2024/01/01 – Red Hill and Industrial Hydro

Good morning and happy New Year from south Hamilton. Today I will be bringing in 2024 with a walk along some hydro corridors. I’ll take this trunk eastwards to Red Hill Valley, then go north into the industrial harbour area. Let’s go.

A lot of the South Trunk hydro corridor is farmed, and there’s no formal access. I was able to walk along Alderlea for a bit, but am now relegated to carefully trodding in wet soil.

Past the many lights of the Turner Park ball diamonds, and onwards along a boundary separating urban and rural Hamilton. Past another hydro corridor cutting north-south as industry in the harbour belches some steam.

Hydro corridors are often pipeline corridors too. South Trunk is such a corridor, and towards Upper Gage, the pipeline splits off for a bit. I followed this, and then detoured through some woods before joining the hydro corridor again.

Past Nebo, the hydro corridor gets scrubby, and there’s actually a half decent access road to connect you to the Escarpment Rail Trail. At Glover, one row of towers splits off to head into the Red Hill Valley, while the other two continue east towards Niagara. I’m breaking off to follow the former.

The hydro corridors around here are quite wet, and form wetlands and headwaters for the Red Hill Creek watershed. The Red Hill – Strathearne hydro corridor sails over the wet and heads for the valley.

After flying over the Parkway a couple times, the hydro corridor descends down the Escarpment and into the valley. Must say, this bridge is quite impressive from underneath.

Paralleling the lines using an old road now closed to auto traffic. After it meets the end of Mt Albion Road, the corridor keeps alongside the Parkway to Greenhill, where it flies west.

The corridor goes over the Parkway and across the valley. At Greenhill and Malta, it heads due north again. There’s a little hydro tower at the trail to Rosedale Arena, and it’s real; it was one of the original towers that carried power from DeCew Falls to Hamilton at the turn of the 20th century.

Parallel to Malta Drive and cutting through established neighbourhoods, the corridor is just manicured grass with occasional low trees and shrubs. A bit of a detour south of Lawrence to get around the CPKC rail corridor. Then it’s through apartment blocks and behind backyards.

Down Strathearne Avenue, almost mirroring Malta Drive. More manicured grass. The black and brown belch from Birla Carbon is getting closer. Eventually the corridor comes to CN’s Grimsby Subdivision, also known as GO Transit’s Niagara Line. After detouring around via Parkdale, the Red Hill – Strathearne corridor ends where a bunch of hydro corridors start/end: the ginormous Beach Transformer Station. I’ve been here before. I’m now focusing on the Gibson – Industrial corridor, which heads due west.

The corridor heads through the former Defasco complex, straddling two rail yards. It also seems to be home to other pipelines though maybe not oil or natural gas.

The corridor meets the Gage Transformer Station, and then goes through some weird structure, I have no idea what it’s for. It then jolts north to parallel Burlington Street.

After a short jaunt, the corridor turns south down Birch Avenue. There are a couple curious bridges that serve the industrial sector, and they have open spans within the hydro corridor. Not sure of the purpose.

The corridor turns into Birch Park between Princess and Barton. It then goes over a parking lot before terminating at Stirton Transformer Station. That marks the end of today’s walk.