This is not a "blog" in the sense of a daily journal but a place for me to post GPS trail maps of mountain biking and hiking trails, particularly but not exclusively, in the western Greenbelt in Ottawa, Ontario.

Hybrid & E-Bikeable Routes and National Capital Region Cycling Routes and Resources are also included on this site,

Date codes do not reflect actual posting dates but are manipulated to allow me to order the posts in a thematic order.

20001110

Trails 11 & 12 Trail System

Trail 11 is the only Greenbelt trail that I cannot ride all of, due to a rocky uphill section known as the “creek bed”. This puts this trail system in competition with the Lime Kiln Trail for the most difficult and technical Greenbelt trail.


This trail system is accessible from NCC parking lot P3 on Corkstown Road. It is also accessible via a very short ride on the road from the adjacent Trans-Canada Trail, as well as from the municipal camp ground on Corkstown Road.

This system starts with Trail 11 which involves a lot of climbing, with quite a few up hills and down hills, including the infamous very rocky and technically difficult ”creek bed” section.

Trail 11 Altitude Profile


At the top Trail 11 joins Trail 12 which is a simple loop on the official map. However there are a large number of interconnecting and criss-crossing unofficial trails as well, including a few that go down the hill and reconnect with Trail 11. The trails at the top are probably best described as intermediate level as far as technical difficulty is concerned.


This trail system is unique in the Greenbelt for its climbs and is an enjoyable challenge to ride.

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.

Photos From Trails 11 and 12 Trail System




























Posted 2009-08-29
Updated 2011-10-04

20001107

Trail 10 Trail System


This is the last trail system in the western Greenbelt that was left for me to map and surprisingly I was able to do it in one session with one track. Thanks to the high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver there is not much variance in the overlap where I rode some sections several times as I connected up all the trail sections.

I knew there were some trails in this system not on the official NCC Map but it wasn't until I went looking for all of them to map that I realized how many there were in the eastern portion of the system. However many of these are very narrow through tall grass or with bushes tight to the trail, quite interesting to ride.

This trail system is not very technical but fun to ride anyway with some side trails providing great views of the Ottawa River.


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.
 
Photos
 
These are a few photos taken with my GPS the day I tracked (mapped) these trails.


Posted 2013-07-29

20001105

Carling Place (Former Nortel Networks Campus) Hybrid Rideable Paths and Trails

This is somewhat different than most trail maps posted so far, in that these paths and trails are all easily rideable on a hybrid and were mapped while riding my hybrid.


This pathway trail system is 12 km in total distance (one way, all sections). These paths and trails are across Carling Avenue from Trail 10 (NCC Parking Lot P2) and the pathway to Shirley's Bay. They are between the Watts Creek Pathway and Carling Place, the former Nortel Networks Campus which will be taken over by the Department of National Defence (DND). I usually ride through sections of it on my rides from Bridlewood to Britannia.

Please note that some of these trails have been closed off, but are now easily accessible and no attempt seems to have been made to re-close them. They are noted on the map as "unauthorized trails" and I believe they are on public lands (NCC and/or City of Ottawa).

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 2011-11-18

20001010

Stittsville Trail System

These are the trails that were hiding right in front of my eyes as I biked past them on my hybrid always wondering where they led to. Finally I decided to check them out and this is the result.


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.

Photos From Stittsville Trail System


























Posted 2009-06-05
Updated 2011-10-04

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Richard W. Woodley was born in Sudbury, Ontario in 1950. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Laurentian University where he was the News Editor of the student newspaper Lambda and active in student politics. He was active in the New Democratic Party and Waffle in Sudbury and Kanata, as well as Kanata municipal politics. He was a member of the Bridlewood Residents Hydro Line Committee (BRHLC) and creator of the now archived Bridlewood Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) Information Service. He worked on Parliament Hill for 33 years indexing the Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard) and it's committees. Richard has been an outdoorsperson and environmentalist for most of his life and a life long cyclist who also mountain bikes.