In the Shade: Friendship, Loss, and the Bruce Trail

by Marg Heidebrecht

An 885-kilometre trail, 53 hiking days over 4 years. Think mild, not wild. Reflections on the walking, the talking and, ultimately, the losing of friends.

Pam and Marg stepped away from their "to do" lists and onto the Bruce Trail. Read their tips for packed lunches and no-nonsense fashion, then follow the author's subsequent journey as she steps back to weave together the disparate topics of friendship, loss, and the value of forests. Lyrical and insightful, these essays will engage anyone who loves nature and people, who prefers moving ahead to sitting still. People who hike, on local or distant trails, will relate to the specifics of contour maps, shuttling, buying the right size boots. People who enjoy activities accompanied by a good friend will relate to the bond that develops and deepens. People experiencing loss will relate to the restlessness and confusion that follows heartbreak. This book begins as "How to" but develops into "What now?" as Marg turns to words as a way of making sense of the world around her, steadying herself after the loss of a close friend....

108 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2019

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you never win and are indifferent to losing, all that’s left is playing the game.”

Make no mistake. The Bruce Trail has simple sections that are doable by even the most sedentary, out-of-shape walkers. But there are also sections that would challenge even the most experienced and accomplished long-distance hikers. Author Marg Heidebrecht and her friend Pam complete the 885 kilometer trail running between Queenston Heights and Tobermory in Ontario on 53 hiking days spread over a continuing period of 4 years of effort. Hard on the heels of their proud completion of that trek, Pam discovered she had cancer and passed away a short time after that.

IN THE SHADE is a heart-warming, evocative series of essays in which Heidebrecht muses on her ideas of love and friendship, loss, life and death, accomplishment and failure. While there is certainly an element of “how to” with respect to long-distance hiking, in general, and the Bruce Trail, more specifically, that is not IN THE SHADE’s primary focus. The back cover marketing blurb describes it well, “This book begins as “How to” but develops into “What now?” as Marg turns to words as a way of making sense of the world around her, steadying herself after the loss of a close friend.”

An enjoyable quick and easy read that may well prompt you into pondering your own relationship with the world around you and plant the seed of entering into your own version of a long distance hike somewhere in the world. Heidebrecht’s use of the afterword as a means of summarizing the three main components of her book – friendship, loss and the Bruce Trail – with a series of concise, beautifully summarized bullet points is a fabulous idea. For me, I intend to keep the book close to hand to reread those summaries time and time again.

Definitely recommended.

Paul Weiss

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to read local authors and this book is written by someone who shares my hometown of Dundas, Ontario. She hiked the Bruce Trail end-to-end over a four year period (2011 to 2015) with her friend Pam, and in 2018, Pam passed away. This book describes some of the learnings (both practical and more existential) from the years of shared hiking with Pam, but also describes some of the author's grieving process after the loss of her friend. In one lengthy passage, she describes a process involving a bouquet of flowers (symbolic of a bouquet of friends), and observing as the flowers wither and die, and an artist friend paints the bouquet. The artist adds blue (even though there is no blue present in the bouquet), and notes that blue is on the colour wheel opposite the orange and yellow found in the gerberas and sunflowers that dominate the bouquet. The author gets the epiphany that her friend Pam is best epitomized not by any of the flowers, but by the blue paint, which in the final picture "can be present, unnoticed or detected but clarifies everything else". Having lost two close friends over the past year or so, I can relate to how friendship and loss "clarifies everything else". In the Afterword, the author writes short nuggets of advice on each of the three threads: Friendship, Loss and the Bruce Trail. She says: "If you wish you'd known about this section sooner, I apologize. It wasn't possible for me to distill it this way until I had 20,000 other words written down." This is a book that follows a hard-slogging hiking trail to gain clarity at the end.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful, insightful, relatable; deep friendship. I loved it so much.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, sweet, and sad. I only wish it was longer!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book written as openly in observation and empathy as one's journal may read. It is disarmingly adept at capturing attention, and felt very personal and intimate. This is a straightforward book, as promised by the title, so be prepared for a book that examines friendships, loss, and hiking with a goal and perfect companions...I enjoyed this book.