The Bruce Peninsula is a landmass that separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay. I’ve been to various campsites on the peninsula in the past so the area was somewhat familiar to me. From the town of Tobermory at the tip of the peninsula you can take a ferry to Manitoulin Island, the largest lake island in the world. I’d never been to Manitoulin Island and so getting there was my target. The island also has quite dark skies and I was hoping to catch some shooting stars as it was around the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.
This is my first bikepacking trip since I was a teenager many years ago, and that was more of a touring trip anyway. I had the bike and the camping equipment so I wanted to give it a go buying as little new gear as possible so that I could get a feel for what worked and what I would want to change for next time.
I had a week and wanted to use public transit to get as much distance from Toronto as I could but it’s hard because the network isn’t very extensive and there’s very little that gets you anywhere close to the Bruce Peninsula. On the way out this meant taking a bus from Toronto to Brampton and on the way back I could catch a train from Barrie.
Here are links to the route on Ridewithgps. Part 2 is copied from the [Great Northern Bikepacking Route](https://www.greatnorthernbikepacking.com/) up to just past Owen Sound and it was a much better route than what I came up with in Part 1. Part 1 is mostly rail trail and gravel roads but Part 2 has ATV trails and some singletrack sections as well. It’s also a much more roundabout route.
The actual route ended up being a bit different because on my 2nd last day I had some tire trouble and had to cut things short and get to the closest bike shop.
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The Bruce Peninsula is a landmass that separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay. I’ve been to various campsites on the peninsula in the past so the area was somewhat familiar to me. From the town of Tobermory at the tip of the peninsula you can take a ferry to Manitoulin Island, the largest lake island in the world. I’d never been to Manitoulin Island and so getting there was my target. The island also has quite dark skies and I was hoping to catch some shooting stars as it was around the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.
This is my first bikepacking trip since I was a teenager many years ago, and that was more of a touring trip anyway. I had the bike and the camping equipment so I wanted to give it a go buying as little new gear as possible so that I could get a feel for what worked and what I would want to change for next time.
I had a week and wanted to use public transit to get as much distance from Toronto as I could but it’s hard because the network isn’t very extensive and there’s very little that gets you anywhere close to the Bruce Peninsula. On the way out this meant taking a bus from Toronto to Brampton and on the way back I could catch a train from Barrie.
Here are links to the route on Ridewithgps. Part 2 is copied from the [Great Northern Bikepacking Route](https://www.greatnorthernbikepacking.com/) up to just past Owen Sound and it was a much better route than what I came up with in Part 1. Part 1 is mostly rail trail and gravel roads but Part 2 has ATV trails and some singletrack sections as well. It’s also a much more roundabout route.
[Part 1](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47932828)
[Part 2](https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47933409)
The actual route ended up being a bit different because on my 2nd last day I had some tire trouble and had to cut things short and get to the closest bike shop.