Oak ridges notes:
Thank you Jamieson for driving me the morning of my FKT!!
May 16, 2024. 9:40AM start
It's already warm outside. The first 21km are mostly dirt roads so it made for a "fast" non-technical start. The lilacs were out in full bloom and it smelt incredible!
I knew from Jamieson (current unsupported FKT holder) that water sources are sparse on this trail. I finally got to the first water (small source) at 42km
Shortly after, I arrived in Bewdley. A resupply spot where I got French Fries, and drinks. I washed face which always feels amazing.
- @ 55km (9hrs activity time)
At 1015PM, I arrived at the Ganaraska forest. I had a sweet set up but couldn't fall asleep unfortunately. Oh well, I still got up with a 330am alarm.
*74km travelled
May 17, 2024
All packed up and departed at 4:05AM.
At 645AM (87k) my feet were soaked from grassy dewy section. Yuk! I'm also getting very worried about my cell battery. I'm at 23% and my charge cord isn't worried. This isn't a trail you can do without a navigational app such as Gaia. As a result, I went off trail at 93km to get a charger. They only had one 10ft one available to purchase. Beggars can't be choosers though so I got it!! So relieved. It was a 1.2km round trip. While there, I used the bathroom, rolled out my feet and bought drinks.
At 99km, I iced my feet in a creek and rolled them out again
At 105km, I rolled out my feet again. C'mon feet. Fail me not!
At 109km, I'm on a roll here so might as well rest 10 min with eyes closed (11:35AM)
At 112km, picnic table and bathroom (no water but will take adventage. Rolled my feet again and rested again)
I have a couple of blistered I popped and then at 8:05PM, I set up camp (145km). In bed at 830PM and really hoped for a big sleep. I got what I wished for and accidentally slept 10hrs 😝
*71km travelled. It was a very hot day with limited water
May 18, 2024
6AM wake up and 7AM start. I pressed snooze for an hour! At least I slept good. Woke up a few times to reposition but otherwise pretty decent. I'll say what Jamieson says...if you're tired enough, you'll sleep
I was super impressed with the Durham Regional trail system. It was super pretty & well maintained (150km). I'll have to come back here for a training run one day.
At 154km 920AM - I played with the cutest and softest puppy!! Dah! I wanted to put her in my backpack. Too cute!!
At 1045AM ish - I'm finally at the creek I was looking forward to (162km) I was expecting it to be at 155km. Washed up, foot care, water filtering. Unfortunately I dropped my phone in the water. Eeekkk! Luckily the phone is ok. Took a 20 min break.
Musselman lake - 176km. This is where I dropped out in 2022. I got a Slushy as I entered town. The perfect drink while I hiked to the local restaurant.
I stopped at "The Coolest Little Ice Cream Shop" for you guessed it... French fries at 2:20PM!! 177km. This is where I got picked up my last attempt. I took a 30 min break. Feeling content after fries. Not much for resupply but that's why I brought stuff with me.
Feels great to be hiking/running past this spot. Not knowing the trail ahead is a cool feeling.
At 7PM, 199km, I arrived at the hwy 404 fancy bathroom. :) Big milestone. I cleaned up, washed feet, did blister care, and refilled my bottles. I even used the hot hand dryer to get my sweaty damp clothes dried a bit...while still wearing my clothes. Felt kind of nice actually haha There was no electrical outlet though. Weird! Left at 7:20PM and will the 200km mile marker at 733PM 🎉
There are the biggest and fanciest houses in Aurora! The Starbucks i was looking forward to is closed 👎🏼 🥹.
At 940PM which is exactly 2.5 days = 213km done. It's still so humid outside and I'm pretty drenched.
I found a spot to set up camp just outside of town, at the Seneca campus ish. I set up camp at 10:25PM - 217km. Actually felt pretty good the second half of the day and ended up "running" a decent amount.
*72km covered
May 19, 2024
400AM alarm still silently going off at 430AM. That's not very useful! I took down camp and was back on trail at 4:55AM. I'm hobbling a little on blisters and swollen feet.
Basically started the day by going through 3/4 of a kilometre of muck, water and mud. Gross way to start! Well I guess that didn't matter, cause both my feet got wet from the dewy grass in the very next section, soaked feet by 530AM.
One super cool thing that happened today was seeing 38 salamanters in like 400 meters.
At 231.5km, I decided to head a bit off trail to stop at a variety store for drinks. I was ok for food but Palgrave still looks pretty far and there hasn't been any water sources. Don't want to risk it. 8:20am. It was CLOSED!! Probably a mile round trip. There just isn't much water so I wanted to get fluids just in case....luckily there was a spiget on the side of their building so it wasn't a complete waste. Back on trail at 8:45AM, 233.5km. Ugh.
11:25AM - Tried to take a 5 min nap. Perfect tree but busy road. (245km) My feet / shoes smell so fn bad!!!
12:40PM - Rolled out my feet again. I had to stop to grab the rest of my food out of the back of my pack anyway. Desperate for water! (250km)
255km on the caledon rail trail. Some guy gave me his water at the church. Was looking for a Spiget but there was none. Thank you nice man!
230PM - Arrived in Palgrave (260km). Even though I'm almost done, I stayed for 30 min. Time to dig deep now. My feet are so sore but I only 11 km to go. I could do it!!
ALL DONE! 271km 5:07pm. So nice to see Jamieson. Took some pics and hiked out to the car!! ❤️
Over the moon happy!!!
Thank you,
Chantal