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Bruce Trail ranked among world's 'happiest' hikes

Smile-recognition software used to scour Instagram posts ranked Bruce Trail among hiking trails in England, Australia, Scotland, and the Appalachian and Canadian Rockies
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Collingwood resident, Linda Murphy, colloquially known as the Healthy Hiker, hiked the entirety of the Bruce Trail, from Niagara Falls to Tobermory, to support women's shelters.

According to Instagram selfies, the Bruce Trail is the sixth happiest walking trail in the world. 

A recent study conducted, mostly for fun, by UK-based travel booking service Inghams set out to identify the happiest places to walk in the world. 

Using smile-recognition software and scouring Instagram for photos of people on walking trails, the Bruce Trail came out sixth on the list of 20 "happiest walks around the world" with a "happiness score" of 93.67. 

That's six spots ahead of the 12th-ranked Grand Canyon and 12 spots in front of the 18th place Gran Paradiso in Italy. 

"We used facial detection software to find and compare the size of the smiles captured in the posts, generating a happiness score and providing a tangible measurement of how happy travellers are as they embark on different walks around the world," states a news release from Ingham. 

"Of course we know that any walks in beautiful landscapes boost our wellbeing, but hopefully our fun study will provide explorers with some travel inspiration," stated the release. 

The highest happiness score on the list was 99.3 for The South West Coast Path in England, followed very closely by a 99.29 for The Thames Path in England. 

The Blue Mountains, Australia ranked third with 98.38 happiness points, followed by Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) in Wales and The Appalachian Mountains in USA and Canada in fourth and fifth place. 

The only other Canadian location on the top-20 list was the Canadian Rockies at 8th place. 

The Bruce Trail is Canada's oldest and longest marked footpath, stretching from Niagara to Tobermory. It is more than 900 km long with another 450 km of sidetrails. 

The Ingham's study included about 300 Instagram posts in total and was limited to 30 of the world's most popular walks and trails. 


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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