40 Days and 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time by Nicola Ross

“…by walking the BT on my own for day after long day, I was developing a deeper intimacy with the landscape….the more I learned about the Niagara Escarpment’s flora and fauna, its geology, its rivers and valleys, the more attached I became.” (Day 33)

But what is most compelling about this book is right there in the subtitle: 40 Days and 40 Hikes is a love letter. In the spirit of travelogues by Rebecca Solnit, Jan Morris, Robyn Davidson, Cheryl Strayed and others, Ross takes the reader with her on a journey into personal relationship with the Niagara Escarpment and the Bruce Trail. In sharing how her life has been shaped by the landscapes she has come to love and deeply respect, Nicola Ross offers insights, reflections, mistakes, vulnerabilities, questions, and some very useful lessons about the value of a good sense of humour.

For people who may never have heard of the Niagara Escarpment or who might never set foot on the Bruce Trail, Ross’ book offers travels that not only go through one of the most heavily settled and populated areas of Canada but also some of its most beautiful places of solitude—forests, waterfalls and rivers, farmland and quiet country lanes.

In 2021, I decided I wanted to do a Bruce Trail through hike from the southern cairn in Niagara on the Lake to the northern terminus in Tobermory. I walked the Camino Santiago in 2018 and found I loved long hours of hiking, one day after another. I wanted to try a similar challenge closer to home. I live in Collingwood, Ontario with the Escarpment, and the Bruce Trail almost literally in my back yard.

A Bruce Trail through hike with few or no breaks is not impossible. Thanks to the diligent voluntary efforts of local Bruce Trail Clubs, trails are increasingly well-marked and maintained. Logistics though, remain a challenge: getting on and off the trail at the beginning and end of a day, stocking up on water for many hours of walking, replenishing food supplies and finding a suitable spot to rest a weary head can still be quite a daunting task, especially for a solo hiker.

For people who may never have heard of the Niagara Escarpment or who might never set foot on the Bruce Trail, Ross’ book offers travels that not only go through one of the most heavily settled and populated areas of Canada but also some of its most beautiful places of solitude—forests, waterfalls and rivers, farmland and quiet country lanes.

So, just imagine my delight to find that Nicola Ross has risen to the challenges of a largely solo through hike (she has the companionship of her dog and the occasional human on some days). In her travelogue, 40 Days and 40 Hikes: Loving the Bruce Trail One Loop at a Time, she takes readers on a series of looped walks along the main trail and back through connected side trails. In 42 days, she moves through every section of the Bruce Trail and covers more than the (roughly) 900 km of a through hike.

This book gives hikers concise one-page summaries of each loop, including maps, technical information about trail requirements, entrances and exits, interesting plants and animals to look for along the way. The accompanying text offers a well-researched recounting of the history, present circumstances and possible futures of the snake spine of land that rises through South-Central Ontario and is the Niagara Escarpment and of the Bruce Trail that follows it. Nicola Ross is author of twelve previous books, including the six volume Loops and Lattés series and is a self-described `professional hiker’. 40 Days and 40 Hikes benefits from her years of experience. It is highly readable, well-organized and well-written.

It is now the beginning of 2025. Since my 2021 decision, life and family circumstances have intervened. Almost four years later, I have walked the Trail in a series of one week stints that mean I am a little less than half-way to my destination at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. It’s the start of a set of walking seasons and, for me, 40 Days and 40 Hikes has given a good boost to the flagging spirits of a would-be through walker.

What will stay with me though, is the awareness that Nicola Ross’ latest book is an invitation and an opportunity to consider how to love the land beneath our feet, to notice that it’s all we have:

“I heard the Chi-Cheemaun ferry sound its horn as it arrived from Mnidoo Mnising. I liked to think it was welcoming me to the northern terminus, but I knew this journey had no end.” (Day 42)

Nicola Ross is a National Magazine Award–winning journalist and the bestselling author of six Loops & Lattes hiking guides, with over 50,000 copies in print. She lives with her partner, Alex, in a converted sawmill (circa 1857) in Caledon, Ontario.

Publisher: ECW Press (April 9, 2024)
Paperback 8″ x 5″ | 384 pages
ISBN: 9781770417779

Susan Wismer

Susan is grateful to live on Treaty 18 territory at the southern shore of Manidoo-gitchigami (Georgian Bay) in Ontario, Canada with two human partners and a very large dog. Recent publications include a collaborative chapbook,Hand Shadowswith Michele Green and Suzette Sherman (Wintergreen Press, 2024). Hag Dancesis coming out with At Bay Press in Spring 2025.www.susanwismer.com