Bruce Trail End to End #41 The Badlands: Heritage Rd to Chinguacousy Rd

 

Heritage Rd, Terra Cotta to Chinguacousy Road, Cheltenham

Today's hike was probably one of my favourites. The rain kept the bugs and tourists at bay as we traversed through the Badlands, one of the more popular sections of the trail. This section of the Bruce is a bit tricky to access due to limited parking in the area. There is parking at the Badlands; however, reservations are required and there is a 1.5 hour time limit. We parked on Chinguacousy Road, about 1km from the Badlands, and got a lift to Heritage Road in Terra Cotta, where we left off after our last hike. Both Heritage Rd and Chinguacousy Rd have limited free roadside parking. There are portable toilets at the Badlands.

Trail Head at Heritage Road



The day started out with a light drizzle followed by some heavy rains and then hot humid temperatures. This made for some slippery conditions on the rocky and muddy terrain.


The Terra Cotta Side Trail forms an 11.3 km loop with the Bruce Trail and connects to the Caledon Trailway. The Caledon Trailway is a multi-purpose gravel trail for pedestrians and cyclists.




Throughout this section the Bruce Trail alternates between denser forests and more sparsely forested areas. 




Rocky climbs makes this section of the Bruce Trail a more moderate difficulty than some of the other sections in this region. 



We were thankful for the rains that morning as we passed through a very boggy section of the trail. The mosquitoes were just beginning to wake up.

View of the bog from the Bruce Trail

We stumbled on another carcass of a very old car with a horizontally opposed engine (otherwise known as a boxer engine) to add to our Bruce Trail car collection. It could possibly be an old VW Beetle with an air cooled engine or a mid-late 1900's Subaru.


The Bruce Trail exits the forest onto Boston Mills Road and continues on road for about 3 kms.



Walking along Boston Mills Road was quite pleasant as traffic was not heavy and the trail passes by several horse farms.



Our trek along Boston Mills Road also took us past Spirit Tree Estate Cidery. This is definitely a local gem situated on the Bruce Trail. Pop in for wood fired oven baked goods or pizza and sample some of their ciders. My favourite cider was the dry hops. 


Sampling Cider at Spirit Tree
From Boston Mills Road, the Bruce Trail takes a left (northwest) on Creditview Road. 


At street number 15205 the trail enters the woods off of Creditview Road. This marks the end of the Toronto section and the start of the Caledon Hills Section. I was surprised that there was no placard indicating this change of club. 



As you enter the Caledon Hills section you will also be passing through the Cheltenham Badlands.



Usually this section of the Bruce Trail would be swarming with tourists. As it was we only saw one other person on the trail today. The Conservation authority were not permitting anyone to enter the trail from the Badlands parking lot due to the rain that fell earlier in the morning. Those hiking through on the Bruce Trail are still permitted to do so. So the best time to see the Badlands is from the Bruce Trail on a rainy day.




I half expected to see Augustus Gloop floating down this chocolaty river. The water gets its hue from the iron oxide in the soil in this region.








At this fork in the trail you can either continue along the Bruce Trail or take the short branch that leads to the Badlands viewing platform. It is an in/out (less than a km). If you want to see the Badlands take the trail to the viewing platform or access it from the road.



Due to the rains, the viewing platform was closed from the trail side. As you can see in the photo below, it's still a great view.



Back to the Bruce Trail which goes through the Badlands Parking lot. From here, you can walk on the road to access the Badlands viewing platform. 



Road leading to the Badlands viewing platform


Collage of photos taken from the Badlands viewing platform

From the Badlands, the Bruce Trail continues along Olde Base Line Rd and then turns left (Northwest) onto Chinguacousy Road. Here you have a long steep climb up Chinguacousy rd to the roadside parking and trail head.



While you cannot walk on the Badlands anymore, there are some similar formations on Chinguacousy road. Even though it had rained, the soil was quite dry and hard. It did however, leave my butt red.

Red Soil on Chinguacousy Road

Roadside Parking/trail head at top of Chinguacousy Road

Unfortunately I forgot to turn off my tracker so while it looks like we hiked 12 kms, we actually hiked just over 10 kms. The final kms were logged as we drove away.

Hike #41
Date:                            August 25th, 2022
Start:                            Heritage Road 
Finish:                          Chinguacousy Road
Time:                            2 hours 37 minutes
Distance:                     About 10 kms 
Difficulty:                    Moderate (hilly/rocky sections)
Trail Use:                     Hiking                 
Total kms hiked:        258.2 kms
Kms remaining:         653.7 kms

Points of Interest in the area: Spirit Tree Estate Cidery is on the road section of the Bruce Trail. Also checkout nearby Cheltenham Brickworks as seen from the Caledon Trailway. Unfortunately, we couldn't check out the Terra Cotta Country Store as it is only open on weekends.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bruce Trail End to End #42 Forks of the Credit: Chinguacousy to McLaren Road

Image
  Chinguacousy, Cheltenham to McLaren Road, Forks of the Credit We started today's hike where we left off last time, parking our car on Chinguacousy. Initially we were going to park at our end destination on Highway 11 and Uber back to Chinguacousy; however, roadside parking was closed due to a bike race. As a result we continued through Forks of the Credit Provincial Park to McLaren road instead of looping back around to the #11 parking spot. From McLaren we called a cab service in Orangeville (Al's Yellow Cab) to transport us back to Chinguacousy ($22.70).  We tried Uber but no driver picked up the ride. There are restrooms along the Bruce Trail in Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. Roadside parking on Chinguacousy Road (northwest end) Trail Head at Chinguacousy Road At Chiguacousy Rd the trail continues northwest through the woods, passing through some low lying areas that look like great spots for breeding mosquitoes.   Looks like Thor dropped his hammer while ...
Read more

Hike #8: Rockway to Louth Conservation

Image
  Our trek today started at Rockway Community Centre. We parked our second car at the Staff Avenue Parking Lot (base of the Louth Conservation Area).  Both locations had free parking but no washroom facilities. There was limited parking at Staff Ave (12 cars) Rockway Side Trail We took the Rockway Side Trail to the Bruce Trail which leads towards the bottom of the Rockway Falls. When we got to the bridge we strayed from the Bruce Trail and headed south on the left side of the river to the base of the falls.  This is the only way to see the falls as you cannot see them from the top at the Rockway Community Centre or from the Bruce Trail. This involved a bit of a detour (about 500 metres each way) on an unmarked trail. Be cautious of falling rocks. Bridge at the base of the Gorge In order to get to the falls you will have to climb a couple of rock ledges.  Rock ledge on route to base of the Falls The second rock ledge is difficult to climb; however, there is a conceale...
Read more

Hike #53 BTC Parking Area 30 Sideroad Mulmur to Concession 10 South Nottawasaga & Garden of Eden Rd (Noisy River)

Image
Hike #53 BTC Parking Area 30 Sideroad Mulmur to Concession 10 South Nottawasaga & Garden of Eden Rd (Noisy River) We started today's hike at the BTC parking area on 30 Sideroad in Mulmur.  I do not recommend approaching the parking area from from Ist Line EHS as it can hardly be called a road.  The parking lot had washroom facilities (a porta-potty).  We only brought one vehicle and left Peter's mountain bike (and a camping chair for Amanda) at our final destination - Concession 10 South Nottawasaga & Garden of Eden Rd.  Biking out of the Noisy River valley after a long hike to retrieve the car was less than fun! BTC parking area on 30 Sideroad (holds 20 cars) Washroom facilities at BTC parking area View east towards BTC parking area from trail Trail from BTC parking area to Line 1 EHS The first section of the trail ran North on 1st Line EHS between farmers fields.  It then turns left (west) on Mulmu-Nottawasag Towline Rd passing the small community of L...
Read more