Lambton Shores

Way back in the days of yore (2019), I saw a FB post that showed the largest collection of non Bruce Trail badges that I had ever seen. I have been working on collecting all those same badges since. 

The Lambton Shores trails are different in that there are 7 short trails to run, and 7 questions about each trail to answer. The map is a bit misleading in that it looked like it was possible to connect all 7 trails by foot, but upon Googling, it would probably be at least 50K of road running, so we drove, a much wiser choice. The easy/moderate/difficult ratings are from the brochure.

1. Mystery Falls (moderate/difficult)

📷Lori

The falls was very close to the parking lot, and the gorge was accessed via a rope down the muddy bank. All singletrack, somewhat hilly and muddy made this a slow go.

2. Forest Trails (easy)

Very very easy rail trail. Not much to write about. There's no forest, that's the name of the town.

3. Ipperwash Dunes and Swales (easy)

This was my favourite, with flowing singletrack through magical pine/cedar forests and multiple boardwalks across the swales. I guess we were busy running because I don't have a picture from this trail! The beach was just down the street and I did take a picture of gorgeously blue Lake Huron.

4/5. L Lake Management Area/Forested Dunes Nature Reserve (easy) << HECCIN LIES

These two trails shared the same street address and I thought they would be on the opposite sides of the road, but turns out L Lake is a very short loop and Forested Dunes branches off at the top of the L Lake loop. Forested Dunes is the red trail in the green boundary, which I promptly described as "sperm shaped".

The first couple kilometers were uneventful, leaf covered fairly flat singletrack. Then all of a sudden the trail vanished and we were in a hell of branches, brambles, mud, and murky puddles.

📷Lori
We were screaming non-stop F bombs at this point.

Bushwhacked to a bamboo grove that led to nowhere and tried to find our way out only to find that we had gone in a circle (the "sperm head"). No way out except back through the muck.

There is no trail.

6. Lambton County Heritage Forest (easy/difficult)

There were three trails here that were impossible to do all of without adding on a lot more distance by doing some out and backs, so we devised a route by running the outer perimeter. The parts that were easy was flat singletrack, and the difficult parts involved fairly major climbs up a ridge and then lots of rolling hills at the top of the ridge.

Carvings from a teaching circle near the trailhead.

7. Ausable River Cut Conservation Area (easy/moderate)

We headed to the final trail, that was only 2K long. Lori didn't bother carrying her pack and I switched to my short run Orange Mud pack. The first kilometer was really flat and we said, "this is not moderate at all!". It was the golden hour and the colours of the river were beautiful.

We saw a boy trying to push his bike up a huge sand dune and we were really glad that the trail stayed flat along the river. Then it happened.

With less than 1K to go, there was a ridiculously steep climb up a sand dune. I would say with the soft sand, and the angle of the hill, it was one of the most difficult climbs I'd ever done. Fortunately there was a chair to rest and enjoy the sunset for a few minutes before heading back to the car.

📷 Lori