During a 2010 Thanksgiving camping trip to MacGregor Point Provincial Park, we took a day trip to Owen Sound. If you park in Harris Park and walk across the bridge you will actually end up on an easy part of the Bruce Trail. The leaves had started to change and it was an absolutely beautiful day for a leisurely walk in the woods.
From one of the bridges you will come across a wide, maintained trail that doesn’t really look like many Bruce Trails that we have been on. This is how trails look that go through towns and established parks.
Along the trail we came across a variety of mushrooms. This tree was an especially good spot for these ones to proliferate. If you look carefully, you’ll see another variety of fungus growing on the base of the broken limb too. Aren’t fungi fascinating?
I loved the fern silhouette on this bracket fungi. It was quite a large specimen!
The rusty, fallen leaves with the filtered sunlight coming through the forest canopy made the woods feel whimsical.
Chitra and Maya love the Bruce Peninsula, especially climbing up on the rocks found around the escarpment. Notice that Maya’s belly is wet because she never passes a stream without at least putting her toes in.
As the trails winds around it becomes narrower and less manicured. Check out that tree on the side of the hill. It may not be alive now but it did grow to be a good size in that difficult area.
Some of the trees, like this oak, were so beautiful and colourful that they appeared to be bursting into flames. Look at the variety of colours!
In the river nearby we found these tagged salmon swimming upstream to their spawning grounds. Did you know that you could see salmon running in Owen Sound? Me neither.
No matter where you go, unfortunately, you’ll see the lack of respect that some people have for nature. Carving names into trees scar them for life and spraying painting is not only bad physically for the environment, it’s bad for the aesthetics. Seeing ‘Jesus’ spray painted on a tree makes me feel angry, not spiritual.
The Bruce Trail has a lot to offer, and considering it is the oldest and longest marked trail in Canada, it offers something for everyone. Whether it’s a trail close to home, like this one, or one of the rugged sections, you won’t be disappointed.
