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Hike Waiver Form
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Trail
Dedication

The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail

The The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail is located on Crown Land south of Highway 103 where it crosses the Chebucto Peninsula just west of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It begins inside the Woodens River watershed and climbs onto the high ground ("The Bluff" ) between the Woodens River watershed and the Nine Mile River watershed to the east.

The trailhead is located on the Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea (BLT) trail at a point midway between the Hwy 103 overpass just south of Exit 4 and the northern tip of Cranberry Lake. A parking lot has been constructed specifically for visitors to The Bluff Trail. See Getting There.

Brief History The trail was constructed by the Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization (WRWEO) under a letter of authority from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. Loops 1 & 2 (the Pot Lake Loop and the Indian Hill Loop) were constructed in 2003 by six students employed for two months plus help from some twenty volunteers, all coordinated by Peter Romkey. Loops 3 & 4 (called the Bluff Loop and the Hay Marsh Loop) were constructed in 2004.

The trail is in the form of four stacked loops that eventually go around Upper Five Bridge Lake. The loops are colour-coded. Together, the first two loops are about 12 km and take a full seven hours to hike. The four loop system covers over 30 km.

There are canoe-access points at the south ends of each of Cranberry Lake, Frederick Lake, and Hubley Big Lake (see map, above).

Safety & Trail Etiquette
The signs at the trailhead emphasize that this trail is for experienced hikers; they warn hikers of some of the potential dangers of wilderness hiking.

Carry map and compass first aid kit adequate water/water purifier extra food extra layers of warm, dry clothing rain jacket and rain pants knife emergency matches whistle flashlight

Carrying a cell phone is advised and always let someone know your plans and expected time of return. Plan your exursion to leave planty of time to return during daylight hours and cut it short if it's taking longer than expected. Hikers should be alert since they will be traveling through bear and moose country. There are also coyotes.The trail is a wilderness trail, designed to challenge and delight the experienced hiker. Hikers should use caution at all times.

Deer hunting season runs from the last Friday in October to the first Saturday in December inclusively. Hunting is not permitted on Sundays. Hunter orange is recommended in this period. Please use The Bluff Trail with added caution during this period.

The trail runs through ecologically sensitive barrens. The trail is generally quite narrow and designed only for walking. We intend that no ATVs or bikes use the trail. It is critical that hikers stay on the trail, given the sensitivity of the area. The trail has been carefully routed to avoid wet areas and especially vulnerable places. Hikers are expected to pack out what they carry in and practice leave-no-trace techniques of wilderness travel.

Natural Assets
The trail passes through several landscape types, including patches of deciduous woodland dominated by red maple or oak as well as large black spruce stands, mixed red spruce/deciduous forest, fens, and open granite barrens. The barrens support extensive populations of broom crowberry, a coastal plain species threatened elsewhere, and the rare mountain sandwort. Over 100 species of lichens have been documented on the trail.

The trail moves generally along high ground, affording frequent stunningly beautiful vistas of the surrounding wilderness and lakes. At one point it runs through a stand of large old growth red spruce between Pot and Cranberry Lakes. The third loop takes hikers over the Bluff plateau, which is one of the highest points near Halifax; a large stand of jack pine occurs on the branch common to loops 3 and 4.

Support Three levels of government supported the design and construction of the Bluff Trail. WRWEO gratefully acknowledges funding from Halifax Regional Municipality and Nova Scotia Office of Health Promotion, Sport and Recreation Division, with matched funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. With their generous financial support and authorization from Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, combined with countless hours of volunteer work, the Bluff Trail became a reality.

Why the trail was built
The purpose of the trail is to allow the Woodens River community and the public generally to become aware of the extraordinary natural assets of this area, on the principle that awareness is the first step in protection.

Much of this land is barrens and unsuitable for harvesting wood and, at least until recently, difficult to develop into residential areas. As a result it has been left wild. It is wild not only in the sense of being undeveloped but in the sense of not being directly controlled by human needs and interests. Hunters visit the areas in hunting season, but for the most part these areas have remained undisturbed by frequent human travel. The bush in these areas is often extremely dense. Hiking in these areas is difficult without trails.

When people go there, they are immediately impressed with its wildness. The experience is forbidding and alienating for some. For others it creates feelings of awe and even reverence and puts them in touch with parts of their natures that go untouched in the normal course of civilized affairs.

For them, walking in the solitude of ancient rocks and fens will bring wonder and joy. They may hesitate to let others know about it, afraid it will be destroyed and that they will have betrayed the wild lives that own this place. They may be afraid too that if they don't, the consequences will be the same.

We believe that once people have experienced this wildness, most will understand its importance to their lives and the lives of their children and will not let it be destroyed.

Trail Dedication
A sign dedicating The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail to wilderness preservation was placed at the junction for the Pot Lake Loop, the first of four successive loops making up The Bluff Trail, in the summer of 2010. It's a peaceful, contemplative setting. Reads the sign:

On behalf of all the wild things that make this land their home and with reverence for the First People who preserved this land before us, we dedicate The Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail to wilderness preservation. We do this in trust that we can learn its deep beauty, in trust that we can understand and delight in the wildness in ourselves that we share with the rocks, earth, water, and teeming life and spirits that surround us, and in trust that we will work together to protect this sacred heritage.

That statement was written by Richmond Campbell on completion of the trail in 2005.

© 2009 Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization