Stittsville is a suburb, that used to be a village, on the southwest edge of Ottawa's urban boundary. These trails lead off of a pathway/trail that goes from the Trans-Canada Trail to Hazeldean Road and runs behind the houses along the urban boundary.
This is not an official trail system and no official parking lot exists. I parked along the road at the end of Thresher Avenue, but there are parking lots serving businesses along Hazeldean Road, including the shopping centre at Jackson Trails, that are close enough to ride from.
The southern section of trails includes sections that go over open grasslands and are not that interesting but, as anyone who has rode on grass will know, can be hard pedaling. The most interesting trails go into the forest where some sections are marked with coloured ribbons. However, most of the trails do not have any ribbons or markings.
At the northern end of the trail system are a couple of trails that go into areas where there are wooden structures and large 4X8 wood sheets. These look like they may be set up for paint ballers to hide behind except that there are no signs of spilled paint, so maybe they are just play forts.
In the middle section is a long trail heading towards Hazeldean Road which deteriorates until it is no longer a trail but just deer tracks in the middle of dense bush.
There are some really interesting features within this system, including a trail that runs along a creek, and a real interesting causeway/bridge over the creek with another alternative narrower more technical/difficult bridge a few feet further along.
There are quite a few sections where trees are lying across the trails and tree branches are growing into the trails. There are also some wet/muddy sections that could do with some trail work.
This land is outside the urban boundary of Ottawa and from what I can tell from the Ottawa Zoning Map is partly zoned RU (Rural Countryside) and partly EP3 (Environmental Protection). I do not know who owns the land but there is certainly potential for a really fun greenbelt-like trail system here with a little/lot of work.
GPS gpx Files
The gpx file for this trail system (and other trail systems) can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
GPX files - Google Docs
If you do download the gpx file please email me at richardw.woodley@gmail.com and let me know so that I have an idea of how many people are downloading and using the files.
Posted 2009-06-05
Updated 2011-10-04
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