Trails

[GtwoK]

The closure is only supposed to last a day, maybe 2 if I remember correctly. Most likely to install rail crossing guards.

[MidTowner]

Thanks! But...where did you read that? Is there somewhere I should be going for trail closure info?

[GtwoK]

It was here, but seems to have been removed. Maybe it's reopened now?

[Square]

It was here, but seems to have been removed. Maybe it's reopened now?

The seagram @ the railway tracks closure?   It's listed here for 4 days   :  http://www.rideion.ca/traffic-updates.html

[MidTowner]

The seagram @ the railway tracks closure?   It's listed here for 4 days   :  http://www.rideion.ca/traffic-updates.html

Thanks. I didn't see it there earlier in the week. The trail was actually open from the north side by the end of Friday, but it's always a bit mucked up- bikes are signed to go east on Seagram and then on the east side of the tracks. That is at the moment not possible, but one can go through the parking lot on the west side, then over the tracks, or on trails to Father David Bauer.

Long story short, it's a bit of a mess, but it has been for a long while.

[jamincan]

I've been taking part in RunWaterloo's summer trail tour, which has been excellent so far. (http://runwaterloo.com/category/blog/summer-trail-tour/)

It's inspired me to go out and start checking out more trail runs on my own as well. There's a lot of stuff I was simply not aware of, even after living in the region on and off for over ten years now.

The most recent trail I've visited is the Lions Lake Trail up near Floradale. It's around 7.5 km around the Floradale Reservoir. This is a double-track trail with surfaces varying from bare forest floor to grass to gravel. The trail seems like a work in progress in places, but the part south of the lake is particularly beautiful, running through a Maple bush, over a dam, and then along a gorgeous path that skirts along the reservoir into Floradale. This is an easy trail with few changes in elevation and is not particularly technical.

The main downside is that the wayfinding is somewhat deficient at times - when passing through Floradale, and where it dumps you onto the road briefly on two occasions. In both cases, signage showing where the trail continues is missing. It's not too difficult to figure out where to go, but it's worthwhile checking out the trail first online to become familiar with it. It's a lovely non-technical trail suitable for beginners.

Route Info: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/250398

I'll be checking out the Puslinch Tract sometime this week. Any info anyone here might have is welcome!

[tomh009]

There was a bunch of discussion about MUTs and markings for pedestrians vs bicyclists.  Here are two examples from Tokyo.  Notably only one of them has highly-visible markings for the two lanes, for the other one I had to look for the much-smaller signage to confirm which side is which.

Street crossings for these are the same as for normal sidewalks.

   

   

[Elmira Guy]

So what is the best map/means that shows proper detailed information on trail routes in Waterloo? Even better if there was one resource all of K-W.
I have used the Map It thing on the City of Waterloo: Trails page http://www.waterloo.ca/en/gettingactive/trails.asp and it's not bad. But is there anything that anyone knows of which is an even better guide as to where trails are and their routes?

Cheers

[Canard]

http://www.opencyclemap.org is lovely. I use it now hand-in-hand with Google Maps/Cycle Option to determine where next I'm going to go for a ride.

[Elmira Guy]

@ Canard

Thanks very much. Just had a quick look... is it strictly for cycling trails?

[KevinL]

Japan seems to use the same colouring scheme as the Netherlands: plain asphalt/gray for pedestrian paths, red/terra cotta for cycling paths.

[jamincan]

I don't think it is. While you could bike on the Lions Lake Trail, for example, it's definitely not optimal. Nevertheless, it's included on the map. There are also some places where there is cycling and hiking. Puslinch Tract is on there (fantastic place, by the way), Dryden Tract, Health Valley Trail, etc. are all included. The brown dashed lines are ostensibly footpaths and not for cycling, but I do know that a lot of those trails are used by mountain bikers as well. Almost the entire Hydrocut, which was built specifically for mountain biking, is marked as a footpath, as an example.

[Canard]

Here is the legend for OpenCycleMap.org, which shows the differences for Cyclepaths and Footpaths:

http://www.opencyclemap.org/docs/

jamincan - Thanks for pointing out that the Dryden Tract is mapped. I have been going there for years and I don't think I've ever taken the same trail twice, it's just massive. It is really interesting to see the trails. Cool!

[Elmira Guy]

Excellent! Thanks again Canard. And thank you as well Jamincan.

Here is the legend for OpenCycleMap.org, which shows the differences for Cyclepaths and Footpaths:

http://www.opencyclemap.org/docs/

jamincan - Thanks for pointing out that the Dryden Tract is mapped.  I have been going there for years and I don't think I've ever taken the same trail twice, it's just massive.  It is really interesting to see the trails.  Cool!

[MacBerry]

I've been taking part in RunWaterloo's summer trail tour, which has been excellent so far. (http://runwaterloo.com/category/blog/summer-trail-tour/)

It's inspired me to go out and start checking out more trail runs on my own as well. There's a lot of stuff I was simply not aware of, even after living in the region on and off for over ten years now.

The most recent trail I've visited is the Lions Lake Trail up near Floradale. It's around 7.5 km around the Floradale Reservoir. This is a double-track trail with surfaces varying from bare forest floor to grass to gravel. The trail seems like a work in progress in places, but the part south of the lake is particularly beautiful, running through a Maple bush, over a dam, and then along a gorgeous path that skirts along the reservoir into Floradale. This is an easy trail with few changes in elevation and is not particularly technical.

The main downside is that the wayfinding is somewhat deficient at times - when passing through Floradale, and where it dumps you onto the road briefly on two occasions. In both cases, signage showing where the trail continues is missing. It's not too difficult to figure out where to go, but it's worthwhile checking out the trail first online to become familiar with it. It's a lovely non-technical trail suitable for beginners.

Route Info: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/250398

I'll be checking out the Puslinch Tract sometime this week. Any info anyone here might have is welcome!

The http://www.plotaroute.com/ site is a great resource. Thanks for sharing.