After a week with two ghost bike installations, I wanted to get out of the city to remind myself that riding a bike is fun. I decided on checking out the Elora Cataract Trail. I used this ridewithGPS map, but I started the ride in Erin as I was not sure where to park closer to the Forks of the Credit.
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I started my ride in back of the Erin Community Centre.
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What a beautiful day.
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When you are headed west, these signs count down. The route I was using turned off at the 8 km mark. I imagine that the 0 km mark is in Elora.
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Parts of the trail were a little overgrown, leaving just two narrow tracks of gravel. In general, the trail conditions were great.
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Since the route made a loop around Belwood Lake, I was hoping for lots of waterviews, but the trail was mostly a little away from the shore. This was a typical view from the trail.
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Do I look happy?
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Belwood Lake Conservation Area had portable washrooms right off the trail. Just past that point, you ride across the dam.
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Looking north.
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South is prettier.
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From this point, my route departed from the rail trail and when through some farmland before crossing back over the lake. In Michigan they talk about corn “as high as your eye on the Fourth of July”.
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Nice fast gravel rollers.
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Just before the bridge, there is the little village of Belwood, where there was a general store, and a picnic area with cyclists taking a break. Sorry that I didn’t get a picture.
Crossing back over the bridge, and then turning left back on the rail trail.
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Taking some care to stay under the posted speed limit of 30 kph 😉
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Signs counting back up.
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Km 39 is where there is one of the official trail access points with parking in Erin.
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My starting point was just a few hundred meters past this point.
Overall, yet another nice rail trail to enjoy. Well groomed and more or less dead flat.
Nov 2021 update: A few notes on the section of the trail between Erin and the Forks of the Credit.
Nov 2021 update #2: I did the western end of the trail as part of a loop from Guelph to Elora and Fergus.
This looks excellent – I’ll have to figure out how to get here car-free as I have no car and have been enjoying avoiding travel by motor vehicle since the emergency was declared.
If I’m up for doing a second 200+ km ride this year this could be a good bet, though – have to decide soon before the days get too short though. 🙂
Great post, I think I will be doing this tomorrow as part of the http://www.cannonball300.com. I also recently started blogging about my cycling adventures myself in case you are interested in checking it out, http://www.anathletesblog.ca.