Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Waterfront Trail - Ajax to Rouge River May 13 2009























Those coming from Peterborough met @ 8:50 a.m. at the Harper Road Commuter Lot on Crawford Dr., west of the Parkway at the foot of Harper Road.
The cycling started @ approx. 10 a.m. at the bottom of Harwood Ave. S. in Ajax. From Peterborough travel to the 401, westbound to exit #404, Salem Rd. S. Proceed south (left) on Salem to Bayly St. E.---turn west (right) until Harwood Ave. S. Turn south (left) on Harwood to the end at Lake Driveway. Turn east (left) on Lake Driveway E. to the parking lot at the end.

14 Dudes turned out for today's ride including Carl from Ajax,a friend of Pat Towns . We met at 10:00 at the end of Lake Driveway in Ajax, where there is parking & access to the Waterfront Trail. It was a gorgeous day for our ride from Ajax to the Rouge River a distance of 42 km. Sorry for the overexposed photos , the camera was on the Manual setting, Ken would never allow that to happen!. The 1st photo of Fred was taken at Veterans Pk. We had to make a major detour at Rotary Pk. There had been a washout of the trail & a repair crew was on site. Thanks to Carl we were able to continue. We headed up the Duffins Creek trail, part of the Trans Canada Trail, which had a wet section thru the woods, photos 2&3, but is a scenic route beside a large wetland. This trail ends at Bayly Rd on which we headed west to Brock St & south to the trail, where Bob Prole noticed an interesting sign, 4th photo. Rode on the Pickering section of the trail ,photos 5,6,&7 to the Rouge River then returned on the trail to Masseys Restaurant on Liverpool Rd in Pickering for lunch. The phone number is (905) 839-5758. We headed back to the cars & arrived in Peterborough about 4:40. You can look at detailed maps of the trail at www.waterfronttrail.org/trail.html
Don C, sent this along for future consideration: When we cycle to Rouge Hill, we could ride west thru the beach park entrance and go about 1 or 2k's on the road to the Rouge Hill GO station where a new trail has opened along the lake shore. Really nice waterfront trail, not too long. It can be entered at the railroad crossing, east side of the GO station, around the fence. The construction of this trail heading east towards the Rouge Hill beach can also be seen.