Niagara Section - Kinsmen Park (68.5 km) to Grimsby Lions Community Pool (81.7 km) - Dec. 4, 2025.

 Niagara Section - Kinsmen Park (68.5 km) to Grimsby Lions Community Pool (81.7 km) - Dec. 4, 2025.

Hiking With Friends headed south to the Niagara Section this past week (after an reluctantly having to cancel last week due to weather) and took on a 14 km walk from Kinsmen Park near Beamsville over to the end of the section in Grimsby...it was our first full on winter hike experience...was it cold?...yes!...was it a challenge?..yes!...did we all make through safely and have a great experience?...well, you'll have to read the blog to find out!

After dropping some cars at the Lions Park Community Pool parking in Grimsby, we head over to Kinsmen Park and after a round table discussion (without the table), assemble the 17 of us on a cold and blustery morning...there's myself, Rita, Barbara, Frances, Annette (H.C), Andrea, Faryde, Renu, Peter, Laura, Nancy, Ivan, Steve R, Lesley, Sandra, Donna, and (way in the back) Ron...a hardy group ready to face adversity, challenge, and the wind!

It's our first official "winter hike" and it is a reminder that the Bruce Trail is a path for all seasons...the landscape is bathed in white, and some become one with it...

  Our arrival at Locust Lane Winery reveals one of the clearest views of the Toronto skyline we've ever witnessed...it's easily over 50 km away but you feel as if you can reach out and touch it (the picture doesn't come close to how vivid it is)...and boy, does the lake look cold...

After a short (into the icy wind) road walk, passing by the elegant home beside the Walker's Vineyard (named after BT hikers I'm sure),  we come to the entrance of Mountainview Conservation Area, a 25 hectare park in Lincoln County which is one of my favorite spots to explore...

"Why" did this end up here?..

The combination of a thin layer of fresh snow, on top of the crusty remnants of recently fallen leaves, on top of a mix of uneven terrain and still not frozen, soft (sometimes muddy) ground makes for some extremely sketchy footing and it takes a high level of concentration to keep upright (not all of us, including myself, managed to stay that way all day)...but it's worth it to enjoy this quite impressive part of the trail...

Speaking of staying upright, Steve recognizes that this is the exact spot where, just over a year ago, one of our newest E2E'rs, Rita, had an unfortunate trip of her own and suffered a broken kneecap...it obviously did not deter her in the end and she recovered and reached her goal...but, just to be sure there was no chance of a repeat, she accepts his welcome arm...it's all about "supporting" each other at HWF...

I have wrestled lately with the proliferation of gimmick items and/or human objects (often whimsical yet not part of nature) being introduced along the trail, and to what extent they should they should be encouraged, or even allowed...this picture frame at the rest stop by 30 Mile Creek is a good example, it creates a great "photo-op" no doubt (and I'm all about fun photos), but similar to gnomes, phone booths, shoe trees and all sorts of signage, is it really part of the natural environment?..does it make the trail a more fun place to be?...any way you frame it, it is to be considered...art is in the eye of the hiker.

One thing that I always love, is a good bridge...and a picture taken on, or about, that said bridge...such as in the case here....bridges connect the trail...HWF connects people on the trail.

A short refreshment break allows us a moment to re-energize for what will be a tough second half of this hike...there's a decent 320 meters of ascent on this route, and with the tricky footing requiring a high degree of concentration, you can tire quickly mentally as well as physically, which is not a good combination...the brief open space by Park Road South that leads us up to Ridge Road East gives us some respite from that travail...

 The following few kilometers are almost exclusively within BTC protected areas...a total of eight with some dating back to the early 1990's...this area truly exemplifies the "ribbon of wilderness" concept in a fairly densely populated area...

Winter hikes give you special delights as does this icy display...

There's a physically demanding stretch involving three consecutive steep valleys and then a long climb up to Mountain Road that just about drains the last of our hiking juice...no better way to wrap up the day...we've just about reached the end of the Niagara Section and the cars are not far beyond...

After descending Grimsby Mountain (does that make us mountaineers?) via several switchbacks, we switch back to the paved road that is the Forty Mile Creek Side Trail to reach our vehicles at the Community Pool...that sought after, and unique, combination of tiredness from physical exertion and mental focus, along with intense satisfaction from accomplishing our goal, having been attained through the simple act of hiking from here to there on the Bruce Trail with friends...'till next time, thanks for spending the day with us!

The End

If you see this man on the Bruce Trail, do NOT be alarmed one BIT...he's actually a "bonhomme"!