After one full year of grad school, I am starting to feel a little burnt out. I’ve reached the grunt work of my project where my day consists mostly of sitting in front of my computer inputting tons and tons of data that I, admittedly, am not 100% sure what to do with. Not the most inspiring stuff.
My motivation started to drop in mid January and my productivity slowed to a crawl. Finally, I decided it was time to tell my advisor how I was feeling. Though I was a little worried about the response I would get, they responded in the best possible way. “It sounds like you should take a break. You like hiking—why don’t you go for a walk in the woods?”
Here’s some advice for any aspiring graduate students: Choose an advisor who gets you the way that my advisor gets me.
Together we decided that my project could wait for a few days while I got my dose of hiking. But where do you go in southern Ontario in mid-winter when you want to go for a really good walk in the woods? The answer—if you aren’t sure—is the Saugeen Peninsula.
The Bruce (Saugeen) Peninsula, named for the Saugeen Ojibway Nation whose traditional territory includes the entire peninsula as well as much of what is now Bruce and Grey County, is located in southwestern Ontario between Georgian Bay to the east and Lake Huron to the west. Today the Saugeen Peninsula is classified as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and is home to two national parks, a multitude of conservation areas, and 160 km of the Bruce Trail, Canada’s longest and oldest marked footpath, which runs nearly 900 km along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara to the tip of the Saugeen Peninsula.
I grew up in a small town at the base of the Saugeen Peninsula and I spent many weekends of my childhood exploring the region. In fact, my first ever night spent in the ‘backcountry’ was a one night in-and-out hike in Bruce Peninsula National Park when I was in high school. Yet, despite living in the area, I had never visited the northern tip of the peninsula in the winter. So, when tasked with finding a destination for a winter hiking vacation, I immediately thought of the Saugeen.
Day 1
On a wintery Saturday morning, my friend Jake and I began the three-hour drive to Tobermory from our home in Guelph. After a mostly uneventful drive we arrived in the Cyprus Lake parking lot around noon. Since it was winter, then parking lot was nearly empty, and we didn’t have to reserve a parking spot—we just dropped $12 in the box as we drove into the park. At the head of trails, we opted to start off on Horse Lake Trail. We were heading for two of the most scenic areas in the entire Saugeen Peninsula: Indian Head Cove and the Grotto.
Horse Lake trail is a pretty easy hike which meanders for 1.2km before connecting with the Bruce Trail at the shore of Georgian Bay. When Jake and I got to the bay, we pulled out our cameras for a quick photoshoot before heading off to the west for about 850m until we reached Indian Head Cove. Here the trail consisted of loose soccer-ball-sized rocks which could pose an obstacle to people with mobility challenges.
Indian Head Cove was beautiful in the snow and ice. As we walked, we were surrounded by pillars of ice which only loosely resembled the spruce forests we had been walking through earlier in our hike. We spent nearly an hour exploring the cove. We took pictures and wandered the ice. We threw snowballs into the bay and watched them float by like tiny icebergs. For a few moments we sat in reflective silence on Jake’s suggestion. For most of our visit, we had the cove entirely to ourselves.
We had a little trouble finding the trail after Indian Head Cove, but we eventually discovered it beyond a downed ice pillar/ tree. I wondered if the trees would recover from all this ice. Later, we learned that the ice was not typical, but rather was the result of a mid-winter storm that has stirred up the Bay sending spray up onto the trees. Though I worried about the trees, I was happy to have had the opportunity to see the icy forest in its ephemeral state. The distance between Indian Head Cove and the Grotto is very short—maybe 50m.
The Grotto was extremely icy, and due to the slope of the rock didn’t feel entirely safe. At one point, some tourists in less than ideal footwear came sliding down the rock towards me. Luckily, they managed to slow their slide by falling over, or else we all might have slid into Georgian Bay.
After a few quick photos of the sea cave that makes the Grotto so scenic, we continued on our way. In the summer I have climbed through a rocky tunnel in the rock to get down to the Bay. From there is it possible to swim into the sea cave. Obviously, we skipped this part on our winter Grotto trip.
We continued along the Bruce Trail for another 100m, until we reached Boulder Beach, aptly named given the expanse of small limestone boulders scattered about. Here we followed the Parks Canada signs to meet up with Marr Lake Trail which would take us back to the head of trails. Marr Lake trail is about 2km and is rated ‘difficult’ on the Parks Canada map. Still, I wouldn’t consider this trail strenuous in any way as it is packed dirt and has virtually no elevation gain. The boulders at Boulder Beach are likely what earned the trail this designation. Overall, no part of our hike was particularly strenuous, even in winter, but I would recommend proper footwear to prevent sliding and protect your ankles.
When we arrived back at the car we decided to head to our hostel for some dinner. Neither of us were equipped for winter camping, so we decided to stay at the Saugeen Peninsula’s only hostel, The Fitz. The Fitz is located about 40 minutes south of Tobermory in the town of Lionshead. Megan, the owner, is a fifth generation ‘peninsulite’ and was super welcoming! The night that we were staying, Megan told us that there was a dance in a nearby town for the Wiarton Willie festival. The Wiarton Willie festival is an annual Groundhog Day celebration in honour of Wiarton’s own albino weather prognosticating groundhog. Every spring, people from small town Ontario (and, according to Willie’s website, all over the world) gather in February hoping that Willie will not see his shadow, therefore heralding an early spring. I have been to many Wiarton Willie festivals in my life, having grown up only 20 minutes south of Wiarton. Though I am a sucker for Wiarton Willie, we opted to stay in to meet up with a few friends who had also decided to explore the peninsula that weekend! Our friends Cam, Quinn and Angela joined us at the hostel for dinner and a few board/ card games before bed. We got in a game of Pandemic (perhaps foretelling what our March would look like) and Jake taught us a new version of the card game “President” before we headed off to bed.
Day 2
On day two, the five of us (plus Cam’s dog Callie) headed into Lionshead Provincial Park for a 3.5km point-to-point hike to Lionshead Lookout. In the morning we parked at McCurdy Drive Parkette and headed into the woods, following the blue blazes of the Moore Street Side Trail. This side trail again connects with the Bruce Trail which takes you along the limestone cliffs of the escarpment. This trail is a popular spot for outdoor climbing and Cam, our resident climber, was constantly picking out routes along the cliffs.
Once we reached the Bruce Trail, we headed down two very short (one of them was 12m) side trails which took us to the sites of the Lion’s Head Pothole and Giant’s Cauldron. These are two geological formations called potholes which were carved out by glaciation 10,000 years ago. Unfortunately, with all the snow, we weren’t able to find Giant’s Cauldron.
We hiked along the Bruce Trail for the better part of the morning, taking tons of photos and just generally enjoyed the warm, sunny day. The vibrant colours of Georgian Bay, combined with the snow, the limestone cliffs and the sunny sky made for beautiful photos. We passed several lookouts before reaching the trail’s highest point at Lion’s Head Lookout where you can see the village of Lionshead, several bays and the bluffs. We continued on a little way before deciding to turn back so that we would have time to drive back to Guelph before nightfall.
Having grown up with the Saugeen Peninsula as my personal playground, I am so glad I got to explore it with my friends at such a beautiful time of the year. This trip was a much-needed break, and an important reminder to me that spending time in natural places is essential to my well being. As I move into the final stretch of graduate school, I need to make sure that I am taking the time to go outside, to hike, to camp and to explore the many beautiful places around me.