Mountain Biking in the York Regional Forest Brown Hill Tract

It was a beautiful Fall day, and adventure was beckoning, so earlier this week I checked out the York Regional Forest - Brown Hill Tract in East Gwillimbury, which is known to be one of the best mountain biking spots in York Region.  There's a good mix of single track forest trails, and I hope to come back to ride some more.

Access from McCowan

Parking lot at Ravenshoe (which has a larger parking area)

Cry Baby trail

Access path along Ravenshoe

 Old Jay trail (lots of leaves so a bit difficult to follow trail).  Yes, I was using an electric cruiser!

Stinky trail

PDF-maps has a smartphone and tablet friendly GPS-enabled map of the Brown Hill Tract that can help with navigation.

Motorists and Cyclists: respect each other and share the road

Warden Avenue is one of the most popular recreational cycling routes in York Region.  You can ride it from Markham all the way to Lake Simcoe in Georgina.

Here's some footage of my ride on Warden travelling southbound from Stouffville Rd to Major Mackenzie Drive on Sat, June 20th at about 1pm.  Major Mackenzie is around where the country meets the city. Unfortunately, the City of Markham's urban boundary expansion is pushing development further north. There are lots of farms, greenery and rolling hills.  This particular segment has a wide paved shoulder, but further north it is a shared roadway with no shoulders.



Warden, Kennedy, McCowan and others are enjoyed by hundreds of cyclists each week.  I often hear of complaints between motorists and cyclists.  Either motorists are trying to pass unsafely or aggressively, or cyclists taking up the road and not leaving space to pass.

York Region has developed an educational campaign in partnership with York Regional Police (YRP) and the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) to promote cycling safety and respect for all road users. 

The campaign was launched on May 14 with a media event at Highway 7 and Leslie Street in the Town of Richmond Hill.

The York Region Cyclist’s Handbook, a practical guide containing rules of the road and safety tips, was launched at the event. 

On June 2^nd, the Province passed the Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act, which includes increased fines for offenses like dooring a cyclist, and a 1m safe passing law.

We all have a part to play in making our roads safer. Please ride and drive with care.

Cycling the Highway 404 Extension

On Sunday, Aug 17th, 2014, I had the opportunity to cycle the Highway 404 extension from Green Lane in East Gwillimbury to Woodbine Ave/Ravenshoe Road in Georgina before it opened to traffic.  What a great idea for a community event in support of Southlake Regional Hospital.  The 26 km roundtrip through the countryside was envigorating, particularly in seeing so many families out on two wheels!

There was an impressive turnout of both walkers and cyclists, and the starting location was only announced a few days prior to the event.

 

A few observations:
- The 13km extension cost about $100M (could build a lot of bike lanes!)

- Concrete was used instead of the typical asphalt

- There are four interchanges (Green Lane, Queensville, and Woodbine), each with a commuter parking lot, and Doanne Road (ramps not yet completed)

- I did a quick helmet count that showed about 75% of adult cyclists were wearing helmets.

- The first 1000 participants got a free waterbottle

- Glass Tiger has some awesome hits.  Takes me back to my youth! 

 

Up the ramp to the start



Speeches

Waiting for the start

Go!

Cycling superhighway

Note that patterned barrier wall

It was a thrill to bike the highway, even if it was just for one day



Cycling the Nokiidaa Trail - Newmarket Section

Named for an Ojibway term meaning "walking together", the Nokiidaa Trail System follows the Holland River from Aurora to Holland Landing.  The Nokiidaa Trail was initiated in 2000 as a Special Millennium Partnership project connecting the neighbouring municipalities of Aurora, Newmarket, and East Gwillimbury.  With a trail connection in Aurora complete in 2011, there are now over 20 kilometers of continuous trail that link the three municipalities. 

According to the Town of Aurora's website, the vision and foresight for the connection of trails came from Newmarket’s resident Mr. Ernie Crossland, who worked to make the trail a reality and a recreation treasure for the residents of all three Towns.

Earlier this month I cycled the Newmarket section (called the Tom Taylor Trail) with my family.  It was a great ride and I highly recommend checking it out.  Most of Newmarket's section is paved, while Aurora's and East Gwillimbury's are crushed limestone screenings (still very rideable).

Most road crossings go under the road, like this one at Mulock.  The exceptions are at Davis Dr (bridge currently under construction, so there's a detour through the Tannery parking lot), and Water Street in front of Riverwalk Commons, which is a busy unsignalized crossing, so use extra caution.

West side of Fairy Lake.  There are plans to pave it in the future.  The route on the east side of the Lake is already paved.

Newmarket Riverwalk Commons - there's a great farmer's market here on Saturdays and many events throughout the year

We found that the trail had hills that were too steep for my 6 year old, so we put his bike away and pulled our kids on our trail-a-bike and chariot.

I found this trail flyer that covers the entire route:
https://icreate.newmarket.ca/230515_TownOfNewmarket/en/resourcesGeneral/NokiidaaTrailFlyer.pdf

 

Love your commute

On Fridays through the summer, I often cycled the 70 km roundtrip from my home in Maple to work in East Gwillimbury.  Though it was a long distance, it was an invigorating start to my day and I always felt great after doing it.  It improves my fitness, saves me money, and is a thrill.  I would have biked to work more often if it not for family commitments and the extra time it required.  It takes me about an hour and twenty minutes each way (which is about double the 40 minutes it takes to drive).

Boulevard path on Vandorf Sideroad east of Bayview

I tried different routes, and what I found was that most roads were more bike-friendly than I thought, with paved shoulders and only a little traffic.  I eventually settled on the route shown in black (north on Keele Street, east on 15th Sideroad / Bloomington, north on Yonge Street, east on Industrial Parkway/Vandorf Sideroad, and north on Woodbine).  One of the biggest route determining factors was avoiding the hills.  There are some thigh-burning climbs!  19th Sideroad between Keele and Bathurst, and St. John's Sideroad between Yonge and Bathurst come to mind.

Try it.  Bike to work.  Dust of that Schwinn and hit the ground pedaling.  You'll use all of your senses.  You'll notice things, like the smell of Fall, the birds chirping, the wind in your face, the swoop of each turn.  You'll feel alive, and it's wonderful.

Paved shoulder on Keele Street

Boulevard path on Bloomington

Crossing Hwy 404 on St. John's Sideroad

Crossing Hwy 404 on St. John's Sideroad

Bike lane on Keele Street at McNaughton

Beautiful vistas

 https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zMmshogRacy0.k7WKDn0mvbtA

Missing bridge on the Sutton-Zephyr Rail Trail

Back in May of this year, I checked out the Sutton-Zephyr Rail Trail in Georgina and East Gwillimbury.  It's a 14 km hard-packed gravel trail on a former CN rail bed, passing through quiet wooded areas following the Black River watershed. Holbourne Road/Hwy 48 to Brown Hill to Sutton.  

View Larger Map

The trail is in decent shape, though there were some big ruts at the south end due to snowmobiles. 

Unfortunately, the rumours were true that there is a missing bridge connection about 3km from the south end, and it would take some serious trekking through the bush to find a detour.  Hopefully the Town of East Gwillimbury will replace the bridge soon.

The trail could be promoted more, and perhaps even extended to connect Mount Albert with Sutton.  I only encountered one other person on the trail, who happened to be walking their dog.

Location of missing bridge over Black River.  Note the golf course to the south.



Good sized parking lot at the south end off of Holborn Rd