The Trails of Hanlon Creek

The trails running in, through and around Hanlon Creek Conservation Area provide a wonderful way to access a fascinating natural landscape right inside the City of Guelph. Originally laid out nearly 40 years ago by the Guelph Hiking Club, they are now well worn, well used and easy to follow through the forest.

Four major boardwalks have been built over the past 10 years, by a team of volunteers, with support from city staff. These enable the trails to cross the wetter parts of the swamp, and enable the complete network of other trails to be connected. There are about 20 km. of trails to walk. You could walk for several hours without ever retracing your steps!

It's taken me a long time to figure out how to do this; it's not perfect, but at least it works! The area is too large to easily show on one map, so here it is divided into two maps which overlap slightly. Major public access points are shown as yellow stars -

The Northwest Trails of Hanlon Creek

Main entrances from the north and northwest to Hanlon Creek park are from the Dog Park (John Gamble Park) beside the Hanlon Expressway, and on Kortright Ave. at the well known entrance to Preservation Park. There are entrances off Southgate Drive, and off each of the side streets west of Edinburgh Rd.; the main trail off Terraview Cresc. is a popular one.

As the map reveals, a large chunk of the conservation area here is cedar swamp; trails are mainly around the edge. There is one major deciduous patch, southeast of the Preservation Park entrance.

The Southeast Trails of Hanlon Creek

If you live in the subdivisions around the conservation area, you’ll easily recognize these trails. Major public access points include the trail leading west off Clairfields Drive and that leading northwest from Hayward Cresc. as well as the Terraview Cresc. entrance. Boardwalks are indicated in orange dots -

This part of Hanlon Creek is much more diverse, with five patches of reforested pine plantation (the lighter green, more uniform patches, two deciduous forest patches (in the south and northwest), and both a large meadow in the middle, and a smaller meadow between the pine plantations. There are also still large areas of cedar swamp, unbroken by trails.

Hope these maps help some of you enjoy the trails of Hanlon Creek too!

The Hanlon Creek Deer Herd

Headed out for a walk yesterday, along the trail that cuts through a corner of the soft maple swamp. Suddenly, like ghosts emerging from the trees, there were the deer. Had my camera, so I was able to get some pictures - though it was late in the day and cloudy.

Initially you see one or two deer as they move between the trees, and then when you stop and watch, the others, standing still, materialize before your eyes. There were 8 altogether, making their way toward a house that sometimes puts out grain on a table in their yard.


Later, as I followed one of the trails along the creek, deeper into the swamp, suddenly there were the deer again. First one, then three, then suddenly I realized it looked like the same group of 8, their brown winter coats blending into the trees so perfectly that they are nearly invisible only 50 feet away.


Two more were grazing right outside the fence beside the townhouses as I headed home.

Muskrat Tracks?

Found a really unusual animal track along Stonepile Creek on our walk today. It was a rounded trough in the snow, wandering right along the surface of the ice on the creek, much like the track left by an otter when it slides down a bank into the water - except this track was just horizontal, on top of the stream, and followed the stream itself as far as I could see upstream and down. Along the snow trough, about 3 inches deep and 3 inches wide, were small mammal tracks of some sort.

It must have been a muskrat; I can't think of anything else that would leave such a track. It didn't leave the stream, but stayed right on top of the ice. Whatever it was passed under a snow-covered log about 6 inches above the ice, without disturbing it; a muskrat could do that. Looking up to find out more about muskrats, I learned they don't really hibernate, just slow down over the winter. Still, it was a surprising finding; I've never seen evidence of muskrats in the entire area before.

Our walks reveal other details of the winter too. Rabbit tracks and chickadees calling. One evening we heard an owl calling, probably a Great Horned Owl. It's hard to believe when the weather is this cold, but the owls will be starting to nest within a month.

Deer tracks seem to be everywhere, especially when older tracks don't get covered by new fallen snow. Under cedar trees you can see the trampling of their hoofprints where they have stood on their hind legs to reach the remaining green cedar boughs - all the lower branches having long since been stripped clean.

It's Cold!

A winter cold snap has descended, and it's cold walking the trails, just plain cold! Winter mitts, scarves and even long john weather.

It's cold enough that almost all the streams have a frozen skin of thin ice on them -except where there's a corner in the stream channel, or a bit of stronger current. Not enough ice to step on of course; even a lightweight dog would break through the ice into the black frigid water below. But the ice is enough to collect a thin layer of snowflakes on top, sometimes with a shelf of thin ice a few inches higher along the edge, from a higher water level a few days ago.

I often wonder what the deer do to survive in weather like this. I picture them shivering in the cold, but of course they evolved in this climate, so they must have some mechanism that lets them feel comfortable. Other mammals, like our own dog enjoy the snow, jumping in snowdrifts, and just lying in the snow, but I shiver madly when it gets down to 10 below.

Just walked the loop to the meadow this morning. For some reason the last stream you cross on a board someone's placed there is not frozen; it must have a stronger current than the others. We did see deer tracks along the trail by the north edge of the meadow, but no-one else about in these temperatures.

.... Later .... Temperatures have moderated a little, and we walked all the way down to the main Hanlon Creek Spring to see if it was frozen, but it had no ice at all, even around the edges. Neither did the tiny southernmost tributary, which actually had bright green leaves of watercress still growing in it - while the temperature is nearly 10 below!