Simcoe County Loop Trail

The Simcoe County Loop Trail (SCLT) is a ride that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and today (Friday) was the day. I started in Barrie.

I’ll also note that part of my preparation was reading the summary of the ride by Cory Kawa, which was the most detailed description that I could find online.

Wayfinding signs were helpful all around the whole loop. Here is one at the corner of Sunnidale and Anne.

Anne with an “e” Street dead ends, but you can continue north on an ATV trail.

The first bit of the trail is fine.

However this downhill section was a bit sketchy, as noted by Cory. Lots of loose sand and I imagine the fact that it rained last night didn’t help.

This is the intersection of Snow Valley and Vespra Valley Rds. Apparently Snow Valley is a popular starting point.

Heading north from the intersection, the road soon turns to gravel.

and shortly after that, you see the North Simcoe Rail Trail off to the right.

The adventure begins.

Yeah, I don’t think the posted speed limit is going to be much of an issue… at least for me 😉

A beautiful day.

A little trail maintenance.

At Flos Rd 7W, there is a gap in the trail and you are directed onto a detour. If you look at the ridewithgps map, this shows up as a little rectangular deviation just a little south of Elmvale. I’m assuming that a landowner didn’t want to yield the right of way.

Traveling north on the detour route.

At Flos Rd 8 W we are back on the trail.

Once you hit the village of Elmdale, the trail turns off of a road through Heritage Park.

A pair of portapotties. Don’t know if these are seasonal. In any case “better than the bushes”.

Just past the park, there was a tree down. (this is on Friday Sept 4, and I imagine that it will be cleared away fairly soon, although perhaps not during Labour Day weekend.)

Breaking and moving a few branches, I made an opening large enough that you could hike through with your bike.

Flos Rd 10 W is a spot where there is an inconsistency between the GPS route and the wayfinding signs. Here you are directed to the right, but you can see that there is a railtrail that continues straight. However, the trail appears to be overgrown, and it is fenced off in any case.

In all the confusion, I missed out on the spring water, which was very close to this spot. I was passed by these two faster riders, who were also having problems following prompts from the GPS.

A little further north, you enter Tiny Township, and the trail changes name.

The Tiny Rail Trail takes you all the way to Penetanguishene.

At the three hour mark, it’s time for a stroopwafel.

As you approach Penetanguishene, past this gate, the trail is paved.

It becomes apparent that the trail no longer follows a rail bed and there are plenty of ups and downs, and many little bridges across streams. Watch for pedestrians along here as there are plenty of blind corners.

The Tiny Trail appears to end here, but you can continue straight on through the tunnel.

Now you are in Penetanguishene, and you soon reach a multiuse trail along the waterfront.

Lake levels are really high again this year.

I actually got a little lost in town, but eventually found my way heading SE out of town on Murray Rd which ends at another trail entrance. Note the sign indicating a steep grade. I’m glad that I’m doing the route in a clockwise direction.

A fast, mostly downhill paved trail through beautiful woods almost all the rest of the way to Midland.

In Midland, you are routed onto another MUP along the waterfront. Part of it was flooded. There was more than 10 cm of water on this section, but I discovered that if you ride really slowly, your butt will stay dry. (I’m riding my only bike without fenders.) A city worker I met just around the corner said that she had never seen the trail this flooded, and there were ducks swimming along it.

Grounded Coffee is a popular spot with a nice view of the harbour. However, given the line up to get in, I elected to ride on.

I’ll also note that the published GPS route leads you to a motel for an overnight, but you can continue to right right along the waterfront trail all the way out of town. Just follow the signage for the SCLT.

Just as you leave town, you pass by the back side of Ste. Marie among the Hurons, which at least in southern Ontario is a traditional grade school trip.

Now you are on the Tay Shore Trail which is paved, and very well signed.

A mural in Victoria Harbour.

The same spot has what is probably one of the nicest public washrooms along the whole loop, complete with a bottle filling station.

After 19 km, you reach HWY 400, and the trail changes over to the Uhthoff Trail, which is gravel.

Nice, fast gravel all the way to Coldwater. Between the Tay Shore trail and this section, you have the opportunity to make up time if you want.

Lunch stop in Coldwater at Em’s Cafe. They have bike racks and outside tables beside the building. From my starting point, this was at the 100 km mark.

I’m not a big fan of eating large meals during a ride, so I was grateful that they sold half sandwiches. Grilled panini with chicken salad, a butter tart and lemonade.

South of Coldwater, the trail is less groomed.

Some trees down here as well, but nothing serious.

The trail is actually closed until November 2020 between Foxmead Rd and Uhthoff Line because a bridge is being repaired.

Can you tell that I have a significant tailwind on this part of the detour?

Back on the trail, as you approach Orillia, it is wide again, and there are some newish looking bridges as well.

The Lightfoot trail takes you to the lakefront in Orillia.

Couchiching Beach Park

The Oro-Mendonte Rail Trail takes you most of the rest of the way to Barrie. Make sure that you have enough water as there is nothing to be had between Orillia and Barrie.

I’m not sure if it was because it was late in the ride, but I found this stretch to be boring since the rail trail was dead straight without much variation in scenery (except for a pretty pond to the right early in this section). I was grateful for the trees as they provided some shelter from what would otherwise have been a very strong headwind.

Near the end of the trail, you will be directed back onto a road, but don’t miss this turnoff to the left on Penetanguishene Rd.

It brings you to a gravel MUP that takes you all the rest of the way into Barrie.

All done.

For me, it was a total of about 167 km, given that I got lost a couple of times. I’m slow, and my target was a rolling pace of about 20 kph. Total elapsed time was about 9.5 hours.

Other things I learned (mainly notes to my self).

• Wildlife highlights: a blue heron on the trail at Elmvale relatively early in the morning, and a big fox on between the 400 and Coldwater.
• It was great to have my heart rate monitor. If I stay between 70-80% of my MaxHR, I can ride all day. Of course for me at my current level of fitness that translated to the aforementioned 20 kph on gravel, etc.
• I got a low battery warning on my Assioma power meter just as I left Barrie, and it cut out after about eight hours. (another reason I’m glad that I didn’t opt for Di2 on my bike.)
• My ancient iPhone 6s wouldn’t quite last the entire ride, so for the first time I brought along a small battery pack. I run the cyclemeter app, and photos, with the display turned down low, bluetooth off. I have found that both Google Maps and the RidewithGPS apps can be real battery hogs.
• A couple of times when I deviated from the set route, my Garmin Edge 530 would try to route me back and at one point it was directing me in circles in Midland. I’m probably going to turn that feature off. BTW, the Garmin was at about 36% battery after the ride. Maybe some small paper maps of the towns would have been good.
• My eating and drinking seems to be at a lower rate that many other reports. This probably has to do with the fact that I am a relatively slow rider. I general eat something every 90 minutes (like a pack of clif shots, or a stroopwafel). After lunch at Coldwater, with about a third of the ride to go, I stepped this up to once an hour. The total was three gel packs, two stroopwafels, lunch, and a very sad kind bar that I think was in my handlebar bag for a long time.
• This was my first ride with a pair of 7Mesh cargo bib shorts. Supremely comfortable. However, this also being my first pair of bib shorts, I discovered something about topology: when I had to go #2, I had to take off my jersey as well. Perhaps if I could do that trick that women do to take off a bra without removing their shirt, but I digress. In any case, perhaps too much information.
• I picked the clockwise direction as I thought that there would then be more climbing earlier in the day. However, there was nothing that really amounted to significant climbing anywhere along the route. Perhaps a couple of the turns in Penetanguishene, along with the steep downhills going out of town that would have been a chore to climb in the other direction.
• Not anything particularly sore after the ride, aside from my neck which was stiff from holding my head up all day. Once again, very happy with my new bike. Just over 2000 km on it at this point.

All in all, a good day. Perhaps if I had split the ride over two days, I would have been able to take in more sights. However, I wanted the physical challenge of doing it in one day. A nice way to cap off the summer.