“The moment you stop accepting challenges is the moment you stop moving forward.”
​-Anonymous 

Poison Ivy
This little plant can give you unpleasant rashes for weeks. Unfortunately, there is no real treatment for it on the trail aside from rinsing the contact area as soon as possible.

Dealing with Poison Ivy mostly comes down to prevention. Here are some preventive measures:
  • Hike in pants (most contacts happen below the hips, wearing shorts will keep you exposed).
  • Wear enclosed footwear (keep your sandals for another trip).
  • Hike in long sleeves.
  • Learn to identify the plant.
  • Pay close attention to where you step when going off-trail.
  • Keep an eye out for Poison Ivy signs (you should always be careful, but be extra careful in the signed area).
  • Use hiking poles to push them away from you if found on the trail.
  • If you get in contact, rinse the area and chill out. (You won't die! It will just be uncomfortable for a little while.)

Camping
Wild camping on the Bruce Trail is not allowed. This page of the Bruce Trail website has a downloadable pdf list of the campsites found along the trail. Going through them, you quickly realize that hiking the trail while only using campgrounds is not an option. You would have to pay for multiple hotels, resorts, B&Bs, and motels to hike the Bruce Trail without wild camping. 

There are not many ways to make it work:
  • Do spend a lot of money doing the Bruce Trail the allowed way.
  • Do the Bruce Trail sections with campgrounds, and the one without campgrounds as multiple day hikes.
  • Ask landowners, houses with yards to be able to camp on their properties.
  • Stealth camp and hope for the best (take a look at A Guide to Stealth Camping).
I opted for the last option (shhh, don't tell anyone). I had no problem finding well-hidden spots and I always made sure to respect the land.