S1.Ep18 "Pretty River Valley" - Part 1 =Hiking The Bruce Trail End To End : A Journey Across Ontario

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Season 1, Episode 18 : “Pretty River Valley”
Saving the best to last – in this the 18th and 2nd last episode of Season One covering the first half of the Bruce Trail, we had one of the most beautiful and epic hikes of them all. 30km across the landscape, bursting with sunshine and fall colour.
The day started off quite differently though, it was October 31st and it was a chilly and damp 5 degrees Celsius to start the day with a short road walk before we veered off into a proper trail. Mud was a theme of the day.
With some great views starting to appear the landscape was beautiful despite the weather. But on one of our first great overlooks of the day we saw some blue sky opening up on the horizon. A good sign of things to come.
This was one of the few times we took a side trail diversion from the Bruce Trail – that was to go through the “Standing Rock and Caves Side Trail”. It leads to the same spot as the Bruce Trail section, is much more interesting and challenging and not any shorter so that’s what we did. A great decision as we weaved through great crevasses and channels which led to a dynamic and powerful rock wall “room”. Through a small crack we made our way out of the labyrinth and broke out into the shining sunshine that had emerged from behind the clouds.
Hard to describe the beautiful autumn scene – next level beauty.
We descended into the Pretty River Valley slipping and sliding all the way down in the mud. At the valley floor the hillsides and clouds, blue sky and autumn colours were truly mesmerizing. But the best was still yet to come.
We made it to the Pretty River which was, pretty, and then headed up the other side of the valley up seemingly endless hills and alongside a gorgeous mountain stream. Eventually we reached the top and came upon the best views so far on the Bruce Trail – and our first good look at Georgian Bay – that of Osler Bluffs. Astounding.
Almost as if choreographed (the whole hike felt like this), the November winds started blowing in as soon as we left the scenic bluffs and we pushed our aching bodies further as the sun began to set.
We made it to the Blue Mountain Ski Resort, where we would end the day overlooking the lake and the bay, setting up our final hike of season one – through the Blue Mountains and to the half way point of the trail (and beyond).
In Season Two I hope to finish the trail, and episodes will launch weekly starting in November of 2022 if all goes well.
Season one ends in a dramatic cliffhanger with the last episode - Episode 19 : “The Blue Mountains Mystery”. Don’t miss it!
Visit SteveWelchOntario.com for more information, links to episodes, and music from the series.