The Trail Is A-Callin'

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.

Hnnng but Peninsula has some really great badges. And I hate leaving things half done.