Blue Mountains Section - Pretty River (50.6 km) to Devil's Glen (31.7 km) - May 4, 2023.

 Blue Mountains Section - Pretty River (50.6 km) to Devil's Glen (31.7 km) - May 4, 2023.

It's a new month and the Hiking With Friends group was on the road again up north this past week, visiting the Blue Mountains Section to tackle another monster hike of 20 km from Pretty River Valley Provincial Park southward to the parking lot at Devil's Glen...importantly, today would mark the completion of this section for Doug and keep him on track to complete his Bruce Trail E2E next month...

 Our bird's eye view of the route which, it turns out, is a bit truncated...despite starting my Garmin at the parking lot, it seems it didn't start tracking my location until we were about a kilometre into our walk...regardless, you get the general idea...the hike took us 6 hours and 20 minutes to complete, and we ascended around 500 meters over the course, a good portion of that coming in the early stages...after that, it was pretty level walking with the normal ups and downs...

So now is probably a good time to try and explain the bit of a convoluted start we had for this particular hike...4 of our total group of 10 hikers "needed" to start their trek a little further north of the designated parking area at Pretty River (especially Doug), so they were shuttled a short distance down the road to the Pretty River Side Trail access point...so here are Doug, Frank, Steve R, and Lesley ready to set off on this extra 1.9 km bit...they were joined by Brian, Andrew, and ultimately Richard who were up for the extra effort...

That left myself, Barbara, and Frances to set off slightly ahead of that group over at the parking lot...we agreed that we would wait at the Singhampton Caves for the other 7 to catch up...how would our plan work out?...stay tuned!

Some of the first group stand about while Lesley tries to remember where she put her keys...or something...Doug captures an area of severely impacted tree growth (possibly wind shear..or ice accretion?)...they continue on towards the parking lot...

Meanwhile, the "front runners" set off into the woods and travel along the rushing Pretty River, its magnificent cedars providing amazing examples of nature's craftsmanship...

Our lead group arrives at Blue Mountains-Clearview Townline (accessed using the very nice new staircase beside the repaired culvert) and gets set to head south...I should mention that, in a conscious effort dictated our group ethos, we are, where possible, trying to experience the trail in the opposite direction to that perhaps more frequently travelled. In today's example, our previous two hikes here were northbound...time to see the other side of the trees...

Not long after, our town line becomes an uphill, stony footpath...the sign for the pub is tempting (and I don't even drink) but we chose to stay focused and head up..."death by blaze" rears its ugly head...an ominous early morning harbinger?..(probably not, but I wanted to infuse some drama into the blog)...

We chug, chug, chug to the top of the hill at the Ridout Farm and take a well deserved break to drink in the pastoral setting...

Hey...recognize these works of art?..our second group is now by Pretty River and keeping a good pace...

O.k...maybe that dead blaze was a bad omen...our day is about to get a whole lot messier as we reach the entrance to Nottawasaga Provincial Nature Reserve...there is one muddy hill to climb...and oh, did I mention that I have chosen to go "pole-less" lately?...this was not the best part of the day...

Meanwhile, the chasing group has put their climbing effort in and reached Ridout Farm...if they thought that hill was fun, stay tuned...

Having had to use both hands to hang onto every available tree trunk, branch or root I could, to some how get up that hellish sloppy mess of a path, meant there is no further pictorial evidence of what was endured...and the sooner forgotten, the better...although in retrospect, descending that few hundred meters would have been nigh impossible in those conditions. But, as it stands, we are now standing near Standing Rock Side Trail...and this upcoming experience always stands the test of time...

Yup...it's still standing...so glad that we took on this technically challenging side trail...it took a cautious approach but well worth the concentration...time to check out the caves and crevices!..

Oh look...just to add to our challenge...there is still ice and snow remnants from a winter thought to be long since passed...sunlight and warmth are just not in sufficient quantities here to melt the last vestiges...so there were a few tricky spots, but we made it through...

Frances waits for Barbara to pop through the small opening that leads to the large chambers...it was cold, damp, and with a light icy mist in the air, not all that comfortable...but all worth it to be in this "millions of years old (unfinished) basement"...

O.k...now it's time to figure our way out of here...

And we did...while passing several gigantic ancient worm-like cedar roots like this one...

These last two photos may be considered my favourite of this blog...because they represent the reunification of our group at our planned meeting spot, thus ending the editorially challenging effort of describing two parallel yet separate hikes...we are one again as Steve, Lesley and Andrew, having eschewed the rigorous cave route, appear along the main trail...now to find the others...and get back to single track blogging...

And here they are!..right on schedule...the remaining four hikers make their way through and out of the deep crevices...

After a short break to catch our collective breath, we all set off together through the nature preserve...this is a very lovely forest with many grand mature trees to admire, even if they aren't quite in foliage as yet...

We encounter a few hikers from the Blue Mountains Club heading northward and share a moment of communal appreciation of our surroundings before continuing on through this very lovely stretch...

Brian makes a new friend in the forest...

After crossing 26/27 Sideroad Nottawasaga (there are no simple short street names up here), the ascending staircase is being guarded by an imposing sentry (is that Sir Hike-a-Lot?)...will he allow us to pass?..

The hiking becomes a bit more "open-aired" for a while and we arrive at one of my favourite trees on the trail, an iconic maple standing proudly in a quiet meadow...a perfect spot for a short break...

Here we are passing by that same tree in September 2021...

We reach Highway 91 and decide it's a good spot for some refreshment...lured by the side trail sign, Richard and I decide to go check out the nearby Frank's Lime Kiln...

It's a pretty impressive structure, considered to be the best preserved of its kind in Ontario...

We cross over Hwy 91 and it's Frank's turn this year to climb aboard the cedar horse (llama?)...previous riders include Marleen and Lesley...

We pass by the massive Walker Aggregates Duntroon Quarry...not much to look at here except dust and destruction...

We return to a more idyllic setting soon thereafter and enjoy this recently opened stretch of B.T land...the new trail originally followed a wide swath through the woods, but we soon discovered that an even newer trail had been blazed in the forest, so we experienced that for the first time...it had lots of small stumps to try and trip us up...

As became evident, and as our guest hiker Andrew (a B.T Trail Captain) pointed out, the blazing of this section was very poor...the markers were sloppily applied, often too high, not facing properly and excessive in nature...

Once out of the forest, the path heads eastward along the edge of a large field and then crosses Concession 10 South Nottawasaga as we begin the home stretch...

Our last road crossing of the day is at Hwy 124 as we enter the Devil's Glen Provincial Park area...

We reach the parking lot where our dropped cars are located and have just enough energy left to raise our sticks in honour of Doug, who has now officially completed the Blue Mountains Section...he is now down to the "nitty-gritty", and on track to complete his Bruce Trail E2E next month...exciting times...

Just like in the movies, you are going to get the full cast and credits at the end this week!..this hike was brought to you by myself, Andrew (guest hiker from Collingwood but starting to act like he belongs...), Lesley, Frank, Richard, Frances, Brian, Steve R, Barbara, and Doug (Hike Coordinator on his own special day)...thanks to Richard, Doug, and Steve for additional photos...all the sweat, grunts, and huffing put into this hike are the exclusive copyright of "Hiking With Friends" and cannot be reproduced, rebroadcast or recreated without getting out the Trail yourself and tackling 20 km with some friends...

Can a hike be "Pretty" and "Devilish" at the same time?..today has suggested that yes, it can...a lot of strides, some through nasty mud and up long hills, but also a wealth of beauty and natural wonderment to appreciate...Thanks again for allowing me to share our day and see you again soon on the B.T!

 The End

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