This 20km hike follows a western section of the Oak Ridges Trail.
There are a number of places to park to hike this trail. Most of the waypoints
I noted have roadside parking for a few cars, the exception being those along
Jane St. I started this hike at the end of 7th Concession, reached by turning
south onto 7th Concession from Aurora Rd. and driving to the end of the road.
Note that the Oak Ridges Trail follows along the last 1/2km of 7th Concession
before turning west into a field; if you keep an eye out you'll see the style
on the west side of the road just before the road dips down a hill. You can
also start this hike from the opposite end, parking along side Keele St. and
walking west.
This hike is split pretty evenly between trails and roads. Most of the road
sections are not too busy except for the short stretch of the trail along Jane
St. Be careful walking down Jane St! As I was passing the driveway to a Church
parking lot an elderly lady pulling in shot me a evil stare from the passenger
seat of a car. If you happen to be reading this ma'am (highly unlikely, I know)
sorry about delaying you from eternal salvation for the 20 seconds it took me
to cross the driveway...
This is an in and out hike: walk until you reach your desired endpoint, then
turn around and trace your steps back. I looked on several maps for a way to
turn this into a loop but couldn't find a good route that didn't involve walking
along road shoulders.
Trailmaps
The red tracks on this map show the Bruce Trail; the blue track the Hockley
Heights side trail. The circled waypoint indicates where I started (and ended)
the hike.
The Oak Ridges Trail Guide
is a good reference guide to this and other hikes on this trail.
This 20km hike follows a western section of the Oak Ridges Trail.
There are a number of places to park to hike this trail. Most of the waypoints I noted have roadside parking for a few cars, the exception being those along Jane St. I started this hike at the end of 7th Concession, reached by turning south onto 7th Concession from Aurora Rd. and driving to the end of the road. Note that the Oak Ridges Trail follows along the last 1/2km of 7th Concession before turning west into a field; if you keep an eye out you'll see the style on the west side of the road just before the road dips down a hill. You can also start this hike from the opposite end, parking along side Keele St. and walking west.
This hike is split pretty evenly between trails and roads. Most of the road sections are not too busy except for the short stretch of the trail along Jane St. Be careful walking down Jane St! As I was passing the driveway to a Church parking lot an elderly lady pulling in shot me a evil stare from the passenger seat of a car. If you happen to be reading this ma'am (highly unlikely, I know) sorry about delaying you from eternal salvation for the 20 seconds it took me to cross the driveway...
This is an in and out hike: walk until you reach your desired endpoint, then turn around and trace your steps back. I looked on several maps for a way to turn this into a loop but couldn't find a good route that didn't involve walking along road shoulders.
Trailmaps
The red tracks on this map show the Bruce Trail; the blue track the Hockley Heights side trail. The circled waypoint indicates where I started (and ended) the hike.
The Oak Ridges Trail Guide is a good reference guide to this and other hikes on this trail.