The Sydenham Bruce Trail Club is leading Bruce Trail Day hikes at the Pottawatomi Conservation area this Sunday.
Clubs from Tobermory to Niagara are hosting hiking events in-person for the first time since 2019 to share the Bruce Trail experience. Membership benefits and trail responsibility will also be promoted over the month of October.
from the Sydenham Bruce Trail Club:
Bruce Trail Conservancy announces Bruce Trail Day Sunday Oct. 2.
We are excited to be hosting this special day. The Sydenham Bruce Trail Club aims to share the experience of walking the Bruce Trail as well as the benefits of being a member and how to use the trail responsibly. The overall theme is Celebrating our ribbon of wilderness together.
Throughout October check the Sydenham Bruce Trail website or our Facebook page for more information.
Between 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, there will be four led hikes at the Pottawatomi Conservation area, some short half-hour hikes to Jones Falls and some hour-long hikes showing more of the topography of this beautiful area. Parking is free at the Owen Sound Transportation and Tourism office on Highway 6 at Springmount. Visitors will become aware of the Bruce Trail Pledge and how it will be promoted over the month of October. No pre-registration is required for these events. All ages welcome.
More details are available here.
Bruce Trail history from the Conservancy's website:
In 1959 Ray Lowes, concerned about the disappearance of Niagara Escarpment landscapes in Ontario due to development and commercial activities, had the idea of creating a public footpath spanning the entire Niagara Escarpment. The idea was that the trail would connect people to nature and inspire them to protect the Escarpment and all of its natural wonder. At approximately 900 km, never before in Canadian history had a trail of this scope been realized. Ray Lowes first articulated this vision to friend Robert Bateman at a meeting of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and subsequently held the first meeting of the Bruce Trail Committee on September 23, 1960. The four attending members, Ray Lowes, Philip Gosling, Norman Pearson and Dr. Robert MacLaren, each became instrumental in building the Bruce Trail.
Gaining access to the Niagara Escarpment was the critical first step in building the Bruce Trail. From 1962 to today, Escarpment landowners have been key to the existence of the Bruce Trail. In the beginning, trail director Philip Gosling visited major towns along the proposed route to solicit help. Going door-to-door, Philip and his team of volunteers discussed their vision with landowners and were greeted with support all along the way.
Between 1962 and 1966 regional Bruce Trail Clubs were established along the length of the Trail. Each Club was responsible for organization, landowner approvals, and Trail construction and maintenance. As access was granted from gracious landowners, more Trail was blazed. On March 13, 1963, the Bruce Trail Association was incorporated under the laws of Ontario (to be renamed “The Bruce Trail Conservancy” in 2007). The first edition of the organization’s newsletter, The Bruce Trail News (now Bruce Trail Conservancy Magazine), followed shortly after and in 1965 Dr. Aubrey Diem compiled the first Bruce Trail Reference. In just three years, membership ballooned to over 200 members.
With Canada’s Centennial Year approaching, it was decided the Trail should officially open in 1967. And so, in Tobermory, on June 10 of that year, the cairn at the northern terminus of the Bruce Trail was unveiled. After years of determination, support, vision and hard work, the Trail was finally realized.
What began as the vision of concerned citizens working together has grown into one of Ontario’s largest and most active land trusts – the Bruce Trail Conservancy. Each year the Bruce Trail Conservancy actively works to bring more land into conservation along the Niagara Escarpment.
source: media release; Bruce Trail Conservancy
