MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Summer 2018

50 ML BLUE SUMMER 2018 In recent years, popular Bruce Peninsula destinations like The Grotto and Flowerpot Island have been busy with an influx of visitors, but there are still many lesser-known spots that offer amazing views, beautiful Georgian Bay beaches and unique geological attractions. If you’ve yet to visit Devil’s Monument near Cape Chin, you’ll want to add this to your summer bucket list. As a lifelong Grey-Bruce resident, I first visited Devil’s Monument last summer and could not believe I’d missed this for so long. The Bruce Trail runs along the Niagara Escarpment until you arrive at a close-up view of this large inland “flowerpot” or sea-stack formation, much like the famed ones on Flowerpot Island—but trees surround this one. You pass directly below the stack before following the trail to a beautiful white stone beach on the shore of the Bay. With several rock ledges leading down to the water, there are small waterfalls everywhere and you can hear the trickle of underground streams in the crevasses. This is a beautiful spot for hiking, swimming and exploring. Find out more in the Bruce Trail Reference book, Devil’s Monument Loop (map 40) to decide on the length of your hike and the best place to park. —Allison Kennedy Davies DIY: The Peninsula Bruce Trail Club: pbtc.ca. The Bruce Trail Reference is available at brucetrail.org . For mobile maps, download the Bruce Trail app for iPhone or Android. 22 On an unnamed Georgian Bay islet just south of O'Donnell Point Provincial Nature Reserve—about 50km south of Parry Sound—is a rocky outcropping. It is differentiated from the million other Canadian Shield outcroppings around the Bay for one main reason. It is a perfect jumping rock on a hot summer day. With a major boating channel a stone’s throw away, O’Donnell is a familiar waypoint for mariners. The forested, windswept peninsula is typical of the coastal Precambrian morphology, the mainland bedrock shattering into countless islands and shoals where it meets the open Bay. We won’t tell you exactly where the jumping rock is. Finding it in a tin boat or a kayak is our challenge to you. Immediately south of the end of the Point, the high, furrowed rock faces the boating channel but is separated from it by several islets. If you’re looking at it from a boat, the rock doesn’t look high. But when you’re standing on top of it, it looks plenty high. The jump is clean and the water deep. And the climb back up is easy. DIY:ThenearestboatlaunchisMooseDeerPointMarina,off12MileBayRoad. HALF DAY TRIPS O’Donnell Point Jumping Rock NED MORGAN The Other Flowerpot: Devil’s Monument ALLISON KENNEDY DAVIES 23