Winter Walking on the Great Trail – Exploring Windsor, Ontario

Our Second Training Hike on the Trans Canada Trail Along the Detroit River
 
Having recently returned from our visit to British Columbia, where we enjoyed our first snowshoeing adventure along the Great Trail in West Vancouver, we are once again back in Ontario and looking for opportunities to explore sections of the national pathway as we prepare for our proposed hike across Canada.
 
This weekend, Sean had a conference presentation in Windsor, Ontario, which gave us another opportunity to head outside and discover a stretch of the Great Trail, formerly known as the Trans Canada Trail. Since we are already in the city, it seems like a perfect opportunity to explore the local pathway along the Detroit River, enjoy some birdwatching, and get in a little more training before our much larger adventure begins.  According to the Great Trail website, the Riverfront Trail is an enjoyable paved recreational pathway that forms part of the Great Trail network. It follows the Detroit River through a series of public parks and gardens, providing wonderful views across the water towards the skyline of Detroit, Michigan.

 
Our walk started near Windsor's VIA Rail station (we had travelled here by train), where we made our way briefly along Riverside Drive before walking through a series of urban greenspaces towards downtown along the waterfront.   Along the way, we passed near (and above) the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, which connects Canada and the United States beneath the river.  Afterwards, the Great Trail continued along the city's waterfront parks, which we appreciated. 
 
Although Windsor and Detroit are major urban and industrial centres, the riverfront offers surprisingly pleasant opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Along the route, the trail passes through established parklands, providing access to the water's edge and welcome greenspace in the middle of a busy metropolitan area.  Though during our brief trek the shoreline was piled with snow and ice from the shifting frozen waterway.  

 
We are particularly interested in exploring this region because of its importance to migratory birds. The Detroit River and western Lake Erie lie along major North American migration routes, providing important habitat and stopover areas for waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, and songbirds. The region is also part of Byways to Flyways, a binational birdwatching initiative that identifies 27 exceptional birding locations throughout southwestern Ontario and southeastern Michigan.  The initiative is particularly interesting because it encourages people to discover wildlife within and around one of North America's largest urban and industrial regions. It also demonstrates that birdwatching and opportunities to experience nature are not confined to remote wilderness areas.

 
Unfortunately, today's winter weather made birdwatching considerably less comfortable than we might have hoped!  Owing to the season and temperatures at the moment, the exposed riverfront was bitterly cold, and the wind blowing across the Detroit River made stopping to watch birds or take photographs something of a challenge. Sections of the pathway were also covered in ice, requiring us to concentrate on staying upright rather than enjoying a particularly leisurely walk.  Nevertheless, we were rewarded with a few enjoyable bird sightings. One of the highlights was watching a woodpecker working its way along a tree trunk, peeling back pieces of bark in search of insects hidden beneath.  We stopped to observe and photograph it, although holding up a pair of cold, metal-bodied binoculars quickly became increasingly unpleasant!

 
We also encountered American Goldfinches visiting neighbourhood bird feeders, along with several other familiar winter birds. It was wonderful to find so much birdlife in the middle of the city, even if our fingers quickly became far too cold.
 
Eventually, the Great Trail took us away from the riverfront and led beneath the Ambassador Bridge, which carries traffic between Windsor and Detroit. We pass near the University of Windsor, where Sean previously completed his graduate studies and worked as a teaching assistant, before continuing along Sandwich Street.

 
From here, unfortunately, the route becomes considerably less scenic.  Instead of following a continuous recreational pathway, we find ourselves weaving through residential streets, past many seemingly abandoned homes, along the side of roads, and around a smaller urban greenspace. Although these connections form part of the larger national trail network, they are not quite what we imagined when we first began researching the Great Trail.  Our walk eventually brought us to a small park near Highway 401, where we decided to conclude today's exploration as the trail seemed to follow along the route of the busy highway.
 
After approximately 10 or 11 kilometres, we experienced a rather interesting mixture of attractive riverfront parks, excellent urban birdwatching opportunities, icy pathways, and busy city streets, ending beside one of Ontario's major highways.  It is certainly an unexpected introduction to this part of the national trail!

 
By this point, we were also feeling the effects of the cold. Once again, as happened during our recent snowshoeing trip in British Columbia, my cell phone battery was drained by the winter temperatures, and both my fingers and toes were becoming painfully cold. In addition, even though we are walking without a fully loaded backpack, we found that maintaining our balance on the icy pathways requires considerable concentration and effort.  We were therefore both very grateful to make our way back to our accommodations, where we can finally warm up and get out of the cold. 
 
Although this has been another relatively short outing, it has once again given us plenty to think about as we continue planning our journey across Canada. We are beginning to appreciate just how different the various sections of the Great Trail can be, and how much winter conditions may influence our daily progress.  The changing surfaces, icy trails, urban road connections, and difficulties keeping ourselves and our electronics warm are all practical considerations we will need to address before undertaking much longer days on the trail.  At the same time, today's walk has been a wonderful reminder that opportunities to explore nature and observe wildlife exist even in the middle of large cities.
 
Despite the freezing temperatures, we have enjoyed discovering Windsor's riverfront parks and birdlife, while adding another small section of the Great Trail to our growing experience of the national pathway.
 
Two training outings down, and plenty more to come!
 
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