The closest access point to Kanata is along Kettles Road south of Richmond, near the rail line not far from the South end of Munster Road. There is also a small parking area at the end of O'Neil Road and a large parking lot along Roger Stevens Drive.
Over several days I followed all the interconnecting roads starting from Kettles Road. There may be other roads in the forest that do not connect to these roads. The roads are closed to motorized traffic during the summer period due to fire hazard but are open during the spring and fall and open to snowmobiles in the winter. These are rough forest roads and I would be cautious driving them, although trucks and SUVs with high clearance should have no problems.
Biking through the forest you do feel like you are in the wilderness. The only drawback is that the width of the roads partly detracts from the experience. If it was single track it would be wonderful. The real advantage is that you cannot do any harm riding them when they are wet and muddy, during those times when the MTB trails are too wet and muddy to ride. They really are fun to tool around on and there is lots of distance to cover. I learned that when I had to walk my bike back to the parking area with a broken chain.
There are a lot of side trails and cart tracks off the roads. I don't think much of it could really be described as single track but there is still a lot more in the system for me to explore and map with my GPS. So hopefully these maps will be updated in the future.
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 2009-09-10
Updated 2011-04-10
