Loading...
The Times Advocate, 2008-11-05, Page 8Crossroads 8 Times -Advocate Wednesday, November 5, 2008 We have overcome - It took five years, and plenty of resolve, but a group of six women conquered the Bruce Trail, which runs from the Niagara Region to Tobermory. Shown here at the recent conclusion of the trip are (I -r): Susan Kerrigan, Deb Steel, Mary McDougall, Julie Keller,Angie Desjardine of Crediton and Lyn Snell of Centralia. (Photo/submitted) Trail mix: how a persistent group conquered The Bruce By Ben Forrest TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF CREDITON - There was a standing joke among the ladies who walked the Bruce Trail. When the trip began, some five years ago, 72 -year-old Betty would often laugh and say that if she passed away, the rest of them would have to carry her. The group spent one weekend a month from April to November on the trail, starting in September 2003. They walked 25 km or so during each stint, then went away and picked up where they left off the next time. The idea was to walk 840 km from the Niagara Region to Tobermory, which sits at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. Eleven women began the journey, the youngest in her 40s and three of them, including Betty, in their 70s. Not all of them walked every step, but Angie Desjardine of Crediton and Lyn Snell of Centralia walked at least two thirds of it. They remember Betty's morbid joke, and they remember the promise it entailed Betty had been with them three years before learning she had bone cancer. She died shortly after this, but was carried in an urn the rest of the way, until the trip concluded last month. "Some people thought it was kind of strange," admitted Snell. In fact, some would tell her it was gross. But you had to know Betty: she was a bubbly person, Snell said — the kind that would wear lipstick on the trail because you just never knew who you were going to meet. "Before the end, she had everybody watching their lips on the trail," Snell recalled with a laugh. "That's just the kind of person she was . When you know that, you know the rea- son we took her to the end — because we had promised her that she would make it to the end of the trail with us." Like the other women on the trip, Betty was a stranger at first, but over time they all grew to be close friends. "We were really quiet when everybody first started hiking together, because nobody really knew each other's person- alities," Snell said. "After a while it was just like you'd say anything to anybody," she laughed. "It was open season." The trip was the brainchild of Desjardine's sister Susan, who hails from Kitchener. "She travels a lot, and she just loves goals," Desjardine said. "She loves hiking, too. So every time she travels, she hikes." Susan was working as an emergency room nurse at the time, and would book dates for each portion of the trip, then fax or e-mail them to the rest of the group. Those who could, went. They started at Queenston, and it was nice, Desjardine said — though not as beautiful as Tobermory. At Tobermory, she said, "you're overlooking Georgian Bay." One could start there, and hike the other direction, but Snell would not rec- ommend it. "I think if you hiked it the other way you'd be disappointed," she said. Queenston is nice, but it's a different kind of nice, she added. "Tobermory's just amazing." There were few mishaps along the way, but they got smarter as they went, Snell said. One time early on, they missed a trail marker and were lost for about two hours. It was a frantic time, Desjardine said, but they ended up near a house, asked for help, and survived. "We were really lucky," she added. "In five years nobody really got hurt." Not to say the trip was uneventful. They saw a bear at least once, as well as a rat- tlesnake, which Snell captured on her camera. "It was all coiled up maybe three feet off the path or something," Snell said. "So once it started to go away, I took a pic- ture of it." The others were surprised, "But we had to prove we saw a snake," Snell said in an interview. Desjardine remembers one weekend she drove into a snow storm, then walked 10 km through deep snow. There was also a time they nearly made it off the trail before dark, which caused some worry. "You wouldn't want to be in there at dark," Desjardine said. "You wouldn't be able to find your way," said Snell. "The trail's not big enough to be able to find your way out at night, and chances are you'd miss the [trail marker], so you'd end up going around in circles. You're better off just staying put." They had decided this is what they would do if they got caught on the trail at night, but on this day they made it off just in time. For both Desjardine and Snell, the high- light of the trip was the very end. "It was quite a commitment for five years," said Desjardine. Room with a view - Desjardine and Snell are shown here during a scenic portion of the journey, which stretched over 800 km. Desjardine and Snell were unable to wall< the entire trail, but con- quered at least three quarters of it. (Photo/submitted) "Closer to the end you definitely wanted to finish it. There was that drive to finish it, to see the end, and to be together." "We went back to a small beach," she added. "One of the girls wrote a song about [Betty], so we listened to the song and had a glass of champagne to finish it off." "It was happy/sad," she said. "We were happy we were done, but also it was ..." "It was kind of a goodbye for Betty," said Snell, finishing the sentence. It was also a sort of beginning for Desjardine and Snell, longtime friends who plan to begin a hike from St. Marys to Guelph this spring. Others have been selected for the jour- ney, though they don't know it yet. There may also be shorter trips in the future for the Bruce Trail gang. "I think we'll probably do something, because we're going to miss not having that girls' weekend," Snell said. In any case, Desjardine and Snell both say they came away from their trip along the Bruce with a greater appreciation of life. "I think too, losing Betty made us appreciate life," Snell said. "Life's too short. Enjoy it."