2020/01/05 – Kitchener West Hydro

Good morning from Pinnacle Hill. After trying to find a way up to the peak here, I’ll be heading northwest following a hydro along west Kitchener. Let’s go.

Thought it was going to be rough, but the deciduous forest floor was open and had little scrub. Then some mountain bike trails appeared, way to steep for hiking at points, but finally got up to the ridge and followed a trail to the peak.

To the antenna, and across Pinnacle Drive to the start of the hydro corridor. Discovered something on the map called “Autumn Ridge Trail Link” is not a trail at all.

Finally reaching the hydro corridor. Only got a peek at it on Reichart Drive, it’s wetland in this section. Finally onto the corridor at Blair Creek Drive, where new sprawling suburbs are still under construction.

There are formal trails through this stretch, providing open space for the locals. Suburbs are notorious for winding roads but the treatment was extended to the trail. Apparently the landscape architects and engineers ignored Pythagorean Theorem when designing this part.

On the edge. I’m straddling the transition zone between graded sprawl still under construction and the rolling farmland under its shadow. Fast forward a few years and this corridor will be flanked by houses.

There’s something about being on the front of urban expansion. I’m exploring rural landscapes for the first and last time, and seeing the fresh fractures into the wilderness.

Back into completed burbs. The formal trails are done in a hodgepodge manner. Playgrounds adjacent.

Back through a half finished subdivision, and a dive through a ravine before the corridor reaches Fischer-Hallman Road. Between here and Bleams Road, it’s still farmland for now. Big detour.

There’s no sidewalks along Fischer-Hallman. None on Bleams either, but there’s refuge in navigating a suburban maze.

Finally back on corridor, and the clouds are breaking a bit. Formal path has lots of meander. Brings you to a high point overlooking the Laurentian West neighbourhood.

After the peak, the corridor heads to the west border of the Tri-Cities. I’ve returned to rolling farmland.

My pursuit of this hydro corridor ends where the Conestoga Expressway heads west out of town. I head east to catch a bus. Also catching a glimpse of the next hydro corridor I’ll follow, the two merge north of the expressway to form a wide trunk.