Peninsula - Cyprus Lake (147.9 km) to Crane Lake (127.9 km) -  June 8, 2022.

 It's our second day of our final three day trip in the Peninsula Section, and as is typically the case, we are biting off our largest section of trail...starting at Cyprus Lake in the Bruce Peninsula National Park and, after a short access trail from the parking lot to reach the main trail, a 20 km trek on the Bruce Trail southward to where we finished off yesterday at Crane Lake. As our leader mentioned in our pre-trip email (which everybody reads I'm sure, right Steve?), it promises to be " a long day but well worth it"...that pretty much sums up every hike up here in the peninsula...

Our bird's eye view of the route, a total of 21.5 km (with access), which took us 8 1/2 hours to complete and involved a significant amount of climbing, 440 meters to be exact...

After dropping cars (which involved negotiating "the crossing" again), and checking in with the park office (free parking in the prime lot for B.T hikers - yeah!), we gather for our group shot at Cyprus Lake. It is shaping up to be a glorious day!..

The access trail takes us by Marr Lake before connecting with the Bruce...

The main trail took us out onto the aptly named "Boulder Beach"...

Shortly thereafter, we reach "The Grotto", a famous landmark that provides a myriad of spectacular rock formations...

Apparently normally swarming with tourists in the summer, we have this amazing area virtually to ourselves to appreciate...you could easily spend a few hours here exploring all the nooks and crannies...

A great shared father/son moment...unfortunately Ben had to leave us shortly thereafter to head back home...it was a pleasure to meet such a smart and personable young man...

It was a photographer's dream here...everywhere you looked made your eyes light up...

It was soon time to accept the fact that we had a long hike ahead of us and we put our cameras away to resume out walking...

Brian "walks the plank" to access an island vantage point...

These rocky beaches are a challenge to walk on...like a big game of hop scotch...

Arpi does her best impression of the "Marleen pose" in her honour...

At a designated camping area, we see a series of pulley systems that allow campers to hoist their food out of the reach of bears...

The trail today is in much better shape than yesterday...a better grip on drier rocks takes a lot of stress out of the equation...still challenging, but we are  enjoying a magnificent day for hiking...

Cave Point reveals yet another breathtaking vista...

The turquoise water shimmers in the morning sunlight...

We are well into our hike now...thoughts of a midday break start to be discussed...

And just like that, we arrive at a clearing at Halfway Log Dump, an area once used as a dump site for logs into the bay to be floated to mills to make homes, furniture, and other items of the day...

The bottom of the shoreline looks like a surreal tile mosaic...

Some hard climbing leads to a well deserved break in the shady forest...

Or, in other cases, in the warm afternoon sun...

At the High Dump Side Trail, we meet a young lad and his dog headed to the back country campground...the trail will veer inland at this point past a series of small lakes...

Well, we were warned at the entrance to the park...a distinctive rattling noise is sensed by Barb, and she spots this beautiful but venomous creature by the side of the trail...the stout bodied Massasauga rattlesnake is usually about 50 to 70 centimeters long and is Ontario's only venomous snake, though it will only bite in self-defence if it is threatened or harassed...we did neither of these things...

The legs are getting very weary as we plow along the ATV pathway for the last few kilometers...the trail skirts the edge of Big Marsh...

So I was a little relieved to reach the cars at Crane Lake...it was an exhausting day, but once again, the feeling of accomplishment trumped any discomfort I felt...we had put 2 hikes in the books, and all that was left was to finish the last leg to the northern cairn tomorrow...bring it on!

The End