Dorchester Mill Pond (Visual Tour)

“The Dorchester Mill Pond is located on the Dorchester Creek. It feeds into the Thames River and then into Lake St. Clair. The pond is fed by the streams of the Dorchester Swamp and agricultural land drainage.  The Mill Pond Trail provides 3.5 km of walkways through a variety of natural habitats around the pond.”

– from mainstreammiddlesex.ca

This really was a beautiful place to go for a nice trail run.

I like that there was a nice hill to run up right away.  Of course, I entered the trail from a side entrance but it loops right around so you’d still get a few small hills no matter where you start on this trail.

Trail runners always have to look ahead for hazards. If you don’t keep your eyes peeled, you can easily trip over a tree root, a rock, or a divot in the ground. Fortunately, all these hazards jump out at you on this trail. Someone has taken the effort of painting all these obstructions bright orange.

Here is the first view of the pond.

There are some nice boardwalks around the swamp as well.

I love how the trail gives you some amazing views. It winds through different areas such as boardwalks and open trails beside the pond

to wooded areas like this.

Here is a man-made waterfall at the end of the mill pond.

We are now on the other side of the pond, working our way back to the point where we started this tour.

At this part of the run, I passed a family who were enjoying a nice quiet afternoon of fishing.

I actually appreciated the orange marked trail hazards. I’m usually pretty good at spotting these on my own but the extra attention certainly would be helpful to everyone.

Here’s a map with some information on The Mill Pond.

This bridge is really impressive. It is huge and curves around the swamp to give you an excellent view.

Very cool. The bridge was constructed by the 31st Combat Engineer Regiment.

This was an easy trail to navigate. There were a few stairs and a few small hills though. I enjoyed the variety of trail surface and the amazing views.

For more visual running tours, please check the the table of contents post that I will continue to update every time I document a new trail run.


4 responses to “Dorchester Mill Pond (Visual Tour)”

  1. Hi Chase .. looks a lovely spot – one I'd love to have close by here!

    Seems strange seeing Dorchester Mill .. streams leading into the Thames .. then completely out of kilter into Lake St Clair .. obviously not in England!

    Your pics are great .. really good tour .. would love to visit ..

    Have a great weekend .. Hilary

  2. Hi Hilary,

    You should come for a visit sometime.

    St. Clair does seem out of place in that lot of names. I never really thought about it till you brought it up.

    Hope you have a great weekend too.

  3. It looks so nice. Could you tell me any wheelchair trails in this area? I’m in a wheelchair and strolling the streetsis getting pretty boring. Would like to see some scenery like this.

  4. Hi Heather,

    This one wouldn’t be a great place to bring a wheelchair or stroller. There are plenty of paved paths in London, Ontario however that would be great. Please visit my photographic tour archive page and explore some of the trails there.

    Springbank Park is great and it connects to trails that run through the entire city.

    Enjoy!