Sat, Mar 1 2008 - Bruce Trail - Speyside and Vanderleck Side Trails (View Original Event Details)
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Snow? What Snow?
As always, it was a gorgeous, and I do mean gorgeous day for a mid-winter hike. With a balmy -2° and very little wind to make the day unbearable, 21 hikers set out on the Bruce for a gentle hike along the Vanderleck Speyside trails. Ghanesh was gracious enough to lead this hike for me, and with 21 members on the hike, it sure made it easier to enjoy the awesome day ahead. Even starting the trail was somewhat daunting at first, as we could not decided were to break trail! No matter were we started, we would be trudging through about a foot of snow. I was told beforehand that snowshoes would not be a good idea on this trail due to the rocky conditions, but I suppose they have never seen the trail after 7 snow storms worth of snow!! Suffice it to say, it would have been great to have those planks strapped to our feet this afternoon.
The stretch of the Vanderleck trail we took is part of a larger 24km trail, but on this day, even completing 13k was going to be a challenge. The idea was to do both sections of the Speyside trail, but once we reached the first loop, there was a collective sigh of relief that we decided to cut that portion out, as we were already feeling the pain from walking through deep snow.
We stopped for lunch at some random spot, since there was no real place to sit. A few managed to climb up a small hill to enjoy the vista. The rest of us merely plopped down in the snow since there was plenty to go around. I managed to form a chair on some particularly high pile of snow, but my butt wasn’t too thankful after 20 minutes of sitting. We headed off quickly to keep warm. We approached the second loop of the Speyside side trail and bravely decided to take the path less traveled. Who really knows when the last time some used that part of the trail, as we had to break through about 3 feet of snow just to get through. We were rewarded with a quick hike off of Sideroad 17, and were almost bowled over by a giant snowplow! As we passed RR 25, we lost a couple members who opted to hike back to the cars along the road. The way back was straight forward but tiring, and by the end, I was lagging taking in the scenery and admiring the views…
After such a great hike with great weather, the group headed to the local kelseys to warm up and enjoy some great conversation and reveal in our days adventure!
A big thank you to everyone who came out, and hope to see you again on hopefully, a much easier, and much less snowier trail!
Jason
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