Local explorers now have a trail connecting them to more natural staples in the community.
The Town of Halton Hills has opened the Upper Canada College Trail in Georgetown near Norval. Its placement makes it ideal for residents who love to walk, bike or cross-country ski. It's located in a scenic valley behind some houses on, appropriately, Upper Canada Court.
“It is a connecting link between Norval and Georgetown,” Town Senior Landscape Architect Mark Taylor told HaltonHillsToday during a tour of the trail.
Willow Park Ecology Centre in Norval, Hungry Hollow and many other parts of Georgetown are all accessible through the roughly two-kilometre trail. Trailheads are located on McFarlane Drive and Upper Canada Court.
“If you live in Norval and you want to go up to, say, Glen Williams, this trail leads onto Armstrong Avenue. It has a multi-use path that can take you up to Mountainview Road. And then from Mountainview, you can go into [Glen Williams],” Taylor explained.
The path is as barrier-free as possible. While there are some steep slopes, wheeled transport users, like cyclists, will be at ease here. Mothers with strollers are a sight on the trail as well. For the hikers who want to just take it in, benches are available. They will be treated to old-growth forests with centuries-old trees, near silence and seclusion.
The land belongs to Upper Canada College (UCC), hence the use of the name for both the trail and the street. The site is part of the educational institution's Norval Outdoor School, a 535-acre piece of land that, the college says, is a second campus.
"The Norval Outdoor School provides outdoor education programs to students in senior kindergarten to grade 12 and works to advocate for the importance of natural spaces in our community," director of the school Brent Evans said.
The Town has a management agreement with the UCC to maintain it. Taylor asks people driving to the trail to park on McFarlane Drive. He further requests that people follow Town signage telling users to “be respectful, be clean, pick up litter, but also to stay on the trail.”
The Town has updated its website to include a map of the trail. A new paper map will be published sometime in the spring.
For information, visit HaltonHills.ca/trails.
