Running the Bruce Trail End to End: Blue Mountains Section

I’ve now completed 6 sections of the Bruce Trail (there are 9)!

What’s the Bruce Trail? According to the Bruce Trail Conservancy website, the Bruce Trail is “Canada’s oldest and longest marked footpath. Running along the Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario from Niagara to Tobermory, the Bruce Trail spans more than 890 km of main Trail and over 400 km of associated side trails.”

The forest felt a little spooky on this wet, overcast day.
Giant puffball.

BLUE MOUNTAINS SECTION

Started the Blue Mountains section: October 19, 2019

Finished the Blue Mountains section: December 8, 2019

Run details

October 19, 2019 – 20th Sideroad/Prince of Wales Road to Lavender cemetery – 18 km (with Kris)

October 27, 2019 – Lavender cemetery to Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area – 22.1 km (with Kris)

November 30, 2019 – Nottawasaga Bluffs Conservation Area to Nottawasaga Lookout Provincial Nature Reserve – 21.4 km (with Kris)

December 8, 2019 – Nottawasaga Lookout Provincial Nature Reserve to Maple Lane in Ravenna – 25.2 km (with Kris)

Run stats

  • # runs: 4
  • # solo runs: 0
  • # runs with my husband Alasdair: 0
  • # runs with friends: 4 (Kris)
  • shortest run: 18 km
  • longest run: 25.2 km
  • average length of run: 21.7 km

Run highlights

Near the Nottawasaga Lookout Provincial Nature Reserve

Prettiest sunrise: The sunrise was so pretty that I had to pull over and take a picture. This was just a couple of kilometres from our end point for the run, where we met to leave one car – not too far from Maple Lane in Ravenna.

Barred owl in the centre of the picture (see brown blob!).

Wildlife sightings: A missed blaze and an accidental short trek off-trail near the Nottawasaga Bluffs meant that my friend Kris and I were led right to a Barred Owl! It was my first time seeing one in the wild (though I have heard many while backcountry camping), and first time ever seeing an owl while I was running (or walking!) – once I saw one while in a moving vehicle. It was beautiful, and had a huge wingspan. Sadly, we couldn’t get too close for a picture, but I promise you, the owl is in the picture! 

Whee!

Most non-running fun/neat finds: Not far from one of the ski lifts at Blue Mountain we found a rope swing, which just begged to be used!

Best natural art: I spotted this on the side of the road as we ran by on a very windy day!

Follow me on Facebook: Kyra on the Go: Adventures of a Paddling Triathlete

Follow me on Twitter: @kyraonthego

Follow me on Instagram: @kyraonthego

2 thoughts on “Running the Bruce Trail End to End: Blue Mountains Section

  1. Great job on the trail runs. And hey 8 km.in a kilt!! Looks like crazy fun #!_ that swing. I so would have done what you guys did.
    Owls are so amazing to watch fly! We are lucky to have a pair that live near us so see them quite a bit.

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s