July 3 - Preparations.

Well, after weeks of preparation, I am nearly ready.  And very excited.  I've never done a hike of this magnitude before; the North Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, although extremely challenging and one of the physically toughest things I've ever done, took me only six days last year.  This will take me 50. 

I've spent the last month dehydrating my meals, and organizing places to stay at night.  The Bruce Trail isn't a typical long-distance trail, in that it is not conducive to through-hiking.  I had to get quite ingenious with the route, and the km. per day while designing the hike, to optimize the use of the few wilderness campsites that do exist.  In some cases I have to go off-trail to find private campgrounds, sometimes as much as seven km.  So I think the 892 km. of the Trail will turn out to be a much longer hike for me, in reality.

Towards the middle of the hike the accommodations start to change; there are fewer campgrounds and more B&Bs, some of which offer through-hiker discounts.  My preference has always been to camp, but in some cases a B&B is the only option.  I have tried to avoid "stealth camping" as it is illegal on private land, which is what most of the Trail is comprised of.  Hopefully I am successful with this.

A chief consideration it seems, is my age.  It's not something that I personally think about, but others keep bringing it up, so I suppose I should give it some credence.  I am sure I will be reminded of it first thing in the mornings, though I am hoping the air mattress will help somewhat with that.

Another is safety.  There are black bears in the north sections, where I begin my trek.  This time of year, though, there should be other hikers in the wilderness camps, and there are special contraptions to hang one's food bag in some of the camps.  I am bear-savvy and can rig up my own, if need be.  And the hot-pepper bear spray will be handy.  I've never seen a Massasauga Rattlesnake on the Trail, though they are there.  I will be listening for the tell-tale "rattle". 

Time to pack my pack, and try it on.  Weight is always an issue, I'm hoping to keep it under 40 lb. even with the water.  We shall see.

Contents of the tub need to go into the backpack!

 

 

Cathy Hamel

July 3, 2015