14th September 2017

Inglis Falls = 242km
Owen Sound

We woke up to find the weather gods were still smiling on us with a beautiful cool dry, overcast day. The temperature did ramp up to 22C by midday and it was very humid walking through the woodlands but still amazing hiking weather.

After a fabulous Continental breakfast with a bowl of mixed Melon we bummed a ride from our host Jay out the yesterday’s pick up point. There was a brief 1 km walk through the woods, then out onto the first bit of road work for the day. Then onto an old Railway form for a gentle meander of 3 km. A second session of road work for 3 km before finally hitting the Escarpment. Walking along the road early morning we got to see urban Owen Sound waking up with School buses picking up kids and one Mum escorting a group of 10/11 year olds on bikes, kind of like a cycling bus run to school. We watched these kids cycle past us individually to all collect at one house before the responsible adult escorted them the rest of the way. Fabulous system.

Back on the scarp and it was back to business but what a beautiful piece of trail with minimal rock scrambles and just very pleasant hiking country. We were able to relax and go with the flow through bits of deciduous woodland then conifer forest and back again. There was a continual change of scenery and then throw in a bit of agriculture as we hiked on the fringe of Corn and harvested Wheat fields. This is predominantly a thin corridor of woodland on the very edge of the scarp pinched in by farmland on one side and urban small below the scarp. At one point we came out onto a lookout only to see where we had dinner last night literally 300 m away from the edge of the scarp. 

Despite the gentler landscape Lari’s Knee started to niggle her again so we stopped to strap it again as a preventative to further injury. We were both feeling tired today and think it just down to trail fatigue kicking in before the body accepts that it is for the long haul. It’s just something we have noticed happens at some point in a long distance hike prior to get tuned in to the daily routine.

All aches, pains and fatigue disappear when the trail throws in something spectacular and today we had a double whammy with 2 spectacular waterfalls. We have been seeing posts of waterfalls on the Bruce Trail Facebook posts few the past few months and have been hanging out to see a few of our own, today the trail delivered. The first one, Jones waterfall was the smaller of the two but lacked no punch for it. A fabulous small 12m waterfall with a brilliant cascade running down and around the bend to feed it. There are some funky tree forms growing out of the scarp face as they cling to the rock and grow out to capture whatever like they can. The second waterfall, Inglis waterfalls is very spectacular as it an 18 metre high cascade, created by the Sydenham River meeting the edge of the Niagara Escarpment. In the past the river has been harnessed as a Grist Mill, Hydroelectric producer and water supply but now it is merely a tourist attraction and the mill pond is a stop over point for many of the migrating Geese heading south.

This was our end point for today so we broke out our lunch and just chilled while waiting for Jay to come fetch us and return us to our digs. We met up with a group of hikers from Bayer Valley Bruce Trail club up for the day to hike a 12 km loop trail. One of their members asked if we had come across Ken & Margaret form their club, who are also hiking and E2E. We were able to say we have been crossing paths with them since before Lion’s Head but we now may be a day ahead of them.

Our hostess Susan obligingly ran us downtown for dinner and recommended a few establishments for us to try. Norma Jean’s did not disappoint, it has fabulous decor, obviously depicting Norma Jean. The service and food was excellent and definite recommendation for anyone thinking of stopping in this neck of the woods.

Now watered and fed it was time to head back to our lodgings to crash and rest up for another glorious day on the Bruce peninsular.