A number of the Thunderbird Rovers (including Lumberman, Tool, Miller, Flynno, Monica, Ainsley, Adam Gilbert and Sally) are working on their Duke of Edinburgh's Awards.  At the end of August 1997, Lumberman, Miller, Flynno and Ryan Bortz (81st Venturer) along with Adam and David went on a little walk.  Actually, it was 82km, from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Grimsby, Ontario.  Needless to say, we were a bit sore by the time it was all over.
    Anyway, this is the log submitted as part of Lumberman's application for the Gold Standard of the award:

Group Equipment

  tarp (for shelter)
 2 backpack stoves
 4 white gas cylinders
 1 medium sized cooking pot
 1 candle lantern
Bruce Trail Guidebook
toilet paper
first aid kit
cellular phone

Personal Equipment

   backpack
 1 sleeping bag
 1 compression sack
 1 aerolyte foam pad
 1 pair hiking boots
 1 pair running shoes
 6 pair wool-blend socks
 6 pair underwear
 2 long-sleeved shirt
 4 T-shirts
 1 sweater
 1 sweat shirt
 1 plate
 1 bowl
 1 mug
cutlery set
flashlight
1 pair jeans
1 pair track pants
3 pair shorts
1 bush-style hat
sunscreen
matches
money
medication for aniphilactic reaction
toothbrush
toothpaste
soap
face cloth

Menu
 

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
28 August		fresh peaches macaroni salad fruit juice	Mulligan Stew juice from concentrated crystals
29 August	instant oatmeal juice from concentrated crystals	Pasta Salad juice from concentrated crystals	Bar-b-qued hamburgers· potato chips soft drinks
30 August	instant oatmeal juice from concentrated crystals	Chicken Salad juice from concentrated crystals	Maritime Pasta Supreme juice from concentrated crystals
31 August	instant oatmeal juice from concentrated crystals
Snacks	trail mix,  fresh fruit,  energy bars

 Log

Thursday, 28 August 1997

    On Friday 28 August, at 9:00am, four of the members of the 81st Hamilton Rovers Duke of Edinburgh's Award Group - myself (Michael Logan,) Michael Flynn, Ryan Bortz and Mark Miller, set out on the qualifying journey for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.  Ryan was working towards his Silver Level, while the rest of us were working on our Gold Awards.
    We met at the Millers’ house on David Avenue in Hamilton, and Mrs. Miller drove us to our starting point - Butler’s Barracks in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  At this historic spot, we started the first leg of our journey along the General Brock Trail, which follows the Niagara Parkway and the Niagara River closely.  We left at around 10:30am.
    The entire twelve kilometre General Brock Trail was asphalt.  As mentioned before, the northern end of the Trail lies on the edge of the heavily travelled and very scenic Niagara Parkway, overlooking the Niagara River, with the United States directly across the gorge.  All along the western side of the Parkway were vinyards, and stands selling freshly picked fruit.  It was at one of these fruit stands where we bought our lunches.  I purchased some peaches, fruit juice, and home made pasta salad to eat later.

     The weather was excellent.  The temperature was around 30°C, and the sky was very clear.  The water of the Niagara River looked beautiful, and even a water skier was spotted far below, on the surface of the River.  Unfortunately, there was little to no shade along the entire General Brock Trail, so the hot sun was unrelenting and tiring.
     As the Niagara Parkway turned west away from the edge of the river gorge, the Trail steadily dropped down into the gorge. At the bottom, we were afforded a little more shade as we traversed an abandoned road, before coming to the bottom of a decrepit set of stairs leading back up to the top of the gorge.  Here we would take the Trail back up.
     A long climb ensued, during which we allowed for more than one rest stop.  At the top, we were near the famous Brock Monument at Queenston Heights, which commemorates the heroics of General Sir Isaac Brock in the War of 1812, fought throughout the Niagara Peninsula in which we live, and would be travelling over the next few days.  Here, near the base of the Brock Monument is also where the famous Bruce Trail begins.  We stopped to look at the cairn marking the beginning of the Bruce, and to eat lunch in the pavilion at the site.  The time was around 12:30pm, and we had travelled twelve kilometres in sweltering conditions.
     After a break of about forty-five minutes, we set off along the Bruce Trail in a generally westerly direction.
     The next four kilometres of trail were more challenging than what we had experienced earlier in the day.  The shade afforded by the trees in this section was a welcome break from the hot sun, but the cover was thin as we climbed up and down smaller slopes.
 Eventually, we could hear the rumble of automobiles in the distance, and then emerged from the forest to see Highway 405 in the distance.  Here, we were required to follow the trail under the highway by way of the Regional Road 100 underpass.  We continued to hike along RR 100 for a few hundred metres, until the trail veered off to the west, back into the forest.  By this time in the afternoon, the sun was still high overhead, and the heat of the day remained intense.
     The terrain remained challenging, as we encountered many slopes and trails which were relatively unused.  Soon, we reached Fireman’s Park, where we came out into a small clearing, with a pond, and sports fields surrounding it.  Here, we saw other people for one of the few times since leaving Queenston Heights at lunch time.  A few minutes after we left Fireman’s Park, we stopped for a short rest, and met a dog who didn’t seem to have an owner nearby.  For the rest of the day, the dog followed us wherever we went!
     Soon afterwards, the trail joined with Newburn Road, and turned south.  This section along the road seemed long and monotonous as we neared the overpass above the Queen Elizabeth Way.
 Eventually, we crossed the Queen Elizabeth Way via the Mountain Road overpass.  We were now very tired, and looking forward to a night in camp, which would be spent at a site on Beechwood Road, south of Mountain Road, just off of the Bruce Trail.
     The Bruce Trail was followed until the intersection of Mountain Road and Garner Road, where the trail turned north towards Woodend Conservation Area, and we kept on a westerly course.  One kilometre past Garner Road we came to Beechwood Road and turned south.  Mountian Road looked very similar to Halton Region, where our group has done a lot of hiking in the past, but these were tender fruit fields (mostly grapes) as opposed to pastures in Halton.  The traffic was fairly heavy, and many large houses lined the road.  At a few of the houses, we asked for help in locating the owner of the dog which had been following us, but were turned away at every one.
     It was finally getting cooler as we turned south on Beechwood Road.  By the time we reached the primitive site owned by Scouts Canada - Niagara District, it was about 6:30pm.  Dan Walker, Scouts Canada - Battlefields Regional Commissioner met us at around 7:00pm and let us into the wood lot, showing us the outhouses, and where we were to camp.  Mr. Walker also left water for us to use that night.
     Shortly after Mr. Walker left us, with the stray dog, we set up camp and Mark and Mike Flynn started to cook our dinner - Mulligan Stew - while Ryan Bortz and I built a small fire in order to dry our wet socks and shirts.
     The temperature rapidly dropped as the sun went down later in the evening, and we soon went to bed.  We had travelled approximately twenty-seven kilometres since leaving Butler’s Barracks in Niagara-on-the-Lake that morning.

 Friday, 29 August 1997

     On Friday, 29 August, the weather was a little more overcast than the day before.  It was also quite windy, so the heat did not feel as intense, however, a lot of sunscreen was applied to keep us from burning nevertheless!  In spots along our journey, large puddles could be seen where it had rained very recently.
     We awoke around 6:30am and cooked our breakfast of instant oatmeal before cleaning up camp.  We left camp at about 8:00am, heading north on Beechwood Road for a stretch of approximately three kilometres.  Traffic on Beechwood Road was lighter than on Mountain Road the evening before, but the scenery was similar.
     Soon, we crossed the train tracks, and rejoined the Bruce Trail as it headed west towards the Welland Canal.  The short section of trail between Beechwood Road and the old Canal was difficult as it traversed many small slopes along its way through thick forest.  We quickly reached railway tracks again, following them for a short distance to the edge of the old Welland Canal.  At this point, we stopped for a short rest, and to look at the old Canal, overgrown with crab apple trees.  It was interesting to look at the abandoned locks, because the water was mostly drained out of the chambers.  Obviously, the old Canal was much narrower (and therefore had a much smaller capacity) than the current Canal.
     Soon, we started north along the eastern edge of the canal.  Here, the Bruce Trail is a multi-use facility, and is in disrepair due to heavy bicycle use.  This section of trail was also difficult because it was constently declining in large steps and flat sections, along with the canal as it descended from the level of Lake Erie to the level of Lake Ontario.  At one point near where the trail came out onto Glendale Avenue, it actually went through an abandoned lock from a canal predating the old Canal that we had been following.

     We took another short rest when the trail joined Glendale Avenue in downtown St. Catherines.  Shortly after leaving our rest spot, we crossed the new Welland Canal via the Glendale Avenue lift bridge, and turned abruptly south, along the western edge of the new Canal.  Before crossing the railway tracks again, we followed the Bruce Trail west, up a set of stairs, and across a field.
     It was getting to be around 11:00am by this time, so the temperature was increasing as we hiked the Bruce Trail across semi-urban fields and forest back towards Glendale Avenue.  When we re-emerged at Glendale Avenue, just east of the highway 406 overpass, we stopped in a city park to rest and prepare our lunch which consisted of cold Pasta Salad and juice from concentrate.  Our experience with the pasta salad taught us to always heat the water which is added to dehydrated food, no matter what the instructions say!
     After a long break, we started back on our journey, at around 12:30pm, crossing Highway 406 via its Glendale Avenue overpass.  The Trail then followed a residential street up a steep incline, and back into the thick forest along the edge of the Niagara escarpment just south of Glendale Avenue.  The terrain remained difficult as we continued along the escarpment towards Glenridge Avenue, but at least we were shaded from the hot sun.
     Shortly after passing Glenridge Avenue, we suddenly emerged from the thick woods and found ourselves on the campus of Brock University in St. Catherines.  We had already travelled approximately fourteen kilometres, and were making excellent time, so we stopped for another rest on the lawn at Brock, and also used the washroom facilities.  By the time we left the campus it was nearly 2:00pm, but we only had around ten kilometres left to travel.
     As we left Brock, we were moving more slowly, as the tough trail conditions and hot weather had taken their toll on us.  The trail re-entered the woods for a short distance, and then sharply declined and led out onto a roadway, where it immediately climbed another hill as we approached the hydro-electric dam at Lake Moodie.  The trek around the lake was extremely tough, because there was no cover at all, and we were already extremely exhausted.  Eventually, we joined DeCew Road on the south end of Lake Moodie, and followed it all the way to DeCew Falls instead of following the trail down the western shore of Lake Moodie.
     At DeCew Falls, we entered the forest again, and followed the main trail over challenging terrain for a short distance before veering off onto the Hog Back Side Trail near Morning Star Mill, which is a little bit shorter than the main trail.  Half-way along the side trail, we entered Short Hills Provincial Park.
     The trails inside the Park were well maintained, and much wider than those outside of the Park.  We followed the trail up one final steep slope before finally reaching the entrance to Scout Camp Witaskiwin, where we would be making camp for the night, and meeting the two other members of our expedition party.
     We reached the main building at Camp Witaskiwin at around 4:30pm, and were advised to wash up at the wash station, and wait for the group who were to meet us.  After washing up and thankfully taking off our hiking boots, the first visitor to reach the camp was Earl Bateman, a Leader with the St. Catherines District of Scouts Canada.  A little later, Peter Flynn, Advisor of the 81st Hamilton Rover Crew, and leader of the 81st Hamilton Rovers Duke of Edinburgh group arrived with his wife Carolyn, and the other two members of our expedition party - David Gillard and Adam Gilbert, who had both arrived in Toronto from London, UK on Thursday night.
     A bar-b-que with plenty of hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone ensued, followed by some time chatting with our English guests.  Then, we made ourselves comfortable in the main lodge at Camp Witaskiwin, a chalet-style cabin with enough room to sleep approximately seventy-five comfortably.  It certainly was spacious with only six of us staying over night!

Saturday, 30 August 1997

     Good weather remained with us on Saturday, although the temperatures were not as high as the previous two days.  We woke up at around 6:30, prepared our breakfast of instant oatmeal in the kitchen in the cabin at Camp Witaskiwin, and packed up all of our gear.
     The six of us checked out with the camp warden and departed at around 8:00am.  We backtracked along the camp road until we met up with the main Bruce Trail again.  Picking up the trail where we left off, we headed west along the trail into Short Hills conservation Area where the trails were very hilly.
     Soon, the trail crossed Effingham Rd.  It then continued through forested areas along the Niagara escarpment.  At this point, the escarpment is very loosely defined by a series of small steps, so the trail does not actually follow either the top or bottom, but rather goes up and down along the way.  Often, we could see urban developments which were built along the escarpment and very close to the trail.
 By this point, the four of us who had travelled all the way from Niagara-on-the-Lake realised that our friends David and Adam who had just joined us were very experienced hikers, and did not find the Bruce Trail as challenging as we did.  They were also just starting out, so were not tired as we were.  It was difficult to keep up with them!
     Similar terrain continued as we headed north towards Pelham Road.  After crossing the road, the trail traversed the small valley which contains Fifteen Mile Creek.  At the bottom, we stopped for a rest before climbing the other side of the valley towards 9th St.  Quickly we reached 9th St, and turned north to follow the trail along it.  The flat, smooth surface was a welcome break from the challenging Bruce Trail.  After only a short distance, however, the trail veered off to the west again.  Fortunately the trail was generally flatter in the next section than it had been for the majority of the day.
     Rests were frequent, as the temperature continued to climb through the morning.  David and Adam were usually well ahead of the rest of us, and often had to wait for us to catch up,  although they did help us go much more quickly than we had on Friday.
     After the trail turned in a south west direction, the terrain became a little more challenging, but by this time, we all had the opportunity to get used to walking again, and we were making good time.  Soon, we reached Louth Conservation Area and passed through it.
     Eventually, we reached 17th St, and followed it north.  It was incredibly hot and humid out in the open - the heat was intensified by the fact that there was no wind on Saturday.  Nevertheless, the promise of a long rest propelled us along 17th St until we reached Shangrila Camp, where we decided to have lunch.

     The camp was basically a short term trailer park, with a common picnic and play area near the gate.  After we explained what we were doing, the owner of the park was kind enough to let us in without paying the visitor fee!  Luckily the picnic area was protected from the sun by a few large trees, and there was a water tap very near by.  We took our time preparing our lunch because we knew that we only had a few more kilometres to go before we reached our destination for the day - Ball’s Falls Conservation Area.  As we were eating, a small parade including a few golf carts and trailers circled the camp ground - we think it was in celebration of Saturday.

     After a nice long break and a chance to refill our water bottles, we put our packs on, and headed back out onto the trail.  The trail continued generally north before it turned west along the escarpment.  All along this section, the trail was wide and well used, because we were so close to Ball’s Falls - a popular Conservation Area.  Yet at the same time, the trail was in very good condition, without ruts or holes.

     We rested once again at the point where the trail reached the top of the valley overlooking Twenty Mile Creek.  In this area, we saw lots of other trail users, as well as well preserved natural habitat for plants and animals.  The weather was still hot and humid, but we were well protected by the thick forest.
     Quickly, we continued south up a slight incline towards the conservation area.  As we came out onto the road leading into the park, we could see that a wedding was taking place in the small, old-fashioned church across the road from the park entrance.  When we got closer, we got a picture of all of us with the wedding party in the background.

     When we finally entered the park at around 3:00pm, the girl at the front gate had no record of our campsite reservation which I had made approximately a week beforehand.  Nevertheless, the staff allowed us to camp, and in fact we were the only people in the park overnight!  We dropped our equipment in an extremely large field at the top of a small hill.  Here, there were picnic tables, habachi style bar-b-ques, and campfire sites.  The washrooms were a short walk away, at the bottom of the hill.
     We all took our boots and sock off, and laid down until Ryan’s parents arrived to take him home (as planned, Ryan had called home when we arrived at Ball’s Falls and asked his parents to come and get him, since he was only working on the Bronze Stage D. of E. and didn’t need to complete the entire hike.)  Afterwards, we got cleaned up and collected some wood for a fire.

     As Mark and Adam started to prepare dinner, the rest of us noticed that the wedding party had moved into the park, and were holding their reception in a small building near the entrance - we could plainly hear the music from our site!
     After dinner, the five remaining campers sat around the campfire we had built and talked.  We had a lot to talk about, since we (the Canadians) had so much in common with our new British friends - we were all involved in Scouting as well as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.  That night, we got to know each other very well, and later invited both Adam and David to join our Rover Crew as honourary members.
     Soon after it got dark, the five of us were all asleep - we were extremely tired even though the day had been a relatively light 17 kilometres.

Sunday, 31 August 1997

     We woke up early on Sunday, at about 6:00am.  We wanted to get started early, so we could reach our final destination - downtown Grimsby - at a fairly early hour.  We soon decided to take a short cut, since we (Michael Flynn, Michael Logan, and Mark, at least) were very sore.
     Everything, including our breakfast, was finished, cleaned and packed by 7:00am, when we left Ball’s Falls.  Unfortunately, the weather had taken a turn for the worse on Sunday.  The skies were overcast, and a cool breeze and thick, humid air foreshadowed rain.  The rain came shortly after we left the front gate of the park, and started to head north along the Bruce Trail.
     Soon, the rain stopped, and we came to Victoria Rd.  Here, we broke away from the trail, and followed Victoria Rd South for a little under a kilometre.  Next, we turned west on Fly Rd, and followed it for several kilometres, passing by many houses, and through the small town of Campden.
     It rained only very slightly all morning, and even though it was extremely humid, temperatures were refreshingly lower.  On Sunday morning, we made relatively good time along the roads, and calculated our approximate rate to be around 6.5 km/h.  Even so, the scenery was fairly boring - empty fields much like the areas we normally hike through.  There was the occasional vinyard or tender fruit orchard, however. After we had travelled along Fly Rd for about eight kilometres, we reached a fork in the road, and turned right, towards Lake Ontario and the escarpment.
     After a few more kilometres on this road, we again turned - this time towards the north on Thirty Mountain Rd.  As we approached the intersection of Thirty Mountain Rd and Ridge Rd, more houses were seen, and at least one spot seemed to be semi-urban development.  Soon, we turned right on Ridge Rd, and followed it for a short distance until we rejoined the Bruce Trail.
     As we re-entered the forest, the rain began to fall again.  Luckily, we were making very good time, and figured we would make it to Grimsby by about 1:00pm, if we didn’t stop to make ourselves lunch!
     Back on the trail, the terrain was much more difficult, and we slowed considerably.  Treks up and down small parts of the escarpment were frequent, as were rests at the tops!  We did notice that the natural beauty of the area had been preserved well (presumably thanks to the Niagara Escarpment Commission,) even though we were so close to the town of Grimsby.  Soon, we passed the intersection of the trail and Ridge Rd.
     Finally, the last long section of trail stood before us.  Just over three kilometres until we crossed Mountain Rd, and then one final downhill section into the town of Grimsby.  As we started out, the rain became more steady, but remained light.  Even though the terrain was quite difficult, we eventually made it to Mountain Rd, and met a very large group of hikers on a day expedition, just entering the woods.  We stopped to have a few words with them, and continued on our separate ways.
     A rest was in order before we attempted the steeply sloped section of trail which led into the town.  Here, Michael Flynn used the cellular phone which the group had brought to call our Group Leader, Peter Flynn, to let him know we were almost finished.  Hopefully, Peter would be waiting for us when we arrived in town.  By the time we started to descend the slope, the rain had completely stopped for the day.
     The steep slope was made somewhat easier by the steps that had been built in the steepest places.  Eventually, we reached the bottom, and followed the Bruce Trail along some residential streets to the sport where it crosses Forty Mile Creek.  This is the spot where the plaque dividing the Niagara and Iroquois sections of the Trail is located, and our final destination.  After a few minutes of happy rejoicing, we walked the last few hundred metres to a nearby plaza where we had arranged to meet Peter.  Since it was around 1:00pm, and we had not eaten lunch, we got a few snacks from a doughnut shop in the plaza and waited for our leader.  Soon, he arrived and we packed all of our gear in the back of his van for the ride home to Hamilton.  From Niagara-on-the-Lake to Grimsby, Mark, Michael Logan and Michael Flynn had hiked a total of 82 km.

     The expedition taught us a lot about ourselves and the environment around us.  It gave us the opportunity to enjoy a disappearing natural feature of our country - the Niagara Fruit Belt, as well as the opportunity to meet two great friends from ‘the other side of the world’ - David and Adam.  I would strongly suggest that any young person engage in such an adventurous project.  With careful planning and preparation, a trip such as this one can be a happy and memorable experience for anyone.

    For maps of our journey, see the Bruce Trail Guide Book.

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Page created 28 July 1999.   Last updated 12 January 2002.

(c) Thunderbird Rover Scouts.

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