TRAIL: IROQUOIA BRUCE TRAIL – SWEPT AWAY – DAY 2

It was a very brisk morning on Day 2 of our Iroquoia Bruce Trail end-to-end adventure. We got in the car to drive to the meeting point and boy, was I grateful for heated seats! Such a small luxury but so much appreciated in that wee hour before dawn when despite all the layers of merino wool, I still felt a chill. It was only October 14 and you could already see your breath.

The starting point for today was the Sydenham Look Out. We would be walking east and north on the trail back to Mount Nemo Conversation Area.

There we are bright eyed and ready to tackle the trail ahead. It was promising to be a great day.
​
I’ve mentioned before that we like to keep our own pace, that we like to let the crowd hike ahead so that we can feel like we’re hiking on our own and not in a group of 80+ hikers. I don’t like to feel rushed when I hike. It’s about the journey.

---

An organized end-to-end has someone called a Sweep. This person is meant to make sure that there are no lost hikers, that everyone has made it to the check points, etc. On the two previous end-to-ends we did, we never saw the Sweep. And, remember that we’re always in the last bunch of hikers. But this day would be different.

We stopped at our usual one hour marker to have a snack and as often happens, the slower hikers behind us pass us, which is fine because we seem to always catch up with them and leap frog pass them at some point.

Efficiently fueled with half a banana and GU pack, I got a kick of energy and picked up my pace. I got a bit ahead of my sister, which happens every once in a while. Then I saw a hiker emerge from behind a tree (potty break I suppose). She was surprised to see me and asked if I was doing the end-to-end. I said yes and she said she was the Sweep. Somehow we got behind the Sweep!

​I wasn’t particularly happy about this. I suspect the Sweep started the hike with the pack instead of waiting for the pack to get ahead. I don’t know why this frustrated me – it shouldn’t have but it did.
​
And because it did, I got distracted. We were walking through some incredibly beautiful forest trail with some hard rocky terrain and my thoughts were clouded by thinking the Sweep was only steps behind me. ​Suddenly I felt pressured to pick up the pace and to me that’s not what hiking is about. It took quite a while before I could switch gears and start to enjoy the trail again. And thank goodness I finally did because the most beautiful part of the trail was coming up.
​
This: Grindstone Creek (sadly my photos do not capture how beautiful it was to walk alongside this creek in this valley).

We hadn’t seen the Sweep in a while and thankfully wouldn’t for the rest of the day. The majority of the trail was forested. The last stretch to Mount Nemo was roadway – never pleasant but it does make up time.

And then, there before us was Mount Nemo. I kept hearing about how hard it was climbing Mount Nemo so I anticipated that it was going to be really tough. Fair enough, it did come with a warning (see top photo) but by then we had a our legs and our pace and just kept going. The park was full of day trippers just out and about enjoying the day and if they could do the trail in sandals and other inappropriate shoes, then it probably wouldn’t be so bad. It wasn’t any different from some of the rest of the trail – rocky and forested just like so much of the escarpment.
​
It’s easy to see why people make the trek out of the city to explore Mount Nemo park – the view alone is worth it. And that made great way to end Day 2!

Next: Day 3

Go Back: Day 1