Hike-a-thon Wrap Up

Alright, so sometime in April I decided to support the Bruce Trail Hike-a-thon with the audacious goal of hiking 150km in May to raise $150 for the Bruce Trail (this would be matched, so in the end $300).   Keep in mind, as of April, the longest hike I'd ever done was about 15km.   I also set a rule that all 150km would be on the Bruce Trail, which meant things like my normal 5k dog walk (flat and easy and can be done in flip flops) doesn't count toward the total.   None of these are "real" rules - in fact, you don't have to commit to any distance at all.  But I figured I should set something theoretically achievable, but hard.

So - to enable it, I signed up for TWO end-to-end Bruce Trail hikes.   Cause, you know, why do just one insane challenge?   (*Background - feel free to skip if you just want hike-a-thon info - The Bruce Trail, which is a little over 900km long not counting side trails, is divided into nine sections, each of which runs an end-to-end of their section each year*)

The Trail Sections - Link to BT Website

So I figure over time it's reasonable for me to do the Niagara and Iroquoia sections on my own.   Caledon end-to-end is unfortunately on Thanksgiving and I'm not giving up Thanksgiving cottage weekend for hiking so a couple friends and I are planning on doing that one end-to-end but just us.   Some day - likely in fall :).  Toronto section (ironically nowhere near Toronto) is in Sept - sign up for it opens tomorrow, and I'm fully planning to do it.   Everything north of that becomes a logisitcal nightmare from home, esp if you're doing it by yourself.   So I signed up for the Dufferin Hi-Land end-to-end and the Blue Mountains end-to-end, both in May??!?  But sure, why not :).  Everything north of Blue Mountains will have to wait till next year because they're much longer hikes and I'm not spending all my vacation time on hiking.

SO - back to the hike-a-thon, 150kms, signed up for two end-to-ends so that'd get me:

- May 10-11: Dufferin Hi-Land: 31 km + 25.33km
- May 24-26: Blue Mountains: 22.18km + 24.23km + 26.20km

Also, Laura and I did 16.77km on May 3 from Crawford Lake to Kelso...

I even finished the Duolingo May Hiking Challenge.
Alas, it did not contribute to my km count!

Where I failed is that I had figured I could snag at least 10k between the first and second big hikes, even if broken up.   But then I hurt myself in the first hike and did zero activity until the second.   Yikes.   So it was with great trepidation that I added the numbers up after Day 3 of Blue Mountains and got to...  145.71.   FML.   BUT - I was feeling okay and still had a few days, so on the 30th, I went to the closest BT side trail near here and did exactly 5km (eg, I was tired and didn't want to be there right that second so I walked out till my tracker showed 2.5km then turned around and walked back ;)).   And that was all it took to meet my goal, more than 24h before the deadline :)

Been-there, done-that, got the badge ;)

So yes, I met the hiking goal, thanks to generous friends and family, I raised $175 (which is being matched by an anonymous donor so your money goes twice as far!) and can now take a break for a week or two.

Next crazy one?   Doing the Laura Secord hike at the end of June.   Then prob just short easy stuff till Sept.   The short stuff is sometimes more fun cause you can take side trails and random deviations without stress.  And let's be honest, the road less taken is generally where I like to be ;)

Not long ago and not far away...

Getting caught up on blog posts here -- this one required a delay mostly for photographic reasons, which you'll understand at the end of the post :)

We made things!

A couple weeks ago Chris and I had a Toronto Day with two very different activities.  The first being to go see the Auschwitz exhibit at the ROM and the second to go learn Glass Blowing.   Very different activities for sure, with the only linking factor being located a few minutes from each other ;)

On the wall in the staircase on the way in.

So the Auschwitz exhibit was extremely well done.   Hard at times to take in, but that's what makes it so important - because not nearly as hard as those who suffered through it.  Even the random teenagers there were remarkably quiet and attentive.  You are given a headset to provide an audio tour which added significantly to the exhibit - it's a lot more than just reading what's on the wall, as well it provides audio for the various video displays throughout.  The exhibit takes you through before, during, and after World War 2, and does a good job of giving the large-scale information (maps, newspaper articles, stats, etc) and the individual stories that bring the horrors to a personal level.  It was haunting.

Next up, after a bit of a walk and a mindset shift, was glass-blowing at Playing with Fire (what a great name eh?).  It was a Date Night class, which meant just the two of us.  Normally you do two items, one from each of two lists.  However, on the second list, there were a few items that if you chose them you'd only make the one.  Of course both C and I chose those ones ;)

We were given a tour of the shop, introduced to the safety rules, and the process explained.   Our instructor would be the one getting the molten glass out of the oven, we would do the colour application, the blowing, and the shaping.

Chris loading his colours

So step one is to put colour on your glass -- we were allowed to pick up to three.  Chris chose red and yellow, where I had purple, blue, and white.   Gravity is no more your friend in this activity than in riding ;). That's molten glass you're dunking in the coloured glass chips -- you have to keep the rod turning at all times or else gravity kicks in and pulls it down - very quickly given a misshapen and dangerously floor-directed blob.

C's colours at the top; mine at the bottom

Next came the blowing - instructions were super complex here.  Either "blow hard" or "blow soft" lol.   Our instructor kept the glass rod rolling while we did this (remember - gravity!); for those not on their first day this is a one-person activity, but for day-one beginners we were given only one task at a time.

What the whole activity was named for,
but arguably imo the most boring part.

Don't stop moving or that blob ends up on the ground

Frequently the glass has to be reheated to keep it flexible

Once the basic width of the base is established, a second rod is attached to it, and the top is tapped off.  There are so very many ways this could go wrong that it was also left to the pro ;).   Video of it on FB.

Ready to be transferred to the other rod

Once it's effectively turned around, you grab some tongs, insert them in the top, and gradually shape the glass to be what you want it to be.   All while keeping it rolling and insanely hot of course ;) 

Closer to done - the trick is to keep the tongs touching the top,
and to move with the glass (which - remember - must keep rolling)

Last step is to melt off the attachment piece to re-flatten the bottom out - this was surprisingly simple and done with a blowtorch ;)

Almost done!

Afterwards though it requires 12h to slowly cool.  Which meant it would be more than a week before C went on a mission to pick up our finished pieces.   A long wait, but worth it!

Chris' finished glass

My finished vase

Both of us really enjoyed it and would do it again!   A little cost prohibitive to do as often as we might like, but was very cool and def something I'd enjoy getting better at.

Dinner in our Toronto day was also an accidentally fun adventure.   We ended up at the Hair of the Dog restaurant in a funky building with random dogs on the rotating photo screen.   Also, surprisingly good food!  

The dog on the bottom of C's glass was an excellent touch!