I find myself wanting to get back into hiking again - by which I mean, completing sections of trail and getting badges for them, because I do better with specific goals and rewards to work towards rather than just the vague idea of "go for a walk". But it almost feels like a doomed effort at this point, with too many barriers in the way.
The sections of the Bruce I'd need to work on to continue my end-to-end
are the furthest away, most remote, and most rugged ones to do (Beaver Valley,
Sydenham, and Peninsula). So all of the
organized end-to-ends are full of disclaimers like "be prepared for at least 25 km a day for
three days straight with lots of hills and no breaks". Which, no thank you.
My
previous hike buddy is out of the game, for now at least. Which would leave
me hiking solo (not a great prospect for rugged ankle-twisting sections of trail, plus only one car would limit me to out-and-backs, much less efficient), joining an organized group (see previous limitations
there), or finding a new buddy who wants to go out for long, grueling walks in pursuit of very small prizes (surprisingly, haven't found anyone interested yet).
And of course my own physicality has changed since the pandemic hit and I basically stopped hiking
as anything other than slow birding ambles. I quite honestly don't know
what I'm still capable of in terms of distance and pace, and would want
to at least start on the easier end of the scale, or would need to
find/make the time to 'train' first and go out hiking more locally to
build up some stamina again, which, who has the time for that.
But...
I am starting to find that I miss it, and I'm getting itchy for those
last three badges. I know that if I want something done, I usually have
to organize it myself, so I dunno if I could arrange a group hike event
with the local trail club or something; I'd probably need to take the
hike leader training before I could do that, though. Or rope someone
else who's already got that training in to be the front person, even if
I'm still the one doing the planning.
It's
still far away. Beaver Valley is probably the last one that's possible to do in day trips; at the far end, I think it'd be about
two hours drive to get there? Which is enough. Further north I think
we'd be in "rent a b&b and stay over" territory, which gets more
complicated and also more pricey. So I dunno. Maybe it's time to be
realistic and decide that finishing the Bruce is not a feasible goal for
me. Maybe there's other trail systems I could pick up instead. The
Grand Valley Trail is fairly close to home, and I somehow haven't done
it yet. The Avon Trail also isn't that far out, I think. Both offer
badges.
