On June 8th, 2002, with a big celebration, Pickering opened a the Petticoat Creek Pedestrian Bridge to complete another link in the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail. Mayor Arthurs of Pickering spoke along with several dignitaries. I saw this story on the News page on the Pickering web site. You can get more details about the bridge there and also more photos there.

Once we saw there was a new link we had to check it out and see what other improvements had been made to the trails in Pickering and Ajax. In order to get there quickly, and to save our legs for exploring beyond Toronto's borders, we took our bikes on the GO Train to Rouge Hill Station for a short ride to Petticoat Creek Conservation Area. You can take bikes on the GO Trains as long as they are not going toward Union station arriving there in the morning between 6:30 am and 9:30 am or away from Union station in the afternoon departing there between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm. There is room for two bikes on each end of the cars except for the wheelchair accessible cars where bikes are not allowed.

From the GO Station you ride east on Lawrence Avenue till you enter the Rouge River Park. There there is a bridge that crosses the Rouge River. There are odd stairs there so you have to walk your bike across and up to Rosebank Avenue in Pickering. You ride on Rosebank a brief distance to Rodd avenue where you turn right. This will bring you to Petticoat Creek Conservation Area.

In the past the Waterfront Trail led you to Petticoat Creek and left you there. They upgraded the path through the park but it ended abruptly at a parking lot. You were left to find your way to the next section of the Trail. They have now completed that trail to the bridge. The bridge completes a link between the Petticoat Creek Conservation area and Marksbury Road in Pickering. You pick up the Waterfront Trail by turning right on Surf Road and then left on West Shore Road. You then can wind your way along Frenchman's Bay on residential streets following the Waterfront trail signs to another relatively new section of trail which starts at the south end of Liverpool Road.

This section consists of a boardwalk through Beachfront Park and then an asphalt path through Alex Robertson Park and around the Pickering Nuclear Station. You eventually join up with the path through Ajax which takes you to the corner of Pickering Beach Road and Lakeview Blvd. Beyond here the trail is back on road to Whitby which includes a stretch along a very busy Bayly Street which has loose gravel shoulders. We decided to forgo this bit of adventure and returned to the GO station retracing our way. The total ride was about 45 km.

Using the GO Train is a great way to extend your range and see some new paths. There are a lot of great paths in Toronto but it is nice to see what neighbouring cities are doing. Next week we will go west.