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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
BAYFRONT PARK (HAMILTON)
OVERVIEW
Although not in Toronto, this is such a great place to skate that I am forced to include it. The path is very wide and flat, asphalt quality is excellent and the setting is great. The pathway is lit all night so you can skate safely in the middle of the night if you want [I haven't tried this but have heard that its great]. The only negative is that the route is a bit short. Like all really good places to skate this route gets pretty crowded on some weekends and warm summer evenings.
Bayfront Park is really two seperate routes in one. The original trail that caused a big fuss a decade ago is identified on the map as the Hamilton Harbour Waterfront Trail. In the last year or two some very significant improvements have been made to the route identified as Bayfront Park. Now, for my money Bayfront Park surpasses the Waterfront Trail.
There is a great map of this route available at the website for the Waterfront Trail. The main site for the Waterfront Trail is: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ .The map that pertains to this route is: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-2_01.pdf. To look at this map you need an Adobe Reader (Version 5). You can download version 6.0 for free at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
PARKING
The route starts at Bayfront Park-just north of downtown Hamilton. From Toronto follow the signs to downtown. Follow Main Street West to Bay Street and turn left (north) (it's a one way street to the north in the downtown area) and follow until you get to the park. There is lots of parking. There are washrooms near the parking lot and also on the route.
There is also parking at the Princess Point entrance (the far end of the trail). From Toronto this is the best option. To get there, take the 2nd Main Street (West) exit from the 403 (not toward downtown but instead toward McMaster University). Turn right onto Main Street, and left at the second set of lights and continue straight down Longwood Road (about 1 km) - to the park entrance. From this entrance, you are skating the route in the opposite direction.
THE ROUTE
To skate the route in the normal direction start at the far end of the parking lot over by the railway tracks. A first, the path is sandwiched between Hamilton Bay and the tracks but this is not nearly as bad as it sounds. The path heads due west for a time and then turns to the NW. Near the end the route takes a sharp left to parallel Dejardins Channel and then hooks south. Not far past the 3k mark there is a pedestrian bridge to the Princess Point entrance and parking lot.
The Bayfront Park Portion can be found on the east side (away from the tracks).
Thanks to Beth Clarke for showing this route to me and to Ross Snowden for filling me in on some details.
Latest Update: May/07