Coveney's Loop to the Rock Formations

November 28, 2025 marked the final day of our three-day hiking adventure. On the first day, my hiking boots got wet, and since it snowed afterward, I opted to wear my winter boots on the second day. Although I had used these boots on previous hikes, those hikes were not as long as the second day's hike was. As a result, my left foot/ankle was quite sore. On this third day, I could wear my hiking boots again since they were dry, but with my foot and ankle still sore from yesterday's hike, I wanted to keep this hike shorter. Additionally, I aimed to make it shorter because we were heading home, where apparently, much more snow had fallen.

I decided to complete the hike from yesterday that would lead us to the rock formations. Originally this wasn't the hike I had planned to do but again based on the weather I thought it would be safer to stay within the forest. We started this hike at 10am and the temperature was -9. There was a chance of snow but I wasn't too concerned about that, it seemed like a very nice day. However, it was extremely windy again. The start of the hike was out in the open which made the start very cold. This was the coldest I had been in the past three days of hiking.

Before we reached the forest area, we were following so many animal tracks, that also seemed relatively fresh (in my non-expert opinion). These were much fresher than yesterdays paw prints we saw. Again, because the Bruce Trail is THE trail to hike, these animals prints followed the path for several kilometres. Yesterday's hike only had one set of prints whereas this hike had several. There was definitely a pack of animals. This picture shows the largest and most defined print I saw, they were bigger than either of my dog's paw prints.

Eventually, we got into more of the bush, which was great because then we were protected from the wind. This made the walk much more enjoyable for me, as I wasn't as cold. Overall, the hike was very easy walking not difficult at all.  It was your typical forest walk. We finally made our way to our destination: the rock formations!

Rock Formations

If you read yesterdays hike of Malcolm Bluffs (Rock Crevices) then you know that we did in fact reach the rock formations. Unfortunately with Oliver unable to descend the steep narrow stairs, we had to turn back. Mia and I took a quick glance around before returning to Oliver at the top of the staircase.

We were all very excited to reach this area of the hike and wanted to explore around. The natural ancient bedrock is truly incredible to see. The bedrock’s texture is rugged and uneven but almost appears as if it could be a man-made wall. The sheer vastness and length of this ancient bedrock make it a striking feature as it snakes its way through the forest environment.

Moreover, the bedrock serves as a thriving habitat. It's so unique and amazing how trees can grow from rocks. How moss and lichen can thrive in an environment that seems inhospitable. It's actually really Incredible and shows how important these natural formations are.

Oh, also remember how Oliver wouldn't descend the staircase well funnily enough, he wanted to go UP the stairs! He was very intent on making his way up which of course I did not allow, since I already knew he wouldn't come back down. This just proves that going down is always harder than climbing up. Also, I was very fortunate that I completed the hikes as I did. If I had started this trail where we had to hike up the stairs and then in order to return back to the truck we would have to climb down the staircase. I would have been screwed, since Oliver would not have went down them.

Taking in the grand wonder of this area

With seeing our destination complete, we decided to head back to the truck and then return home. On our way back through the forest, the dogs had completely stopped moving. They were sniffing the air and both facing the same way. If you read my blog post from two days ago Challenges of Hiking Barrow Bay (Lions Head) you will know my first thought is: bear! haha I swear I'm not usually this paranoid.

I was staring into the direction that they were facing. I couldn't see anything. They were very fixated on something and were immovable. As I'm glancing around becoming more nervous, I cant see or hear anything that is alarming. It was a windy day so all I could hear were the baron trees, smacking their branches together to make noise and I could hear a bird in the distance.  The mind can definitely play tricks on windy days because there are always odd sounds that the trees are able to make. Eventually I was able to convince them to keep moving. We made it back to the truck and made it safely back home from this paranoid trip.

This hike was within the Peninsula section of the Bruce Trail. We hiked 6kms in 2 hrs and 10 minutes. 3.4 kms can be attributed to the main Bruce Trail.

Thank you for reading and following along!

Kendal