Ontario Trails

Cycle trail from Sudbury to the Soo to open next summer

Trailhead North

380 km trail will be the first full signed and maintained cycle trail in Northern Ontario

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Jun 13, 2016 6:00 PM by: Matt Durnan
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Waterfront Regeneration Trust has been hosting pilot rides of the province’s first northern bike trail throughout the month of June, which is bike month across Ontario. The Lake Huron North Channel Trail is slated to open next summer. Supplied photo.

Cycling enthusiasts will have a brand new way to see Northern Ontario as early as Canada Day 2017.

Waterfront Regeneration Trust has been hosting pilot rides of the province’s first northern bike trail throughout the month of June, which is bike month across Ontario.

The Lake Huron North Channel Trail will be the first fully signed and maintained northern cycling trail of its size, stretching 380 km from Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury, with 18 stops along the way.

 

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Support Northern Trails – Get the VTA Trail Guide

Trailhead North
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Hikers on the VTA

VTA Trail Guide (2014)

The 2014 editon of the guidebook is now available.

with 42 Full-Colour 1:50,000 Maps and written trail descriptions for over 600 km of trails from Nipigon to Spanish (not continuous), contained in 6-ring binder. Includes an overview map of the entire trail system, table of contents, a map legend, details on how to make the most of your Voyageur Trail experience, and index tabs. The guidebook measures approx. 7.5″x5″; maps are bi-folded and are 11″ long when unfolded. The guidebook is designed so that individual map pages can be removed from the binder and carried in a Ziploc-type bag on an outing. Datum: NAD 83.

Members of the VTA may choose to pick the book up themselves to save shipping costs.

You can also buy the Trail Guide at a number of stores (list), both along the trail and in some other places throughout Ontario.

Updates to trails after the Trail Guide is printed are available at www.voyageurtrail.ca/trailupdates.html

Our condolences to family, friends and wilderness canoeists – George Luste

Trailhead North

Loss of a Legend: George Luste, 1940-2015

Remembering an inveterate wilderness traveler

April 02, 2015By

George-luste

On a snowy February day in Toronto, I’m feeling inadequate standing at the podium in a high-school auditorium—not because of the 500 people in the audience, but for one larger than life man in the front row. Retired physicist George Luste founded theWilderness Canoe Symposium 30 years ago as a way for paddlers to share stories of their northern expeditions and to inspire new trips. The event has the feel of a latter-day Beaver Club—the exclusive gang of fur-traders who explored and mapped Canada in the 18th and 19th century and gathered to chat about it in wintery Montreal.

Following in the paddle strokes of explorers David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Hearne, Luste spent 55 summers traveling Canada’s far north. He immigrated to Canada from Latvia in 1948 and made his first canoe trip in 1963, a solo journey on Ontario’s Abitibi River. He completed a Ph. D. at Johns Hopkins University before returning to Canada in 1971 for a professorship at the University of Toronto.

Canoeing was Luste’s passion. He paddled Canada’s iconic wilderness rivers—the Missinaibi, Rupert, Eastmain, Kazan, Nahanni, Coppermine, Stikine, and George—often in the company of his wife, Linda, and their children. What’s more, he was part of a group that made the first complete descent of the Dubawnt River in the Canadian barrenlands, pioneered many other multi-watershed routes, and was amongst the last to paddle Labrador’s Grand River before a massive hydroelectric project was completed at Churchill Falls.

Full Article – https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/#search/googlealerts-noreply%40google.com/14c829842c123947

Lots of signs of spring at Ontario Parks – some in the north too!

Trailhead North

JIM FOX, SPECIAL TO QMI AGENCY

Mar 31, 2015

, Last Updated: 11:43 AM ET

You know it’s spring in Ontario Parks when you discover these 10 signs.

Lori Waldbrook of Ontario Parks has put together this list, starting with seeing moose that are salt-depleted by the end of winter.

They head to roadside ditches to lick up road salt especially along Highway 60 in Algonquin Provincial Park.

Then there’s hearing the great horned and eastern screech owls and seeing mourning cloak butterflies in forests on sunny days and spotting spring tails, tiny insects that look like black powder on patches of snow and downed wood.

Listen for a chorus of spring peepers – tiny frogs on warm evenings – seeing the sap flow and turning into maple syrup, hearing the chickadees sing and the tundra swans return en route to the Arctic.

You can see buds forming on trees during a spring park hike and see experienced paddlers on an ice-out adventure with higher water levels that allow them to explore areas not accessible by canoe or kayak in the summer.

More details on the Ontario Parks blog.

Full Article Here http://www.canoe.ca/Travel/Canada/2015/03/31/22318891.html

Ontario Investing in Cycling Infrastructure – should help tourism and trails

Trailhead North

NEWS RELEASE

Ontario Investing $25 Million in Cycling Infrastructure

Province Supports Safe, Active Transportation

April 1, 2015 8:00 A.M.

Ministry of Transportation

As part of Ontario’s 20-year #CycleON strategy, the province is moving forward with a $25-million investment over three years to create a more cycling-friendly future for the province.

This includes $15 million for cycling routes that provide key connections and linkages on provincial highways, such as paved highway shoulders and barriers on bridges that separate cyclists from vehicles. Early proposals include:

  • Highway 33 west of Kingston (part of the Waterfront Trail)
  • Highway 137 structure over the 1000 Island Parkway (part of the Waterfront Trail)
  • Highway 6 on Manitoulin Island and south of Highway 17 at Espanola (part of the Georgian Bay Cycling Route)
  • Highway 17B and Highway 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Espanola (part of the Lake Huron North Channel Cycling Route)

The province has also dedicated $10 million to the Ontario Municipal Cycling Infrastructure Program to help municipalities:

  • Expand their local cycling routes
  • Connect with provincial cycling routes
  • Launch pilot projects to make cycling improvements

Consultations on the municipal program have concluded and the launch is on track for spring 2015. Work is also underway to identify a provincewide network of cycling routes in collaboration with a broad range of cycling stakeholders.

Investing in infrastructure is part of the government’s economic plan for Ontario. The four part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people’s talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.

Quick Facts

  • According to the National Trauma Registry, Ontario has the second-lowest cycling injury rate of all Canadian provinces.
  • Ontario has enhanced the Driver’s Handbook to include information about sharing the road safely with cyclists.
  • Ontario’s public education efforts to promote cycling safety include Cycling Skills, Young Cyclist’s Guide, a partnership with TVOKids targeting children and parents and support for stakeholders to deliver public education resources at the community, regional and provincial level.
  • According to the Canadian Medical Association, a 10 per cent increase in physical activity could reduce direct health-care expenditures by $150 million a year.

Additional Resources

Quotes

Steven Del Duca

“We know that working with our partners is key to creating a more cycling-friendly Ontario. We’ll continue to engage municipalities, road users, businesses, advocacy groups and non-governmental organizations to make sure we get it right.”

Steven Del Duca

Minister of Transportation

Kathryn McGarry

“Cycling helps to build more healthy, active and prosperous communities as it generates a wide range of health, economic, environmental, social and other benefits.”

Kathryn McGarry

Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation

There is some debate in the cycling community that this is a re-commitment to an announcement made in April 2014.