What started 60 years ago as a group of citizens determined to map a missing link between Mono Centre and Mulmur has evolved into a thriving club of over 500 members, focused on preserving and embracing the natural world.
The Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club is marking its 60th anniversary this year and will celebrate its journey during an event at Monora Park Pavilion on Nov. 16. The event will highlight trail users, club members, and the work they do to assist hikers and preserve the trail.
“The focus is going to be to celebrate our 60 years since the club was formed. We were the last club formed [along the Bruce Trail]. There was eight other ones, and there was a link missing between Mono Centre and Lavender [in Mulmur]. So, the club was quickly put together to finish off that link in the trail,” said past president and Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club member of 23 years, Carl Alexander.
“The event we’re having in November is going to focus on celebrating the people who created the club 60 years ago. Also, the evolution of where all the trail has gone and come from. People really don’t realize how many changes have been made in it.”
The club’s origins
Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club’s archivist Bryan Foley, who’s been a member since 2002, said Ray Lowes and Robert Bateman got the idea of creating a hiking trail that runs from Niagara to Tobermory in 1959. They collaborated with the other founding members, Philip Gosling, Robert MacLaren, and Dr. Norman Pearson, to establish the trail.
“They walked the area and tried to figure out, ‘How do we create a continuous trail stretching from Niagara to Tobermory,’” said Foley.
Gosling attended a public meeting at the Shelburne Public Library on April 27, 1965, to promote the idea of the Bruce Trail and assess local interest. He was invited by Shelburne postmaster Ronald O’Reilly and librarian Grace M. Bell.
After the meeting, O’Reilly, Bell, and her husband, Grant, were on board and became important figures in the formation of the Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail.
“They said, let’s just start setting a path down, and then we’ll go to work on talking to landowners and trying to raise funds to acquire properties the best we can, to get [the trail] off the road… and that’s how the Dufferin Hi-Land section started,” said Foley.
The Bruce Trail Association changed its name to the Bruce Trail Conservancy in 2016 to better reflect its conservation efforts.
“I would say in the last 15 years focus has been on establishing an optimum route through donations, and land donations ensuring the trail is here for future generations,” Foley said.
“We are growing as a conservancy, protecting and preserving the natural environment and its inhabitants. For example, the Jefferson Salamander and all life forms on the trail.”
The challenge is to continue acquiring properties and maintain allowances on existing properties that change ownership.
The 60th anniversary event will also share the club’s progress from strictly hiking to actively preserving its section of the trail through land ownership, while focusing on land conservation and biodiversity. As part of its conservancy efforts, the Dufferin club has also become more involved with Indigenous communities.
Helping hikers enjoy the Bruce
To celebrate the 60th anniversary, the club has been focusing on getting people out hiking through the Dufferin section.
“Our focus has been for people to just simply get out and hike the trail,” said Alexander. “A large number of people have hiked the whole length of the trail from Queenstown to Tobermory, and a lot of them are retired people.”
For people with only one vehicle who are coming from other areas to embark on an end-to-end hike, the Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club offers a volunteer service called Trail Angels. Through the program, a hiker parks their vehicle at the end point of a trail, and a volunteer drives them to the trail’s start. That way, when they’re done with the hike, they can easily head back home.
“That’s being used more and more, and we meet some interesting, great people that we drive around,” said Alexander.
He shared his appreciation for having a section of the Bruce Trail so close to home.
“If you’re on the trail and you just stop in the forest, the peace and quiet is really profound,” he said. “When we’re out doing trail work, or I’m out alone, I take a few minutes and the tranquility is just incredible. For people who have a busy life, I think it’s a very calming influence.”
Scenic spots for beginners and experts
The Dufferin Hi-Land section of the Bruce Trail, which runs from Mono Centre to Lavender, can provide a challenge to experienced hikers. While sections of it are relatively flat, it descends into four river valleys, totalling 2,200 feet of elevation. This can sometimes be a bit of a shock to hikers, according to Alexander.
“Sometimes hikers get a bit of a surprise with how much they are climbing,” he said. “For example, from Whitfield Church down to Kilgorie [Pine Rive Valley Side Trail], the elevation change there is close to 500 feet. Hikers who walk from Kilgorie to Whitfield figure it’ll never end.”
Alexander said while almost all of the Dufferin Hi-Land section provides scenic views, he noted the trails running through the Blank Bank area provide breathtaking views, especially as the leaves change colours.
“Particularly from 20 Sideroad, Mulmur, northward to Black Bank, there are a couple of very panoramic views, especially if it’s clear outside,” Alexander explained. “There’s high up vistas, where you can see a long distance from up top.”
“You could probably see at least 50 kilometers. You look to the East and you see lots of colours – and then you go through the forest and you’re in the colours,” said Foley of hiking the trail in autumn.
To access the trail, park on Centre Rd., south of County Rd. 21, Mulmur, at the northern Main Trail trailhead. Hike the Main Trail east to County Rd. 21, and turn around to retrace your steps.
Foley noted that the Boyne Valley and Pine River Valley are other great areas to observe fall colours.
The Bruce Trail wouldn’t be what it is today without the continuous generosity of landowners who allow trail access through their private property.
Among these generous landowners is the van Nostrand family, who have donated around 100 acres of land along the Pine River Valley, near Kilgorie.
This area is great for beginner hikers
“It’s pretty gentle, with two side trails and the main trail going through it,” said Foley.
Another route for families and beginners is Splitrock Trail, located on 2nd Line EHS, north of 25 Sideroad, Mono.
“It’s got some interesting rock cuts,” Foley said. “It’s a great place to take kids. It’s where we hold Bruce Trail Day in October.”
Splitrock features a 3.5-kilometre-long main trail hike and a side trail loop, totalling 4 kilometres.
A more difficult hike, which runs through Boyne Valley, is called the 25k Challenge.
It’s a badge hike that takes place in the fall, running through the hills of the Boyne Valley.
In the Boyne Valley, just north of Highway 89, along the Dufferin Hi-Land section, is Murphy’s Pinnacle. Foley said that during the fall or at any time of the year, it is one of the best lookouts in the area.
“From Murphy’s Pinnacle, on a good day, you can see the CN Tower,” he noted.
The portion of the Dufferin Hi-Land that runs through Mono Cliffs Provincial Park is another great area to enjoy in autumn.
The park is home to McCarston Lake, named after George McCartston, who farmed the entire area to the north, up to 25 Sideroad. It’s a Kettle Lake, which means it was created from glaciers receding and melting.
“It’s a glacial deposit, so Kettle Lakes tend to be shallow, with a lot of debris,” Foley said. “As the glaciers receded, they collected rocks and everything in their path.”
Glacial receding created a valley through Mono Cliffs Provincial Park’s north outlier, by 25 Sideroad, and a south outlier, with a side trail.
“That’s a popular place in the fall as well, and a great spot, with a viewing platform, and some heights. There’s a natural lookout, with a lookout side trail that we’ve established there,” Foley said. “It’s a great place for people to begin [hiking].”
Outside of the Dufferin Hi-Land section of the Bruce Trail, Alexander said some of the best views of the Bruce Peninsula are along the Georgian Bay shoreline.
“Those views, to me, are world class,” he said.
Alexander said anyone who wants to experience the variety of nature spread across Ontario should hike the entire 890-kilometre Bruce Trail.
Join the 60-year celebration
The Dufferin-Hi-land Bruce Trail Club has already held its 60th anniversary highlight hikes, side trail highlights, and end-to-end hikes for an End2End badge in April and May. But badges will be awarded to any hiker who completes 60 kilometres of Dufferin Hi-Land’s main and side trails.
To celebrate the Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club’s 60th anniversary, Alexander encourages people to get out and enjoy a hike.
“There are lots of people that really don’t go outside much, and those are the folks we love to see get out and find out about what a wonderful experience they can have,” he said.
“We are seeing more and more people who are new arrivals to the community out on the trails. The ones that I see, occasionally, are not familiar at all with being in that sort of terrain, and I think they get quite a thrill out of it.”
Looking at the future of the Dufferin Hi-Land trail, Alexander said through land conservation, his club has been able to preserve the area’s biodiversity, support animal life, and ward off development pressures from the south.
“If you look generations down the road, I think we’ll have preserved something pretty unique that may be getting crowded out further south,” he said.
The Dufferin Hi-Land Club, and eight others that form the Bruce Trail, are 100 per cent managed and maintained by volunteers.
The Bruce Trail Conservancy is an accredited charitable organization that preserves the wilderness for everyone, now and for the future.
The Bruce Trail Conservancy is proud to celebrate the Dufferin Hi-Land Club’s success over the last 60 years.
“For 60 years, Dufferin Hi-land Club volunteers, members, and supporters have maintained the Bruce Trail and cared for the sensitive Niagara Escarpment lands that make it such a special place to explore,” said Bruce Trail Conservancy CEO Michael McDonald. “Together, they have meaningfully connected their community with our natural heritage for generations. We are so grateful to all those who have contributed in some way to this special milestone and an incredible legacy of conservation in the Dufferin region.”