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Winter/Spring 2013/14
THE BLUE PRINT
The Blue Mountains Bruce Trail Club Newsletter
Blue Mountains Bruce Trail Club www.bmbtc.org , P.O. Box 91, Collingwood, Ont. L9Y 3Z4
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Winter/Spring 2013/14
CLUB EXECUTIVE 2013/14
President
Ian Petrie
[email protected]
705-293-4444
Past President
Peter McDonald
[email protected]
705-444-8294
Vice President
Herman Ohrt
[email protected]
705-446-1440
BTC Representative
Marietta Service
[email protected]
905-527-2519
Treasurer
Terry Sears
[email protected]
705-444-985
Secretary
Sharon Emerson
[email protected]
705-444-0750
Trail Maintenance
Linda Finley
[email protected]
519-538-2247
Land Owner Relations
Denman Lawrenson
[email protected]
705-445-0014
Jansje Lawrenson
[email protected]
705-445-0014
Land Stewards Director
Dave Knox
[email protected]
705-445-5933
Membership Secretary
Dave Cole
[email protected]
416-222-7226
Hiking Director
Tom Wilson
[email protected]
705-446-1877
Social Director
Rosemary Petrie
[email protected]
705-293-4444
Communications & Volunteer Coordinator
Cathy Sears
[email protected]
705-444-9859
Webmaster
Hart Fischer
[email protected]
705-445-6876
Newsletter Editor
Jill Doble
[email protected]
705-293-0573
Newsletter Distribution
Jennifer Roy
[email protected]
705-445-8940
Publicity
Dave Morton
[email protected]
705-444-0228
Director at Large
Dick Edwards
[email protected]
705-445-5849
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Winter/Spring 2013/14
th
The 50 Anniversary Picnic Table Celebration by Rosemary Petrie & Jill Doble
The 50th Anniversary Picnic
Table Celebration
There was a stellar turnout for the celebratory hike and picnic in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Blue Mountain
Bruce Trail Club. Over forty members attended the celebration on Saturday, June 8. Two hikes had been arranged to
accommodate the various tastes of our hikers – the longer one led by Tom Wilson and the shorter one led by Rosemary
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Winter/Spring 2013/14
Petrie. The two groups converged at the site of the new 50th anniversary picnic table, which is scenically situated
overlooking the rolling fields south of the Nottawasauga Bluffs at kilometre 14.5 on the club trail.
After lunch, a celebratory toast was made by Del Cook and a huge carrot cake was consumed. Thanks to Sue Niblett,
who very nobly hauled the cake over the trail to the picnic site on a sled. (Fortuitously, Hart Fischer had arrived on the
scene to give Sue a hand with transporting the cake, so the cake arrived without incident.) The club members were
delighted to have both Shirley and Del return to attend the occasion and help celebrate the 50th anniversary. It was
great to see them both!
As part of the celebration of the Blue Mountain Bruce Trail 50th anniversary, past president, Del Cook had devised the
plan of installing a picnic table at the very scenic km 14.5 along the trail. Lumber for the project had been donated by an
anonymous donor and Blue Mountain Welding donated the materials for, as well as the construction of the metal frame.
A big thank you goes to Tom Wilson, Herman Ohrt, Bert Beausoleil, and David Little, who assembled and installed the
new picnic table. A commemorative plaque will be installed at the site of the picnic table to dedicate the table to all the
people, past and present, who have contributed so much to our B.M.B.T.C.
When planning a hike near km 14.5, remember to stop and enjoy your lunch and the view from the comfort of the new
picnic table and think about what you can do to help your Blue Mountain Bruce Trail Club, as it continues on for the next
fifty years.
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Hiking in Alberta by Cathy Sears
Winter/Spring 2013/14
damp and I got rid of a big, fat black and white spider
crawling on my sleeping bag, Yikes!
Many of you have already heard of Skyline
Hikers of the Canadian Rockies. This non-profit
organization, operated by volunteers, has been around
since l933 and has a great reputation for providing
participants with a quality experience in camp and on
the trail. Every year five one-week camps are held
during July and August. You hike into the campsite on
Monday and return to the trailhead on the following
Saturday. A different location is selected each summer
to preserve the mountain ecology. Each hiker
participates daily in one of 5 or more hikes offered that
is suited to their particular abilities. Wilderness
accommodation is a prospector-style tent that can sleep
up to four hikers each. The tents have a wood burning
stove and thick foam sleeping pads. Hearty, hot meals
are prepared daily by skilled cooks at breakfast and
dinner, and a bag lunch is provided for the trail.
We wanted to try this unique, remote, alpine,
wilderness hiking experience. And so, on August 11,
2013, Terry and I flew out of Toronto to Calgary where
we caught the Red Arrow bus to Red Deer. There we
met up with Marilyn Jones, also from BMBTC, and 37
other hikers. This was Marilyn's third trip with Skyline
and she did a fabulous job as the camp musician. She
made us proud! At the hotel in Red Deer we were
briefed by knowledgeable leaders on all we needed to
know about camp life and hiking the mountains, valleys,
creeks, rivers, meadows and plateaus of the South Ram
area of Alberta. This was the first time that Skyline has
been to this area and I was astonished at how much
work and planning went into establishing and routing a
location for the first time.
The next morning we boarded a yellow school
bus that went west on Hwy 11 and south on dirt road
#752 with a pit stop mid-way at Rocky Mountain House.
Three hours later we arrived at the trailhead where we
hiked 12km in a drizzle of rain, thunder and distant
lightning to our campsite. We each carried our day
backpack while packhorses carted in our duffels with
sleeping bags, ground sheets, sleeping mats and other
useful things. The camp on that first night was cold and
We were week five so the camp was well
established with a covered dining tent, fire pit, a
washing-up tent and those infamous biffies with toilet
seats! The campsite was surrounded by an electric
fence, solar panel powered, to keep the wild life out of
camp. The campsite is located at an elevation of
6,036ft. Hike destinations for the week were as high as
8,284ft. The South Ram area is not in a National Park
but is owned by the Alberta Government as a
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conservation area. The site is in the Alberta Bighorn
Wilderness Recreation area that abuts Banff and Jasper
National Parks.
Each day started with a 7am wake up bell and
the smell of a delicious, hearty breakfast. The first hike
that Terry and I did was called the Painted Mountain
Peak. It started out innocently enough over two
streams, through a meadow where we saw horses and
then we started to ascend. Picture a slope of 120/60degree angle; yes, we were definitely in for a
challenge. Only a few in our group made it to the peak
at 7,500ft. We cut our loss at 7,000ft because of poor
footing on difficult terrain.
Each day we generally got back to camp around
4pm and after a wash-up, happy hour and dinner we
would cap the day off with an evening of singing,
storytelling and companionship around a
campfire. Marilyn was fantastic for bringing the group
together.
On day three, we woke up to a temperature of
3 degrees Celsius but the day did warm up nicely to
24. We set out to do the Beehive loop hike, by far a
much better experience for us. We ascended 523m and
in four hours hiked 9.2k. What breathtaking
mountaintops from this 360-degree panoramic
view. That evening the “old-timers”, who formed a
hiking pole arch for us to walk under, initiated the new
hikers to Skyline.
On the fourth day Marilyn, Terry, myself and
others decided to give our bodies a break by hiking west
alongside the South Ram River with no ascents or
descents. After our hike, Terry and I bathed our feet in
the South Ram River and, yes, it was cold! I give credit
to others who bathed every day, total emersion, in that
very cold water.
On day five, we hiked to Whelk Plateau, 16k
and steep elevations, my favourite. We passed through
lush evergreen forests and meadows filled with
mountain wildflowers. What spectacular sights from
the top. We were rewarded with a roast beef dinner
followed by talent night around the campfire. The skits
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were funny, entertaining and full of laughs.
The last morning was bitter sweet. Camp was
closing up for the year. Everyone helped clean up as
much as they could to lessen the work of the cleanup
crew who would come in for the next few days to
restore the site to its original beauty. Trail markers are
removed, river crossings are dismantled and Skyline will
leave a campsite in better condition than before by
seeding the ground.
Our 12k return hike to the trailhead was in
much better weather than when we came in and we
were able to appreciate the scenery. We did not see
evidence of the earlier Alberta flooding but had been
told that an important bridge that our bus would have
taken was washed out.
Unfortunately we did not see much wild life all
week as some of the previous camps had
reported. Now that we are out of there, no doubt the
animals have returned. We did however see fresh scat
and bones.
We arrived back at the Red Deer hotel at
7:30pm and most of us headed to the local bar for a
farewell dinner. We reminisced about the fun we had
and the new friends we made. Much to my surprise, I
fell into a soft, cozy bed that night without having that
hot shower that I'd been dreaming about all week.
The next day Marilyn headed to Regina to see
family while Terry and I bused north to Edmonton. We
spent a few days touring then took the Canadian Classic
Train journey back to Toronto. After an arduous week,
it was relaxing to sit in the dome and watch this
beautiful country go by.
Of interest, gas was $1.10/litre in Alberta. In
Edmonton the Streets run north and south whereas the
Avenues run east and west. Edmonton is a beautiful
city with the North Saskatchewan River running through
it.
Contact info@skylinehikers for more information on
this fantastic organization.
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Boardwalks in the Bluffs
Linda Finley, Trail Director
For those of you who are frequent users of the diversity
of trails in the Nottawasaga Bluffs, your next hike
should be even better!
Thanks to the creative foresight and vision of Trail
Captain Rob Mooy, we now have 2 sturdy boardwalks at
kms 18.8 of our Main Trail. The boardwalks (30 and 40
feet long) permit hikers to more safely traverse a
seasonally wet area and a small stream.
The birth of these boardwalks, from conception to
reality, was close to 12 months in the making. Niagara
Escarpment Commission (NEC) and Nottawasaga Valley
Conservation Authority (NVCA) permits were obtained,
as well as Executive Committee approval for the
expenditure of Club funds.
The boardwalks are a project that required abundant
volunteer work hours as well as positive landowner
support. Many thanks to lead carpenter Rob Mooy for
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all of his planning, patience and follow through.
Honorable mention goes to Rob’s support crew, Jenny
the Generator and Percy the Sledge Hammer.
Thanks also to volunteers Chuck Cameron, David Little
and Terry Kimmerly for their onsite, “in the mud
construction assistance. Sincere appreciation is also
extended to the capable and professional staff of the
NVCA. They provided preconstruction advice, provision
of some materials, and transportation of lumber to the
site.
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Blue Mountains Bruce Trail Hiking Club
First Annual Pig Roast Jill Doble
Did you miss the fun? One hundred and fifty people
enjoyed the singing and guitar strumming of The Band
on the Bruce before chowing down on a delicious
roasted pork dinner prepared by the many volunteers of
the Blue Mountain Bruce Trail Hiking Club. After dinner,
the entertainment continued with the blues sounds of
Highway 26. Thanks to the many who contributed to
and bid on the large variety of interesting items in the
silent auction. This was a fun and very social BMBT club
event, which helped raise a lot of money that will be put
to good use on the trail.
Winter/Spring 2013/14
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Winter/Spring 2013/14
Blue Mountain Bruce Trail Club at the Centurion
For the third consecutive year, a group of our
members volunteered for the Centurion bike event held
on the roads in and around the Blue Mountains. The
event is for all levels, where racers race and riders ride.
Some of us drove the SAG (supply and gear) vehicles to
assist disabled riders and/or disabled bikes. Others
removed the chip timers at the end of the 50 and 100
mile courses. A donation of $500 was received for our
volunteer efforts for BMBTC. A great big THANK YOU
to ALL who participated. by Cathy Sears
Collingwood Toyota
10230 Highway 26 East, Collingwood, ON
705-444-1414
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Blue Mountain in Tobermory by Terry Sears
Stealing the idea from the Nature League of
Collingwood, I decided to test the waters of running
three days of hiking on the Bruce Peninsula. I agreed
with the owner of the Coach House Inn in Tobermory
that a minimum number of 15 hikers would be required
for her to offer two night’s accommodation and six
meals for a cost of less than $120.00 per person double
occupancy. I then started spreading the word on various
hikes and through an email to hike leaders and before I
knew it the numbers were in the forties. Three hikes per
day - expert, intermediate and moderate - were
planned starting on Wednesday September 18, 2013 in
Wiarton and finishing in Tobermory on Friday
September 20, 2013. Each evening the hikes were
followed by a happy hour, dinner and campfire.
The result of my experiment was a resounding success
as everyone seemed to enjoy the exercise and
fellowship. Based on the comments I have received I
have no choice but to add the event to our Club's hiking
schedule for next year. Look for the details in the next
edition of the Blue Print.
Winter/Spring 2013/14
Blue Mountain Bruce Trail Club
Goes
Green!!
In order to save the waste and expense of paper plates, cups and plastic utensils, remember to bring your
own plate, cup and utensils to all future pot luck socials. Start with the November 30 th Christmas Pot Luck.
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Winter/Spring 2013/14
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Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:
The Bruce Trail Conservancy
P.O. Box 857
Hamilton, On L8N 3N9
The Bruce Trail Conservancy. Close to Nature. Close to Home.
The Blue Print Newsletter is published twice each year.