Showing posts with label Stittsville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stittsville. Show all posts

2023-08-29

Fernbank Road Pond Photo Versions

Slideshow of photos taken along the Fernbank Road Pond in Stittsville in July 2023 with my Panasonic Lumix FZ100 camera and edited with Photoshop Elements 2023, Simply Good Pictures 5, Franzis Color Projects 6 Professional and Franzis Black & White Projects 6 Professional.

 

(View in YouTube to view full screen)


2009-05-27

The Joy of Undocumented Trails

On the weekend we were hiking near the Lime Kiln and came across a trail that I was unaware of. We had skied or snowshoed along this route but thought it was just a winter route. Both ends of it are fairly well hidden so it was a fluke that we found it without tracks in the snow.

That, and the fact that I was exploring some other undocumented trails behind Stittsville last week, got me thinking about undocumented trails.

So what are undocumented trails. Well the simplest definition is trails without maps, or at least without official maps.

An internet search could not find any maps of, or references to, the Stittsville trails that I explored so I feel confident in considering them to be undocumented.

The trail near the Lime Kiln fits that description as it is not on the NCC official trail map. Neither is the one kilometre technical trail that is known to mountain bikers as the Lime Kiln Trail, although it was on an earlier version of the NCC map as an unnamed trail. The NCC designates the wide trail from parking lot P10 to Richmond Road as the “Lime Kiln Trail”.

Personally, one of the biggest joys of undocumented trails, besides riding an unknown trail for the first time and not knowing what I will find, is documenting them. I have always had a thing about maps and the ability to actually become a map maker is really rewarding. So I have spent the last few biking seasons starting to map all the western greenbelt trails. It is currently a work in progress. I plan to move my maps to a new home and add trail descriptions and eventually photographs. Watch for an announcement in the next few weeks.

Undocumented trails tend to be unofficial trails that were not planned, or built by, any official entity but created by trail users.

An architect once proposed that when designing open spaces pathways should not be planned in advance. Rather the space should be left open for users to walk across and the users of the space will create paths where they are best suited. The designers would then build the pathways were the users have walked.

In many ways that principle can be applied to trails. Often the users know best. Certainly the greenbelt is full of unofficial user created trails and these are some of the best trails in the system. Surprisingly the National Capital Commission (NCC), known for being overly bureaucratic, does not appear to have made any effort to close such trails, even placing signposts on some in the Old Quarry area.

However, the City of Ottawa, during the South March Highlands (SMH) Management Plan process, has proposed that many of the existing “unofficial” trails in the SMH be closed as part of the process of legitimizing the trail system. As far as I know, none of the closures are for specific environmental reasons but more a matter of rationalizing the trail system.

If past experience is any indicator I think it will be difficult to convince users to stop using trails they have used for years. I suspect the city hopes that user groups that have been involved in the SMH management plan process will try to convince their members not to use the closed trails. It remains to be seen how they will respond. So far it appears that everyone, including the city, consultants and user groups have been acting in good faith during this process and I believe the city hopes users groups will feel they have enough “ownership” of the result to support it. The fact is that most trail users, whether they are hikers, mountain bikers, or cross country skiers do not belong to organized groups, and those that do are not necessarily going to do their groups bidding.

Perhaps the best policy for the city to pursue would be to leave the trail system the way it has naturally evolved except for measures to address specific environmental concerns or improve the sustainability of the trail system.

2009-05-23

Stittsville's Secret Trail System

click on map to enlarge

OK, it may be somewhat presumptuous of me to call it a secret trail system just because I was unaware of it. Actually, I knew there were trails back there as they connected to a trail/pathway that runs along the southwest edge of Stittsville that we ride on our hybrids. I always wondered where they went but I didn't expect them to be as extensive or as interesting.

The first section I checked out was the most southern section of trails. This 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 went into the forest where some sections were marked with coloured ribbons. Parts of these trails were quite narrow with tree branches going into the trails, somewhat like old abandoned trails, except the ribbons suggest that they are possibly new trails that still need to be completely cleared. I followed the yellow trail till it seemed to disappear, then I noticed red ribbons and thought perhaps they just changed the colour of the ribbon. Later I ran into yellow ribbons again so I think I may just have lost the yellow trail and wandered onto the red trail. However, most of the trails do not have any ribbons or markings.

There are lots of intersecting trails in there. On the map you will notice numbered WayPoints that indicate intersections. If you do not see an intersection on the map it is because I have to go back and ride/map the intersecting trail.

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 paintballers to hide behind except that there are no signs of spilled paint, so maybe they are just play forts. It really is great for the neighbourhood kids to live in a small town and be able to go off by themselves and play in the bush. But then, I grew up in what was considered an urban neighbourhood, and we had rocks, and railway tracks, and a creek with quicksand, and even a slag dump to play around unsupervised.

In the middle section is a long trail heading towards Hazeldean Road. Somewhere past WayPoint 13 the trail deteriorates and at one point you realize you are no longer following a trail but are following deer tracks and are in the middle of dense bush struggling with your bike. That is when you do not want your GPS to fail because it is the only thing you have to lead you back to civilization. Luckily it led me to a fence along Hazeldean Road, where fortunately there was enough room under the wire to crawl through and push the bike through.

There really are some interesting features within this system, including a trail that runs along a creek, and a real interesting causeway/bridge over the trail with another alternative narrower more technical/difficult bridge a few feet further along.

There are quite a few sections where I had to walk my bike, not because the trail surface was technical but, to avoid being speared by tree branches growing into the trails. There were also some wet/muddy sections that could do with some trail work, but most of the trail work would consist of cutting back trees and brush along the trails.

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.

I hope to publish a complete map of the trail system (ride at your own risk) as it is as soon as I get the opportunity to ride and map all (or most of) the interconnecting trails.

click on map to enlarge