Trans Canada Trail – Niagara Falls Ontario

It was a rare thing for me to have free time these days, but last Sunday, I had the whole day to myself. I had honestly assumed I would be hungover as Saturday was Grape & Wine in Niagara, a festival many locals and tourists participate in revolving around drinking wine. I ended up waking up at 715am, and felt great so I got up and decided it was a good day to go adventuring, starting with a bike ride on the Trans Canaada Trail!

I picked where I was going to ride using the amazing interactive map on the Trans Canada Trail Website. I would start at Dufferin Islands, double back slightly to the Old Scow area and then head towards Fort Erie until I got tired, or ran out of time, then turn around and go back.

I headed to Niagara Falls, taking the McLeod Road exit so I would come out on the parkway just after the falls, and all the chaos.  I parked at Dufferin Islands, a park I have visited many times. I got my bike out heading to start at the Old Scow, well, close to it and the top of the falls, then proceed from there, eventually leaving the city and people behind to discover nature along the way.

Here is the information on the Scow that is stuck at the top of the falls, in case you don’t know the story.

Dufferin Island Park, passing by it after parking there and heading towards to falls to start my ride.

The trail here has a few bridges to go over and around water treatment plants, traffic, obstacles etc. Most are very nice areas with benches to stop and take a rest and view the River.

After the bridge area you come out to the trail running alongside the Niagara Parkway.  It is off to the side and isn’t dangerous at all. The traffic here is also minimal.  After this area you come to Kingsbridge Park which is a park where a lot of people go for picnics and also to take their kids to the splash pad they have there. There are also an abundance of geese here! No likey!

Then, you come upon another bridge which is long and a bit uphill.  After  you cross over that, you come out at the parkway and have to cross it to get to the lovely riding trail on the other side.  Here you are riding with the parkway and river on your left and to your right you are viewing beautiful homes in most areas of the trail.

Here is a few trail signs that I found,  but I couldn’t locate any TCT signs along the trail unfortunately.

The trail here is quite beautiful, scenic and peaceful.  I was reminded several times on my ride, that fall is definitely here and it has kissed many of the trees in the area.  The trail, was lined in many places with leaves that had already fallen.

After some really enjoyable viewing and riding along the trail I came up to Legends on the Niagara. They had a lovely entrance from the Parkway and it was adorned with beautiful flowers and plants. I had to stop and get a few photos, of course, and smell the fragrant flowers!

Then I was off again, to discover more beauty on the way! I next rode up to this really cool tree that was growing out of another tree. It was enormous and looked so neat.  The house itself was also really different and I liked the looks of it, so I took a few pics of that as well!

After a bit more riding I came up to the museum. I have been inside on a few occasions riding on the trail, but today it was closed. It’s a neat little place!

As I rode along the trail, looking towards the river, I noticed that a lot of the trees had birds in them.  I stopped and took some photos and tried to get as close as possible without scarring them off.

But eventually they took off.  I believe they were mostly ducks?  They made the coolest sounds in the air. Like a whirring sound.

I had been riding quite a while and also wanted to go for a paddle today, so I decided it was time to turn around. I still had to ride all the way back and my knee was getting sore.  I have a torn meniscus and a torn ligament that I am having surgery on next month and today it had been aggravating me. Shortly after I turned around I came upon a picnic table beside the river. I stopped there and had a rest and a snack before proceeding back to the car.

A few more shots of fall creeping into the area:

And after another forty five minutes or so, I arrived back at Dufferin Islands, where my car was parked.

I was very happy to see it! It was a beautiful ride and I enjoyed it immensely but my legs were tired and I was ready to do a little bit of paddling and get out onto the water!

If you haven’t checked out this part of the Trans Canada Trail, I recommend you get out there and go for a walk or ride, and enjoy the beauty that is there.  This is the perfect time of year to enjoy the fall colours and breathe in the amazing scent in the air!

For more information about the Trans Canada Trail and where you can find it near you, check out their amazing map ! You can also find information there about how you can help The TCT achieve their goal of connecting the entire country by 2017, Canada’s 150th birthday!  What a great thing to be a part of!

Thanks so much for reading and checking out my blog! As always, if you have any questions, comments, advice, etc, I would love to hear from you!  Please leave a comment, if you’d like,  and I will get back to you asap!

Happy biking!

Camper Christina