West-side Trails

Great outdoor

Great walking trails that are easy to navigate. A real beauty depending on the season.

Shared with Geotime trail. Its good to socialize your dog as you find a lot of dogs and happy owners. Lovely trail.

There are enough main trails, side trails and loops here for most hiking or biking outings up to several hours. There is a mix of trail types from paved and lit to pea gravel to forest floor. The forest trails tend to travel up and down numerous wood ravines. The water features are simple storm overflow ponds, and are moderately picturesque at best. The adjacent GeoTime trail system (which is essentially part of the West Side Trails) presents a series of interpretive signs about the geological history of the area. (As far as I saw, they do not point to actual terrain features.)

Biking these trails will be a good workout for all but serious cyclists. The trails are not technical except for the steepness (up and down) of some sections. There are a few places where you have to carry your bike over (or even duck under) tree falls. The forest is not large enough to get lost, but with limited signage, it can be difficult to know where you are relative to city streets.

If I lived next to these trails, I would ride them regularly. At 20 minutes away by bike, these are trails I only hit when I am looking for a change from other routes.

We live in Clair Hills and use these trails all the time for daily walks and trail runs. When the leaves are full, you feel like you have left the city and are immersed in total nature. You get fully re-energized after walking in this wonderful serene forest. Watch for deer, raccoons, hawks, garter snakes and lots of different bird species. Lots of wonderful wild-flowers and sometimes some very interesting moss and fungus. We take 8-9 km walks through the trails. Not a huge size, but big enough to get a good daily workout in. You can take different trails all the time to mix it up. There are many different entrances from the suburb areas surrounding the forest.