Left from Lake Simcoe for this one, as such I was on the road just after 5AM. I had left my backpack in Toronto so instead I used my son’s backpack from when he was in kindergarten. It worked surprisingly well, so much so that I think I’ll consider using it from now on. That way Will can be with me on the hike, in a way. It also meant that I didn’t have my bug spray.

The lack of bug spray was immediately a problem. The beginning of the hike was through the woods and the mosquitos were out in full force. Still, the views out over the city from the escarpment were beautiful. Some even better ones were yet to come.

There’s not much wilderness on either side of the trail for long. Eventually, as you can see from the map, it’s city on both sides of you until you get to the other side of Hamilton. There’s still forest, but it doesn’t extend more than a few dozen meters on either side.

Here the trail joins up with Hamilton’s urban trail system. Technically this portion is called the “Escarpment Rail Trail” and it follows the pathway of the old Hamilton & Erie railway along the escarpment (as you’d expect). Because it’s an urban trail you see a lot more “urban” things like discarded shopping carts and graffiti. You might think this would bother me, as the Bruce Trail is primarily meant to be a nature trail. But it’s fine, it’s nice to have something to break up the woods, and it gives me something to write about. I was surprised that I wasn’t seeing any homeless encampments, since this would be prime real-estate for them, and Hamilton is known for having a serious homelessness/drug problem.

Eventually I came to an enormous stairway that seems to be Hamilton’s Ministry of Silly Walks. I saw one person who would take a step, stretch that leg, take another step, stretch that leg, and so on. There was another person who was sort “crab walking” sideways one way, then the other. I’m guessing this is because the stairs go on for so long that people need to pace themselves and prevent cramps. That doesn’t make it look any less silly though. At the top of the stairs you’re spit out onto some roads.

It’s about here that I started to notice the smell.

I’ve heard before that Hamilton has a certain odour to it. This is mostly to do with the steel mills and industry along the harbour. From up here you could get an excellent view of the mills and all their stacks, including the gas flare (the big open flame you can see in one of the pictures). It doesn’t smell “bad” per se… but it doesn’t smell good either. It’s just sort of there, and not as bad as you think. That could be Hamilton’s motto actually: “Hamilton: It’s here, and not as bad as you think.” It was also around this point I found evidence of some encampments, but I wasn’t sure if they were still occupied.

Descending slowly down the escarpment you’re treated to probably the best views of downtown you’ll see on the trail. But after this the trail is either briefly on roadways or follows next to them. There are some wonderful old homes up here. Because it’s Hamilton, most of them haven’t been torn down and replaced with McMansions. There were lots of walkers and runners when I rejoined the urban trail system. It was a stark contrast to how empty most of the trail has been so far. I guess people don’t really stray that far from home.

There was one last viewpoint with sweeping vistas out over the north side of Hamilton harbour before I was dumped into generic fields and woods again. I ran the last few kilometres as I was anxious to get back to the lake. I finished up at the entrance to the Tiffany Falls side trail. There were a large number of people getting ready for their “hike” to the falls. I’ve actually been there before with Addy & Will, it’s less than half a kilometre, yet people were still showing up in workout gear and with walking sticks. Oh well, at least they’re out there.

While I was waiting for my Uber to show up I glanced down at my pant leg and noticed a small bug crawling along. Yup, it was an adult female black legged tick. I did a tick check when I got home and couldn’t find any on my person, but it’s not just hype, they’re out there.

Only 749km to go!