversation with the two volunteers. I felt good and kept going. My stamina started to melt in the that shortly after and that last section was a tough haul. As I was walking alone and hardly saw anyone, I played some music as a distraction. All I kept thinking was that I have no choice but to keep going to the end. And I wasn't the only one. I took a break by a little stream and drenched my buff and suddenly it seemed all the other hikers just came out of nowhere. The sentiments were the same. Everyone had sore feet, sweaty everything and was summoning the last bit of energy they had to finish the day. As I emerged out of the trail onto the road back to the parking lot, one of the organizers asked if I saw a man on the trail in the last section. I hadn't. They got a call that someone wasn't doing well well and was struggling and needed help. The heat was too much for a lot of people. That last 500 meters to the parking lot felt like a hundred pins were stabbing the bottom of my feet with every step but knowing that a car with air conditioning was waiting for me was all the motivation I needed to push to the end. I did it! Day One! 31 kms! All I could think of was a cold shower and a very cold drink.
The thought of repeating all this the next day - same heat, same distance - was just too much. For the first time, we decided not to finish the end-to-end. We'll go back another day, a colder day, but for now our health was more important. The badge would have to wait.
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