Leg 7: Spruce Hill Road to Neil's Pond

November 24, 2013  Sunday  See map at the end.

Today we left Conception Bay South and strolled into Paradise. We began on a section where the woods have grown in over the trail, making it relatively narrow and giving us shelter from the wind on this cool day. The trail here runs between the inland terminus of some old roads in Topsail and much new construction straddling Buckingham Drive in the southern part of Paradise.

Early on, this sign posted on private property at the end of Monument Road reminded us of the trail's origin as the cross-island railroad. 

The walking became a real chore due to the ruts, gouges and small ponds we had to circumvent.  Jim used his walking stick to squeeze between the puddles and the trees.

The trail took a wide turn, approaching the Conception Bay Highway and then sweeping back inland. The steep terrain gave us an ocean view.

Here was evidence of a coal spill, presumably from a train taking the turn many years back.

Behind the Woodstock Colonial Inn, one of the oldest restaurants in the St. John's area, we came across the flume that carries water from Topsail Pond to a small hydro plant downhill.  An online search revealed that the Topsail plant generates 2.6 MW of electricity. Not quite Muskrat Falls; perhaps the tiny waterfall on the adjacent stream puts things into perspective.

We met a man who is the lucky owner of a house that backs onto the trail and the brook. He talked about the enormous changes to the area in recent years and the number of times he's been approached to sell his property. He's happy to still have access to open country for fishing, snaring rabbits and cutting firewood. This was the first conversation of any duration that we've had in35 km of trail. We told our new acquaintance that we were walking from Holyrood to St. John's and he became convinced we were doing it in a single day.  We tried to correct this mistaken idea  . . . but didn't really push the point. 

At Topsail Pond we stopped for a look at the dam where water feeds into the flume for the hydro station.

Topsail Pond, Three Island Pond and related waterways are surrounded by large homes side-by-side with smaller residences that date back to when this was cottage country and nobody would dream of taking on a commute of 10-15 miles to work in St. John's.

There was a noticeable change as we entered the next trail section.  It took a long, straight uphill route and it was in excellent condition.  The track followed behind the houses on the north side of the pond.  Many houses had paths giving them access to the trail, but some had erected barriers to prevent motorized vehicles from driving through.  

We hiked behind Rocky Pond and then caught a glimpse of Octagon Pond. Then the T'Railway shared space with the Paradise Walk, part of the Grand Concourse network of urban walking trails through the greater St. John's region.  

There was pleasant surprise as the trail intersected McNamara Road. On both sides of the road there was a landscaped entrance and signage marking the trail.  I believe this was the first instance we have encountered of a municipality acknowledging the T'Railway.  We called it a day just short of Neil's Pond.

Map prepared using the Trans Canada Trail website.

Stats:

Distance:  6.5 km 

Time:  2 hours

Litter:  A clean trail except for the intersection with Three Island Pond Road, where commuters park their cars and discard their drink containers.

Trail condition: Awful from the start of Paradise to Topsail Pond.  Very good from Topsail Pond to McNamara Road.

Scenic Rating:  ***+  This trail section was devoid of industrial sites until McNamara Rd.

Fellow users:  One walker, one ATV operated by a man with a babe in arms. (Man and child both had helmets.)

Leg 6: Mineral's Road to Spruce Hill Road

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

This was a perfect fall walking day. I was armed with a fine set of maps obtained from www.geonl.net/mapguide/cbs-gis/ .  The site has maps of Conception Bay South showing every house and commercial building.  Rivers, streams, parks and - most important of all - the T'Railway are all shown.  The maps permit you to measure your route and let you print maps of selected areas to the scale of your choosing.  Here is a small sample.

We left off last time at the mid-point of our 50 km trek from Holyrood to St. John's.  Today we parked at the CBS Recreational Centre and joined the trail by crossing the intersection of the Conception Bay Highway and Mineral's Road.  A few steps away from highway traffic we found a small farm on our right with a lone cow holding the fort.  Then came a bridge spanning a river crowded with ducks.

Over the next few kilometers the trail crosses over several town streets.  At the start of each new segment there is a sign indicating that the trail is closed and a barricade of boulders to enforce the closure. We climbed over the armour stones each time and found that the trail was in great shape. Well, it would be, since it is completely unmolested. There have been many media reports in recent years about problems with ATVs taking over the T'Railway, which is meant for non-motorized traffic. The quads make it unsafe to walk or cycle, and result in dangerous encounters with cars as they zoom across roadways between sections of trail. ATVs also damage the trail surface. What is not clear is why the trail now appears to be closed to everyone, even walkers and moms pushing strollers. Not that it stopped us, of course.

This was an attractive section of trail, often with open fields or lightly wooded areas on one side and housing on the other.  The developed sections switched sides as we walked along.

Once again, as in Foxtrap, we found an area in Manuels where the trail had become a de facto roadway for a short distance. It appears that the trail has become the primary access route for some homeowners.

The trail moved closer to the Conception Bay Highway and we could see over Villa Nova Plaza to the Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club, with Kelly's Island in the background.

As we approached the Manuels River, the trail was adjacent to the sidewalk, then it disappeared and we took the sidewalk to Mason's Road before entering the trail again.  

We passed behind the Manuels River Interpretation Centre and hiked uphill parallel to the river, but high above it. We stopped at the bridge to eat our sandwiches and admire the view.

The trail here was very different from what we had found earlier in today's walk. Motorized vehicles have full access to the trail and it shows with the usual gouging and hummock formation.

The underpass beneath the Manuels Bypass is a place for artistic expression.

The trail narrowed in the Chamberlains area, which is appealing for walkers, except . . .  There has been intensive housing development here beginning several decades ago and continuing in high gear today as new subdivisions are opened up further inland. The trail has become the channel for water run-off.  

There is an area between Tobin's Road and Fowler's Road where the land on the ocean side was still open, with fields below us and long views over the bay.  A park bench is perfectly situated.

As we walked uphill we noticed evidence of recreational activity on and near the trail. The trail appears to be an integral part of various outdoor pursuits that take place in a heavily wooded gulch. Informal paths came onto the trail from both sides and there was localized surface restoration. It was hard not to wish that the steep contours of the ravine might make development unattractive for the foreseeable future. 

 

Stats:

Distance:  6.5 km 

Time:  1 hour, 40 minutes, including a lunch stop

Litter:  Fairly clean for most of the way.  In the section near the CB highway fast food litter was common.

Trail condition: Good in the 'closed' section, gouged where it parallels Manuels River, water damage in the uphill section northeast of the river.

Scenic Rating:  *** 

Fellow users:  One woman, a friend of ours who lives far from here but likes to hike the trail when her husband is working on their boat at the yacht club.

Link to the map of our full route:  Trek-to-town

Leg 5B: Cronin's Point to Mineral's Road, Long Pond

October 10, 2013  (Continued from Leg 5A)

We left the Kelligrews Pond area and the trail disappeared.  It became a dirt road, with a pick-up truck coming toward us.  We were pretty sure this was still the T'Railway track so on we went.

The shore side had an occasional wide section, suitable for sitting and sizing up the marine traffic.

In Foxtrap we found undeveloped open space (just waiting to be turned into a subdivision of 100 houses) and then - wow! - a farm. With pumpkins, no less.

Then we walked through the Foxtrap Marina where a few boats were still in the water.

The trail had reappeared but with this puzzling sign.  What gives?  

Here the trail leaves the ocean and heads inland.  We had a rare sighting, a couple wheeling their baby in a stroller. The trail consisted of hard-packed earth in this area so wheeling was possible though by no means easy.

The T'Railway crossed the Conception Bay Highway but neither route bothered to inform its users of the intersection. Not a sign to be found. On the other side of the highway it took us a few moments to locate this inauspicious entrance to the trail.

The trail passes through an area with established housing and mature trees on the right and open land on the left. A couple of small brooks flow through.  

This small property was another reminder of the farming heritage of Conception Bay South.

At the junction of the CBS Highway and Mineral's Road we finished the day's hike and returned to the vehicle we had left in Sobey's parking lot.

Stats:

Distance:  7 km 

Time:  1 hour, 50 minutes

Litter:  The open beaches had flotsam. Some building materials near new construction.  Modest amount of discarded food packaging. 

Trail condition: Lots of washouts and potholes between Upper Gullies and Kelligrews Beach.  Then a wide gravel road until Foxtrap Marina. Inland from Foxtrap to Mineral's Road there was packed earth with some very rough gravel spread here and there.

Scenic Rating:  *** 

Fellow users:   

• Motorized:  a trike carrying two male youths, no helmets; two fancy quads with young males wearing helmets; one kid on a dirt bike, a pick-up and van on the Foxtrap road section.
• Walkers: about 10, including a couple with a baby, 6 women singly or in pairs, a man alone and a man with a dog.

Lessons learned:  Don't leave map printouts in the car.  

Link to our full route.  Trek-to-town

Leg 5A: Upper Gullies to Cronin's Point

October 10, 2013

We had to drive down a couple of CBS laneways before we found the one where we left off last time. It was Warford's Road, not Dawe's Hill as I had thought. If you think that CBS would be a quiet place on an October Thursday afternoon you would be very wrong. Every type of emergency vehicle was flying to Foxtrap when we were starting our hike and all of them were screaming toward Manuels at the end. Both incidents were collisions. We haven't heard if anyone was injured but I'll have the decency to refrain from complaining about being unable to reach Berg's ice cream store for our post-hike reward.

The first few km of this walk were noteworthy for a couple of reasons. The trail was in terrible shape -- washouts, poor drainage and dumped garbage.

The second observation is that there has been a surge in home construction in this area where many streets begin at the CBS highway and terminate at the T'Railway.  Some of the streets are old country lanes where building lots have been parceled off. In other cases new subdivisions have been created on large swaths of previously untouched land. Some of the houses abut the trailway. They range from the pedestrian to the striking.

Looking back, ocean on the right.

Several roads have no barrier whatsoever at the junction with the trail, allowing easy access for motorized vehicles. There are also instances where access is partially restricted, whether by the town or by the owners of adjoining properties we could not tell.

From Warford's Road to Cronin's Point there was evidence of heavy ATV use.  The obvious explanation would be that this is due to a combination of population density, close proximity and easy access.  

Offsetting the rough trail was the beach just meters from our track, the view toward Kelly's Island and the anchored offshore tankers and the Terra Nova drilling platform.  We passed a seniors' complex that currently has a wonderful ocean view. A school has a fenced yard bordering the trail and looking straight across Conception Bay. The back lot of a trailer sales company has dozens of trailers ready to turn amphibian and take to the water. 

The coastline was interrupted by a couple of inlets. Kelligrews Pond -- inside the crescent beach of Kelligrews Gut -- has a long, curving channel to the ocean.  On the inland side there is a small but lovely marshland.

Continued on next post as Leg 5B.