RESTORE COOTES

We're going on a hike to introduce McMaster students (and any other interested participants) to this former RBG Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary and coldwater creek floodplain  - currently a parking lot - to examine the past, present and future of this place that is undergoing an important ecological transformation. Tour Leaders  Dan Coleman (English Professor and author of Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place ) Randy Kay (Restore Cootes) Judy Major-Girardin (School of the Arts)

What do all these people have in common? They've taken the guided tour of west campus with Restore Cootes! Be like them and come out Friday at 12:30 PM to tour the remnants of Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary, McMaster Parking Lot M depaved, Ancaster/Coldwater Creek, and other sites of historical and research interest. Register here:  http://bit.ly/waterweekwalk2017

Every so often I shoot some video to illustrate events going on in our area of interest, geographically speaking, in and around Cootes Paradise. A series of (currently nine) short videos touching on changes in McMaster parking lot M, turtles crossing Cootes Drive, Spencer Creek Trail, and McMaster artists contributions to the cause, are all in the playlist on my Youtube channel. I hope you can check some of them out, and if you have any questions or advice I'd love to hear from you! Randy

The longest remaining intact trail fragment from the former Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary of the Royal Botanical Gardens (1958-1963) lies just out of sight behind a sign directing cars to parking lots in west campus - the former nature sanctuary long buried beneath asphalt since McMaster University bought the property from the RBG for cheap parking, built later that decade (1968), and persists today. Known as Maria's Walk on old RBG trail maps, it was one of the several trails that weaved through diverse habitat and across the (former) floodplain: the shortest trail of the former system, now the longest remaining footpath. In fact, it's still, a nice trail used by people moving between campus and parking, and other destinations. I hope you stay connected with us at Restore Cootes as we try to get McMaster to improve trail access, and recognize this lovely footpath for its historical role in the area's natural and human history. HISTORY HIKES Restore Cootes...

Beneath the shaded graveyard of the Binkley family cemetery is the McMaster Campus Services building. Prior to its construction in the late 1960s, this elevated island of land was the location of the Rim Circuit trail (or AKA Prospect Circuit), part of the Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary trails.  Even today the adjacent hillside offers a beautiful canopy, now in fresh spring green. As promised in a previous post , I went back to look for any sign of the former path that once connected the Rim Circuit to the lower Coldspring Path, which is, for all intents and purposes, buried beneath asphalt parking in McMaster's Lot M lot.  Using the hand drawn map that once served to guide nature lovers through the Royal Botanical Garden (RBG) sanctuary, I looked for a relative location to any path down off the steep slopes to the floodplain below. Based on the contours of the RBG trail maps, and the angle of the hillside, it looks like the best candidate is the one pictu...

With the former RBG trail system mostly under pavement since the late 1960s, there remain limited opportunities to hike the natural trails that once threaded their way through Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary. Having the former trailheads -- at Thorndale for the "Maria's Walk" trail, and Lakelet Vale which lead to the Rim Circuit trail -- still intact, helps us re-visit the site with our imagination tuned to what it must have been like, and to get our bearings. Having pieced together the location of the mostly intact Maria's walk (broken only by the driveway into the west campus), I've never ventured to take in the view that Rim Circuit would have provided. Until now, that is, and while the trail may have vanished beneath asphalt of the campus service building parking and rear service driveway/yard, I still managed to get a feel for how this trail would have been spectacular in its day. It's a steep drop down to the floodplain, which was onc...

It's mystery day at Restore Cootes. The longest almost intact surviving trail from the former Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary (now McMaster parking lots K, M, N, O, P) was the shortest trail in the system: Maria's Walk. From the trailhead at Thorndale Crescent, Maria's walk is today only interrupted by roads built in the late 1960s to service the then new parking lots being constructed on top of the floodplain. RBG Coldspring Valley Trail Map It is a lovely trail that for some reason McMaster has attempted to block access. People of course know a good trail when they see one, and continue to flow around barriers erected by the university to make the short hike between the campus and the parking lot. Northern terminus of Maria's Walk The only other trail remnant is the trail from Lakelet Vale to the parking lot at Campus Services. It has a warning sign. Original trail remnant Lakelet Vale path, use at own risk. Could the university not give Maria...