Just west of Ottawa lies the Carp Ridge formation, a strip of rugged Canadian Shield that protrudes up out of the surrounding limestone plains. Consisting largely of exposed granite worn smooth by glaciers, covered in mixed hardwood and pine forests (including some old-growth groves), and punctuated by beaver ponds and streams, it's a stunning natural area within a short drive of the Ottawa urban area.
I began exploring the ridge back in the late 80's when I visited my parents who had just moved to the village of Carp, located right on the edge of the ridge. At that time, Carp was a sleepy farming community, known chiefly as the location of the "Diefenbunker"(Canada's Cold War-era shelter for government leaders in the event of a nuclear attack) and the annual Carp Fair (one of Canada's longest-running agricultural fairs). Both are highly-recommended tourist destinations. Behind my parent's home lay many kilometers of unofficial trails into the largely undeveloped and uninhabited lands of the Carp Ridge. A large swath was owned by the City of Ottawa, who at the time seemed to have no real vision for this land except to sell it off to developers.
As the sport of mountain biking grew, so too did local demand for places to ride. The Ottawa area is, in theory, ideal for mountain biking: to the north lies the Eardley Escarpment and Gatineau Park, with hundreds of kilometers of hiking and skiing trails; on the other side of the Ottawa River lies the Carp Ridge with similar terrain in miniature, but with none of the barriers to mountain biking that the National Capital Commission (NCC) had originally imposed on Gatineau Park at the time. So, in the 1990s, unofficial trail development on the Carp Ridge began in earnest, mainly around its southern limits in an area known then as "Kanata Lakes" and now as South March Highlands (SMH).
Soon a local riding community developed around the SMH trail vision. A dedicated team of volunteers formed and systematically built a network of sustainable single track, following the IMBA model which has since been adopted by Parks Canada (among other organizations) as a gold standard for sustainable trails. The nascent Ottawa Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) took unofficial responsibility for maintaining the network, and after much negotiation with the City of Ottawa, was eventually given formal responsibility to develop and manage the SMH network, as well as some new projects. This partnership between mountain bikers and the City of Ottawa--now extended to the NCC through the development of official single track in Gatineau Park--has benefited the Ottawa area in many ways, not least by providing high quality, year-round recreational singletrack trails in beautiful nature.
As more people discover the beauty and enjoyment of the natural areas that these trails enable, demand increases for more trails. That leads us to the development of a new trail area further north on the Carp Ridge, at Thomas Dolan Parkway. Here, the land is open with swaths of exposed smooth rock; it's a much different character versus the dark, rocky forests of SMH further south. The granite resembles the slickrock of Moab, Utah--one of the world's greatest mountain biking destinations.
Thanks to the initiative and volunteer effort of mainly one person, there is now a spectacular figure-8 trail loop at Thomas Dolan. It mostly follows exposed rock outcroppings, and thanks to some clever dry-stone work, achieves a wonderful riding flow over discontinuities that is always challenging but completely doable if you commit and push your limits. It is also a perfectly enjoyable hike, and one of my favourite destinations for hiking or riding.
But now it's all at risk of being taken away. Although the Thomas Dolan trail is on city lands, a dispute between various user groups is arising about who can use the trail. The city has now officially opened a review, and there's a risk that some or all access may be lost. As an avid hiker, biker, trail builder, amateur naturalist, and--gasp!--off-road motorcycle rider myself, I'm familiar with the many sides of these land-use debates and can empathize with the views of different user groups. But, I have to say, we all need to work harder to get along. There's a lot of misinformation, misunderstanding, and blinkered self-interest going on.
One thing I would like to point out is that if not for the extensive volunteer efforts of the snowmobile clubs, ATV clubs, and mountain biking clubs, there would be very few publicly accessible recreational trails in Eastern Ontario for the community at large to enjoy. Trail-building in the challenging conditions of our region takes a huge amount of work: I know, because I lead a small group of dedicated volunteers to build and maintain a 15km public trail network for biking and hiking, as part of OMBA. An unmaintained trail can become impassible in as soon as a few weeks because of overgrowth and blow-down from storms.
While hikers represent a large portion of trail users in our region, they seem to be under-represented when it comes to helping with land access issues and developing sustainable shared-use trails. Yet, I can't help but observe that hikers are over-represented as leavers of dog poop bags and other garbage (coffee cups, beer cans, etc.) on the trails I manage. Nevertheless, whether we are bikers, hikers, snowmobilers, or ATVers, we all have much more in common with each other than initial impressions may suggest. Sure, there are a few bad representatives in every group. But if we work together more, and look harder for common ground and shared interests, we can build much-wanted trails that allow everyone to enjoy our lands together, in sustainable and low-impact ways.
Regardless of your preferred outdoor activity, if you want to continue to enjoy access to your local trails, please support one of the local clubs that build and manage these trails. Even if you can't volunteer your time, your membership fee will help to pay for the equipment and insurance needed to keep the trails open.
