Welcome to the Toronto Bruce Trail Club

Close to nature. Close to home.

Badges

Toronto Bruce Trail End 2 End Hiking | Tangled up in Blue – Side Trail Challenge | End 2 End Hiking

Toronto Club End-to-End Hiking

To earn a Toronto BTC End 2 End badge you will need to complete all 49.5Km of the main trail in our section. There is no time limit to do this, and you can hike as much or as little of the trail each day. You can do this on your own, or join up with other hikers on a TBTC organized hike. You can purchase a downloadable map from the BTC store. You will need Maps 11-14. Or, you can purchase a BTC Guide which contains maps of the entire trail.

Organized Hikes

Each year the Toronto Bruce Trail Club organizes a one or two day hike which covers the entire main trail (49.5k) in the Hilton Falls area. You will be bused to the start of the hike each day, and Volunteers will be posted at checkpoints along the way to cheer you on and provide sustenance. These events are run in the fall each year, and the details can be found on our Events page.

The Cost

Challenge yourself by completing the 49.5 km Toronto section in two days. You will hike 28.2 km on Saturday and 21.3 km on Sunday. The cost is $35 for the two days. These costs cover transportation, badges and refreshments. This event is open to the public, however we encourage you to purchase a BTC membership which helps to support securing and supporting the entire trail.

Hike on Your Own

If you want to complete the end-to-end of the Toronto Section on your own you will be awarded this badge. All you need to do is keep track of your hikes and then send $5 cheque to: Toronto Bruce Trail Club Attention: Jude Keast at the club's address on the contact us page or via email to judekeast@rogers.com.

Tangled up in Blue – Side Trail Challenge

The Toronto Bruce Trail Club has 50 km of Main Trail and 60 km of side trails. So almost 55% of the trails maintained by volunteers are marked with blue blazes. Of the nine Bruce Trail Clubs, Toronto has the largest proportion of side trails. Too often they are overlooked. In addition to interesting scenery, they usually have a history – quite often they signify the generosity of a landowner, interesting geological features, or the long-time contributions of a volunteer.

The Club will award a special badge to hikers who complete at least 45 km of the side trails. There is no time limit.

The requirements are simple. Just hike enough of the side trails that the kilometers as noted in the Bruce Trail Guide add up to 45. If you hike a side trail in both directions that only counts once. If you just hike part of the side trail, you can include the kilometers you walked. Send in your log – date, name of trail, total kms – to the Toronto Club Badge Secretary, Jude Keast at:

Toronto Bruce Trail Club
P.O. Box 597
2938 Dundas St West
Toronto, ON M6P 4E7
ATTN: Jude

Cost of the Badge is $2.00.

Side Trails and Suggested Parking Locations:

Note that a number of side trails on Maps 11 and 12 have been shortened or temporarily closed because of quarry operations.

Hilton Falls Conservation Area – Map 11 - Campbellville Rd just west of intersection with Appleby Line. (parking fee applies). Convenient access to following side trails:

Hilton Falls ST – 9.2 km – mostly flat with some rocky sections.
Phil Gosling – a 700 meter connecting trail to the Main Trail. If you walk south on the Main Trail, just before reaching the stile at Campbellville Rd you will see a large boulder with a plaque. Very close to this location, Philip Gosling painted the first blaze on the Bruce Trail.
Restoration ST – a short, 200-meter trail leading to a lookout overseeing an old quarry which is undergoing rehabilitation.

The many short side trails on Map 12 (Vanderleck ST, Speyside North & South ST, Charles Hildebrandt ST, Canada Goose ST, and Black Creek ST, Todd Bardes ST) can be accessed from these parking areas:

Pear Tree parking lot at km 11.2.
Eastern end of 17 Sideroad, near km 13.8
Southern end of 3rd Line, near km 16.1
Canada Goose parking lot at 4th Line and Regional Rd 43.
The Ballpark on 5th Line just south of Limehouse.

Closed: Al Shaw Side Trail

The Trails on Map 13 (Duff Pit ST, Bennett Heritage ST, Eight Line ST, Maureen Smith ST, and Roberts ST, are best reached by parking at Scotsdale Farm about two km north of the traffic lights where Hwy 7 swings west.

Many of the side trails are hilly and occasionally rocky. The Great Esker ST is more difficult than most with several hilly and rocky sections.
Note that the Credit Valley Footpath is closed at approximately km 10 where it passes under the railroad bridge.

Trails on Map 14

Park on 10th Line at km 38.5 for access to the Credit Valley Footpath, Walking Fern Side Trail and the Winston Churchill Side Trail.
Park on Boston Mills Road just west of Mississauga Rd to hike the Rockside Side Trail.

If you notice metal tabs attached to some trees on side trails (and the words “Side Trail Challenge”) – you can safely ignore these signs, they go back to the Summer of 2011. The side trail challenge is much simpler. No fact-gathering required – just hike the trails and record your kilometers.

Peter Leeney, Chairperson

End to End Hiking

If you want to challenge yourself with a goal, we invite you to explore a variety of hiking programs that offer a badge for completion. The most challenging of these is the Niagara to Tobermory end-to-end hike which covers the entire 890km of the main Bruce Trail.

You can hike this on your own, join up with one of the annual or semi-annual club end-to-end hikes, or look for hikes on our website to hike with our members.

For more information, visit the BTC website.

Hiking the whole Trail
Hiking each Trail Section: Club Badges
Hiking with Clubs: Organized End-to-End Hikes

Each Badge is awarded on the honor system. If you complete the entire trail, keeping your trail logs organized by Club section will make it easier to sort out which pages you need to send to which Club when you apply for the badge.