Dedicated to the memory of Andy (FaustCan) who introduced me to The Untrails
These trails are accessible from Parking Lot P4 on Haanel Drive, although I usually ride to them on the Trans-Canada Trail (TCT). I would describe these trails as being at the low end of intermediate level trails, except for portions of the The Untrails that are more technical. The terrain is varied including a climb from the TCT up to P4. Trail 21 includes board walks over wet areas and forested areas, as well as sections over grassy areas.
Trail 21 used to be divided into Trails 21 (west of Haanel Drive) and Trail 22 (east of Haanel Drive) but they were combined into one trail a few years ago when the NCC consolidated trail numbers and transferred some to trails without numbers. Trail 22 does not seem to have been used anywhere else.
Trail 20 is very wet and not rideable for most of the riding season. It normally does not dry out until late July or August and then does not recover well from rainfalls during the fall. I usually avoid it.
A loop of Trails 20 and 21 is one of our favourite winter cross-country skiing routes, starting at P4 and going down the south side of 21, taking the Trans-Canada Trail (TCT) to Trail 20 and along it, then looping back along the TCT to the north side of Trail 21, and then adding in a loop of the upper portion of Trail 21.
The Untrails
The Untrails are a group of unofficial trails west of Trail 20 and north of Trail 21. A wide section of trail connects Trail 20 to Trail 21 after which you can go straight across and connect to the Old Quarry Trail system across Robertson Road.
However the most interesting part of The Untrails are the single track trails west and north of the wide trail section. These trails were referred to as The Untrails because originally they were very rough and, to me at the
time at least, not particularly fun to ride. The trails have now become worn in and were actually quite enjoyable to ride when I rode them to track and add to the trail system map. The portion closer to 28C at the southern end is more technical.
An interesting feature along the wide portion of The Untrails are the ruins of an old homestead (see map), While this does not seem to be preserved in any official way please be respectful of it and other such ruins that are located along the trails in the Greenbelt.
I
have been aware of trails in the northwest corner of Haanel and Timm
Drive for quite awhile but have not been able to find them till I
saw them recently on another map. This 2020 update includes those
trails. There are some very technical sections on these trails,
including one along a cliff. Unfortunately I neglected to take photos
for the slide show of this technical section as I was distracted by
concentrating on the trail.
Also note that the last portion of this section that leads to the parking lot at Timm Drive “peters out” near the end and you lose the visible trail as Timm drive comes into view and you have to ride “cross-country” across the field to get to the parking lot.
Untrails
Updated Summer 2020
Also note that the last portion of this section that leads to the parking lot at Timm Drive “peters out” near the end and you lose the visible trail as Timm drive comes into view and you have to ride “cross-country” across the field to get to the parking lot.
Postscript 2023
Over the last few years while hiking the Untrails I have noticed quite a few new offshoots from the trails that I never had the chance to check out or map. Now that I have retired from mountain biking I will no longer be updating the trail system maps (but I do plan to continue adding E-Bikeable routes to this site). However I have noticed that Open Street Map based maps, despite their name, have excellent trail coverage. While I cannot personally verify the accuracy of their Untrails maps their coverage of the Old Quarry Trail System, which I am most familiar with, is excellent. Therefore I am including my latest (2020) map of the Untrails with the current (2023) OSM Topo (4UMaps) map as the background.
I will be soon adding a separate section to this site on Open Street Map and GPS Visualizer.
GPS gpx Files
The gpx file for this trail system (and other trail systems) can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
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.
Slide
Show of Trails 20, 21 and Untrails Trail System
Posted 2016-08-27
Updated 2023-10-06
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