When I was in high school, our cross country meets were often held at Churchill Park. This park has soccer fields and a large open green space. It’s the perfect place to host several high school teams.

This park is in the Westdale neighbourhood and connects to some beautiful trails. This was always one of my favourite places to run in the city. I hadn’t gone for a run there in a few years but really wanted to go back and run the old route that we used to run for our high school cross country meets. I took my camera so I could share it with you.

This is the start of the trail.

Here is the trail marker and map.

It’s a beautiful trail and running down the path you are surrounded by nature. The sounds of the city fade away. It’s great. I was really enjoying my run so far.

For our meets we didn’t follow any of these side trails. We stayed on the main trail until it looped up at the lawn bowling pitch. I was determined to do that route today.

A small hill. I don’t like running flat courses. I like having a challenge. Give me hills and trails that twist and turn. Thank you.

The trail pokes out at McMaster University.

This is the track where we always had Track and Field meets in high school. Gorgeous track.

It’s only a short little trek through the university parking lot and back to the trail.

But when I got to the point, I saw…

I respected the sign and turned around. I ran back down the trail from which I just came. I knew that I could take one of those side trails and still get a good run in. I remembered the Sassafras Trail and ran towards it.

But when I got there, I saw…

I was so tempted to ignore the sign and run that trail. But I decided not to. They close trails for a reason to help rejuvenate the natural beauty of the area. I should respect it. So I ran back to the side trail marker I already showed you.

Some stairs and a nice hill. Good, now I’m back on track for a great run.

This trail was bit overgrown in spots, but like I said, I like a challenge. So I hammered through.

Okay, now this is really getting annoying. Why are all the trails I want to take closed?

Here is a nice bridge that crosses the marsh. I’m now on my way to Princess Point. We never ran this way during our old meets. But I wanted to show you some nice sites. I didn’t want this just to be a frustrating run where I keep hitting dead end after dead end.

Here it is Princess Point. Absolutely beautiful, isn’t it?

You can see the bridge into the city. That’s highway 403 right there.

Back to the trail.

The trail comes back out to the wide open soccer fields.

This washroom building always marked the finish line for the meets I ran. Today was no different.

I hope you enjoyed this visual tour of my run. I had to run longer than I originally had planned to give you some of these beautiful sites.

It’s annoying that the old loop is now no longer there to enjoy. The closed trails were quite annoying. But I still got in a nice run. And now I know which route to take next time.