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| Day 1 Progress |
After my first day hiking, I'm trying to cope with a flood of uncertainty. My parents, sister and I arrived in Tobermory last night, registering for camping at Cyprus Lake on our way. We went to the Big Tub Harbour Inn and booked two rooms and a table for supper. It was Saturday night and one of the owner's along with two friends entertained the crowd with some excellent music. It was very comfortable sitting there and enjoying supper and I thought that I could see myself getting used to that sort of life. I chased away that notion, remembering just how remote and isolated Tobermory actually is.
Hiking today went both better and worse than I expected. The company was appreciated, but I found myself pushing to keep a quick pace out of consideration to them. After having breakfast at Dunk's Bay and realizing that we had already come approximately four kilometres after one hour, I felt optimistic. Hiking the next four kilometres or so to Little Cove proved to be similarly easy. I should have critically examined the terrain though, because we had just travelled the easiest part. The six kilometres to Coony's Dump took us another two hours with another six kilometres to the Grotto. How had we done this in five hours in past years?
I should mention that we met two Bruce Trail Association Toronto Club members. One of them, Larry Haig, seems to be very involved with the BTA. He was a friendly guy but seemed to underestimate the speed of our progress. I may have bit off more than I can chew though.
Once we reached the Grotto, my legs were finally speaking to me. Surprisingly, I seemed to be okay blister-wise, but my ankles, knees and hips were beginning to feel sore. With a short break to fill my pack (my parents and sister had helped carry my load to this point), we were off again. I hugged them goodbye and left on my own.
I finally reached Storm Haven at 3:00 PM and hobbled to my reserved spot at Site 9. I decided the bathroom was much too far away and hobbled back to Site 6. The people at the park had indicated that there shouldn't be any other campers here, so the adjustment shouldn't be an issue. Once I stopped the steady regular movements of hiking, all the aches and pains became that much more acute. In my fatigue, it took me an hour to setup camp.
I'm a bit worried about being alone. This is harder and less fun alone. I have to make an effort to appreciate my surroundings. Walking away from my family was more difficult than I expected. In a way, I am very lucky to be here, but I also feel that the only reason I am here is because of failures elsewhere. Hopefully I can sort some stuff out while I'm out here, but introspection can be scary.
Looking ahead, I'm concerned about Day 3 with about 25 kilometres of hiking with a full load. About 7.8 kilometres will be along a road which will hopefully help. Tomorrow will also allow some recovery from today. Fortunately bugs have not been a problem.
