Hi All - I am so excited for the trip next week its going to be so much FUN! We had a mini test ride today fully loaded to practice packing and share tips and tricks. If you have any last minute packing questions please let us know!
I also wanted to outline some of the detailed plans I have been discussing with the group. This should all be fairly obvious/ standard when camping but please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with the plans:
Have your own copy of the route so if you want to go off route you can find us again.
Have an emergency contact/ bail out solution if you cannot continue.
We may consider breaking into 2 or 3 groups depending on riding speed.
Let’s help each other our where we can, maintain positive attitudes, respect and kindness.
Once we arrive at camp we can check out the sites and determine who will setup at each site, then break to setup camp, take showers as needed and eat some food. We can go swimming and check out the park and explore. There is ice cream at the camp stores sometimes too!
Looking to watch the sunsets on Lake Huron around 9pm each day, then head back to camp for a fire and sleep.
Open to having a longer fire or a morning fire if we are interested.
Put smelly things (food, cooking items, hygiene items) away from the site at night
Timing:
Goal is to leave around 9am each day from camp (consider waking up at 7am depending on how long it will take you to do you morning routine, eat and pack up)
Goal is to arrive around 3-4pm to camp (this makes a 20km/hr base speed with 2-3 hours of breaks, total of 7-8 hours of travel during the day)
Goal is to take 15-30 minute breaks in small towns we pass or at regular intervals as needed (25km, 50km, 75km etc.). Longer breaks are ok too when needed.
Locking the bike when at camp… Do you do it? We chatted a bit today about it and I shared that I bought a lock like this one below. It is still pretty light but is a chain so you cant just cut through it. I plan to use it for my long distance randonneur rides and other adventures when I need to leave the bike. I dont usually lock it up when sleeping though. Do you? What do you use or plan to bring for the trip?
I’m used to using a heavy U-lock + heavy cable. My bike really isn’t worth much, but I figure it would be near impossible to find or borrow an XS frame when I’m far from home. Keep in mind that I’m the one contemplating carrots
Campgrounds often don’t have poles/trees (that aren’t easy to cut) hence the cable.
I generally lock up at night, beach time, restaurants, grocery stores. Might as well put the locks to work.
I might switch to a lighter lock given our numbers. That and everyone else’s bikes is more valuable than mine, haha!
I carry a lock in case I stop at a restaurant, store etc. I used to lock the bike to the picnic table but now as long as I can keep it out of view I don’t bother.
We are happy to report a successfull bikepacking adventure for 2026! Below is a summary of the Days of the trip. I am interested in other’s perspectives to post here too if you have the time.
Happy Adventuring!!
Day 1: The five of us left from Kitchener (Emily, Hugo, Valentina, Jules, Jonathan) and Karl followed closely behind (of course he was late lol). We soon picked up Geoff in Baden and were six to Milverton. In Milverton we stopped to get some food at the amazing French bakery in town Gourmandise. I highly recommend a ride along the G2G in that area and a stop at the café after. We also picked up Shelly in Milverton and were seven as we picked up the G2G towards Monkton and eventually Blyth. Karl found us along the trail at one point and became a group of 8. The G2G is such a well maintained trail and is so wonderful to ride, you can maintain a great pace of 19km/h forever on that trail with minimal effort. Once we arrived in Blyth we found Gwyneth by the trail and became our final group of 9. We went to the cowbell brewery and restaurant for a rest and lunch and had a wonderful meal with some booze to take to the campsite for later. The meal took almost 2 hours which made us much later to camp than originally planned (but it was probably worth it for the hot and fresh food). We continued onto Point Farms along a rockier road which soon took us to the beautiful views of Lake Huron. We setup camp and went for a quick swim and shower before preparing dinner around a communal fire on one of our sites.|
Day 2: After making some breakfast and packing up all our stuff we headed out from the campsite around 9:30am. We wanted to avoid Highway 21 as there is lots of traffic and very little shoulder but that put us on some rocky gravel. Thankfully Gwyneth had reviewed the route and modified it to avoid and super fresh gravel that is often very unpleasant to ride. We had paved roads north to south and unpaved roads east to west so we swapped between the two frequently. It was a hot morning and having eaten less I was feeling particularly exhausted by the gravel climbs. I was very thankful to reach Coastal Coffee along the route. A farm stand contained some very refreshing and much needed strawberries and I had a bagel and a strawberry rhubarb square at the café which helped revive me. This stop was probably one of the most beautiful as it is in a converted church with stained glass walls. I absolutely loved the vibe in there and it was quite busy for being in the middle of nowhere. From Costal Coffee we continued the Huron Coast again and got water and made lunch orders for Tusk Express in Kincardine at Point Clark. Point Clark was a cute little beach, playground and lighthouse which could make for a wonderful day trip in the future. It felt very peaceful and community oriented there. The ride up the Huron Coast is one of my favourites so I was in bliss for the rest of the day. Had some fresh food at Tusk Express and felt even more revived and the final stretch to MacGregor Point Provincial Park for the night. That ride is absolutely amazing, mostly carefree and just so much FUN!! Cant wait to do it again in the future! We arrived at MacGregor Point and had another little ride into our site. It was quiet with plenty of room. We enjoyed a small fire, then went for ice cream and to watch the sunset from sunset point. Biking through the park was lovely. We came back from sunset point in the dark but rode as a group with lots of lights. Another great night in bed late around 10:30-11pm. Feeling pretty tired after two long days. The group is getting along so well and everyone has been great to talk to and learn more about. We are forming camaraderie and people are meeting new friends and future bikepacking partners!|
Day 3: Got going around 9:30am this morning, a bit later than planned, but still within good time to make it to Paisley for a morning breakfast. We stopped at the Paisley Common which is another beautiful restaurant for the breakfast menu. Had a great meal but didn’t get going again until 11:30-noon which was a bit late considering we still had about 100km to go… I was getting a bit nervous for the day at this point. We continued from Paisley along the Bruce County Rail Trail which was a bit rougher than I was expecting. I am spoiled by the soft and small gravel on along the G2G. This trail had larger chuncks and big holes where the ATVS had dug out ruts in the ground. It was pleasant at times in the shade of the trees but really required more attention and we moved at a slower pace than would have been ideal. We continued from Paisley to Walkerton along the trail. Gwyneth left us in Walkerton and we picked up Jonathan and Karl there after they had separated from the group to get food in town. We decided to continue forward to take a break in Mildmay. We stopped at the local convenience store in Mildmay around 2pm and determined we needed to have a new plan. We were moving too slowly and the trail was too rough to continue. We set a new route down hwy 28 and confirmed with the clerk that it would not be super busy. It was much faster rolling along the road from Mildmay but the road was much more exposed to the sun. Thankfully the extra speed paid off. Jonathan suggested we go through Fordwich to get some sandwiches from The Bare Necessities store in Fordwich. These sandwiches were delicious and exactly what we needed - one for right now to keep us from bonking, and another for when we arrive at camp. Brilliant! It was in Fordwich where Hugo decided he was going to get a ride home in Gowanstown as he was truly spent from the day. Valentina and Jules also got rides home on this day from Listowel and area. I was also exhausted in Gowanstown and appreciated a bit of a longer break to get out of the sun. Finally the remaining five of us (Emily, Karl, Shelly, Jonathan, Geoff) continued to Conestogo Lake. One of the final stretches of road was being repaved and was really rough gravel which was unfortunate for the final 10km. We made it around 7:30-8pm just before they were closing the check in. We had about an hour and a bit before the sun went down and it was dark and time for bed. A quick shower and meal was all that was possible this evening.|
Day 4: The heat of the day and being so close to home motivated us to get going around 7:30-8am which was awesome. We were all home before 11am when it started to feel like 30+ degrees outside. Hoping to spend more time at Conestogo Lake in the future as we didn’t really get to explore the area much. The ride on this day was lovely paved and gravel road past the well kept Mennonite farms in the area. I had such a great time building a small community of bikepackers and adventurers who were willing to explore together, support each other, and take on this kind of adventure together. I was quite nervous on that first day but everything went so smoothly and it really speaks to the experience of everyone on the trip that they were all so capable of carrying everything, taking care of themselves and managing their moods and expectations to be flexible when needed. I hope to ride with you all again in the future! Let’s keep having adventures!|
Ontario Provincial Parks Infrastructure - we had no water at Point Farms and no power at MacGregor Point. This is unacceptable as we planned to rely on these amenities to get us through this trip and when they are no longer reliable it becomes frustrating and stressful. Please invest in fixing up these gems that are our Provincial Parks and make them a reliable resource for bikepackers across the Province.
Trail Infrastructure - the trail from Paisley to Mildmay along the Bruce County Rail Trail was a bit rougher than is ideal, requiring more attention and handling skills and making us move slower and get more tired than we should have. We swapped to a road route in Mildmay but it was the hottest part of the day at that point and the road had us rolling faster but was also much more exposed to the heat. Heatstoke and bonking became a real risk here and this route should probably have been given more attention/research.
Cell Phone Signal - why are there so many dead zone in the small towns in the grey/bruce and perth counties? Its frustrating as many small towns are located in the valleys and you loose signal just as you want to take a break and get some food.
Timing for the days - later starts for those less experienced in packing up, and long restaurant stops really impacted our time. I realized when you are solo going to a restaurant can sometimes be relatively quick but going with a group of 5+ is going to take over an hour. This really slowed us down each day, but also on the third day especially an early stop at a café made it really long. Next time, I would plan for shorter routes in order to accommodate restaurant stops or have longer routes but establish that only convenience stores and fast food/take out of allowed in order to keep stops to under an hour (15-30 mins is ideal).
Lessons Learned in general
○ Plan for shorter routes with long stops, or longer routes but shorter stops
○ More official check ins during the day, especially when hard/hot outside
○ It takes time to get everyone going, need to give 30, 20, 10 minute warnings or more to get the group moving on time - how much is too much and what is a good balance to not be annoying but get everyone going in good time?
○ How do I turn this into a business? Would be so awesome to have food provided, 5 star amenities and a support van for this kinda thing.
@emily.lloyd thanks very much for organizing the ride and for your excellent reporting!! Hopefully you’ll do it again next year and maybe even have more folks join in.
Thanks again-
Scott
I think everything considered with the campgrounds the trip went amazingly well! Those hiccups are part of the adventure though, in my opinion. I’ll never let my water bottle go dry again! Ha ha!
It was such a great group and I think it is at least partially because everyone had to be a WCC member. Everyone was good at being self sufficient and taking care of each other.
I was impressed with your wrangling, since it’s such a difficult position to be in. I really appreciated how you kept us on track.
A++ would travel with everyone again, and go on next years trip if there is one.
Was super fun! Emily, you did an amazing job organizing and keeping us together. Would happily ride with this gang again any day I’ll likely still have the same old bike with skinny tires, but I can work on downsizing my panniers and carting fewer veggies!
