Cup and Saucer Trail Run

The Cup and Saucer Trail is an absolutely beautiful place to hike on Manitoulin Island and one of the most popular trails in the province.

There are 12 km of hiking trails through the hardwood bush, as well as 2 km of adventure trails.

As you can see from the sign, there are some huge cliffs along this route. They are approximately 70 meters in height and part of the Niagara Escarpment.

The main trail is a 4 kilometer long and I thought it would be the perfect running route. . . I was wrong.

First off, the trail was very rocky. It never really opened up to flat ground and I had to be aware of my footing all the time. As such, I had to run at a slower pace than usual.

There are tricky sections to navigate as well.

This part of the trail is hard to climb. Fortunately, they provide you with ropes to hold on to as you scale the hill or traverse these difficult sections.

I don’t know how it happened, but I somehow ended up on the blue trail. I continued to run, hoping that I could get back on the main trail soon. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for an addition 5 kilometers. To put that it perspective, that is my usual running distance. I had already ran 4 kilometers at this point too. And at a much slower pace than usual.

What a gorgeous view!

It really was a beautiful trail to explore. It was tough running for twice as long as I normally do and taking three times as long to cover that much ground. My average pace today was nowhere close to what it usually is. It took me just over an hour to get back to the parking lot.

While it was a tough run and not one I plan on doing again, I would definitely come here for a hike. I’d just make sure to stay on the main trail and not have to cover so much ground.

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