Day 3 – Bruce Trail Hike

Well, the lessons keep coming folks.  I still managed a bit of distance on day 3 but decided to take a break for a day and a bit.  Why?  Well, here are the lessons I learned and the reasons.

Lesson 1 – Pack light and only what you need.  The exertion of carrying a 65 pound pack took a real bite out of me.  I could not sleep and woke up exhausted.

Lesson 2 – Take ear plugs.  I was setup on the top of a hill with 110 km/h winds.  The constant noise made it impossible to sleep.

Lesson 3 – When hiking in extreme heat and humidity, make sure you are not becoming dehydrated and keep you electrolyte levels up.  Drinking lots of water is not enough.  I easily consumed over 10 liters of fluids, including one electrolyte drink, but I still wound up losing 10 pounds in two days.  This is not good.  Now I know to drink lots, and take many breaks on hot days like yesterday.

Lesson 4 – Do not mess with your foot wear before you leave on a hike.  This is a huge thing when you are hiking.  I thought I was doing a good thing by purchasing custom orthotics for my hike.  While they are indeed good, I did not think about the fact that foot would now be positioned differently.  This, in combination of having footwear that do not breathe well led to blisters on three toes and one heal.  I am now changing back to my keens but still keeping the orthotics as my feet, with the exception of the blisters, did not hurt at all after close to 50 km’s.

Lesson 5 – Do not forget your bear bag.  For those of you who don’t know what a bear bag is, there is a sack named the UR Sack.  This bag is used by everyone out there as it has been tested by many people, including the military, and even grizzly bears cannot get into them when they are tied properly.  If you forget your bear bag, you will spend sleepless nights wondering if the bears and other animals are going to try and get into your tent.  The best defense against bears and other animals is not to have any odors in your camp/  They will not be attracted to your camp this way and you can sleep soundly knowing they will not come by in the night.  Did you know that a bear can smell food with a 20km radius?  In order to be perfectly safe, place all you food, toiletries, and garbage in odor free bags and place them inside the bear bag.  Then tie the bear bag to a tree or rock at least 25 yards from your camp.  If something does try to get into it, worst case is that a few things may get crushed. Check out the video below to see what I mean.  🙂

I am taking tomorrow off, to fix a few things, get my bear bag, and let my blisters heal. I will resume my hike on Tuesday morning.  🙂

About the author: Hiking World

My name is Tom Thayer and I love hiking and have built this site to record my many hikes and adventures. I am currently a trail captain for the Bruce Trail Conservatory and I am very glad I can give back some of what the Bruce has given me. I also sit on the board for the Dufferin Bruce Trail Club and was recently awarded the Volunteer of the Year award by the Bruce Trail Conservancy for my work on the developing their new Hike Schedule.

I have many hobbies other than hiking, such as music, drones, skiing, robotics, computers, all kinds of sports, etc….

I really hope you enjoy this site and feel free to drop me a line if you have anything you wish to add or discuss about the site, or just plain say hello.

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