Niagara - Decew House (31.2 km) to Thorold Tim Hortons 

                (24.1 km) - Jan. 20th, 2022.

          

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 Welcome to this week's hiking blog of the End to End "Hiking with Friends" group coming to you from the beautiful Niagara Section of the Bruce Trail. Our mission this week was to hike from the Decew House parking lot (lower left) to the Tim Hortons (gotta love a hike that has that element involved) in Thorold for a distance of 7.1 km, and a truncated return through the Brock University campus to our origin.

Well, the best laid plans of mice, and hikers, often go awry and on this day, parking was the first of many challenges. Subsequent to Monday's epic snowstorm, the parking lot at Decew House had yet to be cleared, necessitating an alternate location to leave our vehicles. A quiet strip mall on Merritville Hwy just north of Decew Road was chosen, and through helpful communication initiated by Doug, we managed to convene there to gather ourselves and prepare for our adventure.

 Oh...have I mentioned that it was really cold out?..like seriously cold...with overcast skies, intermittent flurries, and a brisk northerly wind. The effects of these conditions on a human scale will become evident. The effects on the quality of this week's blog will also be somewhat felt. To begin with, I fumbled with my Garmin watch (after forgetting to start it in the parking lot) and the route did not end up translating to the app that normally provides my nice bird's eye view of the route with the topographic profile. The view above is a Garmin adapted version.

Did I mention that it was really cold out? (I know...I did)...a formal group picture at the start was not in the cards, but I can confirm that apart from myself, the other brave souls gathered this morning included Steve, (our leader), Barbara, Brian, Arpi, Marleen, Laura, Doug (contributing photographer), Rhonda, Annette, Muris, Catherine and Ron B. We all braced ourselves for the task ahead.

Marleen and Arpi attend to their icers while Annette, Brian, and Steve wait patiently as fingers and toes quickly begin to numb. Brian sports ideal gloves (and matching hat under his hood) for this Nordic adventure.

Historic Decew House was built in...wait, oh that's right, we never saw that building so I'll just ditch all that research I did... Instead we had an extremely  "un-historic", banal Shell Station as our departure beacon...very uninspiring...but it did have a nice washroom.

So I am very proud to introduce a new Side Trail that, as of yet, the Bruce Trail Conservancy is unaware of, but which proved vital in our quest to join the main trail without having to take a somewhat dangerous road detour. Now this may look like an idyllic, short traverse of a lovely meadow, but in the reality of this day, it was several hundred meters of knee deep snow through a thorny bramble...as I could not feel my fingers at this point, I do not have photographic evidence of the new "Hiking with Friends ST", but it does exist (minus the requisite blue blazes) and we all forged through it...

I believe this photo I procured from the web is an accurate refection of what  this new side trail offers in terms of easy passage for the avid hiker...ugh...

Hey...look at us!...we found the main trail!..this won't be so bad...it even looks a little bit groomed...that's cool...we can do this...

Wow...we even get to take an early bridge picture...o.k, we're cold, but it can't  be that bad...

In winter hiking, movement = warmth, and we were moving along well on this short stretch that had obviously been somewhat plowed (I presume by the maintenance staff of Brock U.).

This left hand turn was not only a change of direction, it represented a significant change in the degree of effort required for the next hour and a half. We transitioned to a largely unbroken stretch of crusty, ice topped, knee depth, snow packed trail where each step required an attempt to plant your foot, stabilize it, and then lift up your leg to ninety degrees and repeat,..and repeat, and repeat...

I was stuck at the back of the cue...there was no chance of passing even if you wanted...and subsequently benefited from those ahead laying down some options as to where to insert my boots (and most of my lower leg) into the snow...credit to those in front (Brian and Steve I believe) who were laboriously blazing through these very difficult conditions.

Progress was steady, but extremely slow (about 2 km/hr)...but we soldiered on like...hiking soldiers...

We reached the fence line that borders the borders the property of the Decew Falls Generating Station...

...leaving our trail on the trail...

A short break was warranted to regroup and catch our breath...a few grumblings emerge from muffled heads...but there is still a determination to forge on...

...and forge on we do...at least Brian is "peace"ful...

Our solitary, dimly lit "view" for the day...not very inspiring...in addition to the extreme cold, light flurries were beginning to fall...who's proud to be Canadian, eh?..

What's more fun than flat trails of deep snow you ask?...sloping hills with deep snow of course...the legs were really getting a workout here...

Stomp, stomp, stomp through the snow we hiked...

Catherine's short legs are not well suited for some of the deeper drifts we encounter...she's often up to her knees...

We finally come up to some flat land at the back of Brock University campus and, after some consideration of the effort spent, and what still might lie ahead, some members of the group elect to abort their day and seek a "sidewalk orientated" return to their cars...we wave goodbye to them (perhaps a little envious?) and turn back to continue the journey...

We elected to bypass a short stretch of trail that was inaccessible due to very high snowbanks, and scooted over to and down Ray Woodfield Drive...

Annette doesn't seem to mind the effort to re-access the trail as we descend a steep embankment...

After crossing Glenridge Ave., Steve puts his head down to blaze his way ahead into the next section...

Although this part of the trail had been previously used, the resulting frozen boot marks proved somewhat more challenging...footing was very unstable and we (well, I..) would often stumble to the side after planting my foot...akin to a drunken walk through a pristine winter forest...

Muris uses up some of his valuable remaining energy to scamper down a hill...a vestige of his boyhood enthusiasm ultimately causing him some adult discomfort...

Annette wins happy hiker award for the day...

While Doug and Steve discuss potential route options (we were facing a rather icy climb), Brian takes advantage of some well placed Muskoka chairs for a well deserved break...

We tackle the hill and enjoy the rear view of a newly built home that backs on to the trail...

We emerge from the woods on to Tremont Drive and set our sights on reaching Timmy's for some warmth and refreshment...

Coffee anyone?..yes please!..(the advertised cold brew was not terribly appealing)...

Having completed the requisite "end to end" 7.1 km portion of the trail, and in the interest of getting home for other obligations, 3 hikers decided to call a cab and use the four wheeled method to return to the start. The remaining six  of us plotted a road walking route to fulfill our day...seemed easy enough...

Well the sidewalks were virtually impassable, so we accepted dodging vehicles on the icy, windswept streets of St. Catharines...along the way, Brian discovered a street named after him...maybe he'll move here one day...but probably not...

Up Glenridge Ave. we go...not pictured here are the numerous cars, buses, and trucks that were zooming down the hill requiring us to hug the snowbank several times...we made it up safely.

As we passed the university, I pondered that after today, we should all stop in to the convocation office to accept our Phd's...or our doctorates of Professional Hiking...we deserved them.

Four kilometres later, we arrive at our cars...Steve finds his new Tesla has been emblazoned with a salutation from "Mischief" and "Antics", otherwise known as Marlene and Arpi...

All that can be said after today is, if anyone asks us if we would ever want to get up at 7 am, get dressed in 5 layers of clothing, drive for an hour, hike 7 kilometres through deep snow and ice in minus 20 degree windchill, walk another 4 kilometres on busy, icy roads and sidewalks, then drive an hour back home, we can say...yeah, we've already been there and done that...what else have you got?..

Brian returns home after an exhausting day on the trail...

The End