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WATERFRONT TRAIL (WHITBY-OSHAWA AREA)
OVERVIEW
A recent major improvement has vastly improved inline skating along the Whitby-Oshawa waterfront. The beautiful new section is close to the middle of the trail and replaces an uninteresting skate on industrial and residential roads with a smooth trail very close to Lake Ontario. Both east and west of the new section there is decent skating –not up to the standards of the new section but worth exploring all the same.
The skateable part of the Waterfront Trail in Whitby-Oshawa stretches between the foot of Brock Street in Port Whitby to the GM Office on the south side of the 401 (at the top of the long hill just past Harmony Road). As well, there is a side path up Oshawa Creek all the way to Midtown Mall, near King Street (north of Hwy 401). The paved pathway up Oshawa Creek is a mixture of wilderness and parkland. The much longer portion on the Waterfront Trail is a mixture of mostly pathway with a bit of road skating thrown in to connect the more interesting spots. Generally, the road skating is on lightly traveled residential streets.
There are great maps of this route available at the website for the Waterfront Trail. The main site for the Waterfront Trail is: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ .The two maps that pertain to this particular route are: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-3_04.pdf and http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-3_05.pdf . To look at these maps you need an Adobe Reader (Version 5). You can download version 6.0 for free at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
ACCESS
There are lots of access points to the route since the route is spread out all along the lakeshore. Some convenient access points are at the south end of Brock Street (where there is a washroom facility in the park), at the foot of Thickson Road, and Lakeview Park (near the bottom of Simcoe Street in Oshawa (there are probably washrooms there –but I am not positive about this). The brand new trail stretches from the south end of Boundary Road to the foot of Park Road South.
THE ROUTE
I will describe the route from west to east.
The pathway starts at the bottom of Brock Street. Before long, the asphalt path becomes a wooden boardwalk but it is not difficult skating and the boardwalk only lasts for a short distance. Once past Kiwanis Park the setting is more of an open field but the pathway is in reasonable shape and stays fairly close to the water between Brock and Thickson. This short section (Brock to Thickson) was once the best that this area had to offer but the path is degrading and certainly cannot compete with what lies further to the east.
From the little parking lot at the bottom of Thickson Rd the Waterfront Trail goes north beside Thickson Road and then east on a lightly travelled gently sloping side road. On this road and beyond the path is "difficult". At the end of the road a pathway resumes. After passing by some sort of water plant there is another boardwalk –this one elevated, with wooden railings followed by a long high narrow bridge over a marshy area. This bridge used to be a real "wheel cruncher" as the metal grate decking was pretty coarse. Recently the decking has been improved -making it more skater friendly. Still, skaters make a real racket as they pass over the bridge and I always feel that I am disturbing the tranquility of the marsh below. After another few hundred meters the pathway enters Lakefront West Park –the best piece of trail west of the Eastern Beaches in Toronto. In the last weekend of May 2010 the new path was still under construction. Only part of the trail had the top course asphalt but even the base course was awesome. The sides of the trail still have to be seeded and the trail may get muddy after a rain until the grass grows.
The new trail spills onto Stone Street (a very quiet street and good smooth pavement) and at Cedar street it connects to a short piece of new path (another big improvement) that leads to the old trail around Pumphouse Marsh.
The trails around Lakeview Park and Oshawa Creek are confusing and there are two separate loops to get lost on. If you are not into getting lost you may need a map to get through this area. The best asphalt in the area is on the south side of Southmead Park. From Lakeview Park there are two destinations. The Waterfront Trail goes north on Simcoe Street, east on Harbour Road, follows a pathway up to Colonel Sam Drive and follows Colonel Sam up to the GM offices. It is not possible to skate further into Darlington Provincial Park because the road is not paved. Unless you just love to explore new ground on your skates it is not worth going further that the trail at the east end of Southmead Park.
From Lakeview Park there is also a pathway up Oshawa Creek as far as Midtown Mall about 1.5k north of highway 401. This path has good and bad sections of asphalt with the worst part at the extreme north end (near the mall where the pathway is way too narrow and bumpy). This side-path is shown on the Waterfront Trail Map mentioned above. Caution is advised as there are a couple of awkward places where the pathway is crowded against Oshawa Creek as the path and creek pass together under bridges. In fact, there are no less that 14 bridges/tunnels that the pathway passes under or uses to cross the creek. The bridges are relentless and the asphalt is rough in places -but the setting is delightful! This trail is for intermediate to advanced skaters.
Last update: June/10