WATERLOO – The Grand Watershed Trails Network is hoping its newly launched website will help create more connectivity through outdoor experiences.
The new website, which launched March 4, will help local residents and tourists find the information they need to plan a trip in Grand River Watershed.
As a not-for-profit corporation, the network is dedicated to encouraging the development of a network of trails and associated activities in the watershed.
Board chair Anne Crowe said the new organization, formally founded in 2017, started out with the idea of creating a multi-use trail that would run the length of the Grand River.
“We’ve kind of developed and now it’s not just about the trails, it’s about bringing people to the river and the trails,” she explained.
“It’s about getting the river, the trail, getting a connected network of cycling routes in the watershed, and using that network to bring people to culture, heritage, nature within the watershed.”
She noted the network, which is going to be a virtually-focused organization, won’t be out managing trails, but connecting them.
Crowe said the website will be a fully functional interactive platform people can use to plan their routes and trips.
“You could … be in Germany, look at the website and get all the information links to websites and the names and addresses and phone numbers of places you can stay, places you can eat, things you can do all the way along,” she explained.
“There are multiple connections that [we] can create for the whole of southern Ontario,” she added. “You could come for a week and do the whole thing or do one of the sub loops.”
Crowe said the network received $15,000 in funding to launch the project.
The network has developed a route that goes from Dundalk to Lake Erie, piecing together existing trails and non-road connections.
Crowe said the website will have interactive maps detailing routes along with nearby restaurants, hotels, museums, organizations that offer rentals for things like canoes and kayaks and bikes, thus equipping someone from outside the region with all the information they need to plan a trip along the river.
Leading up to the launch, Crowe said the network was working with municipalities to determine routes and looking for feedback on whether the proposed cycling routes can be improved.
“We’ve been working on the website and the maps, and the route for the last two or three years,” she said ahead of the launch. “So it’s all coming together.”
There’s “tremendous potential,” Crowe said, for tourists, whether it be locals or someone coming from 40km away.
“A tourist doesn’t want to go do a little trail and then come back the same way,” she explained. “They want to do circles and they want to visit breweries and wineries and museums and so it’s putting all that information in one place.”
“So that’s our goal is to become a one-stop place where you can get the information you need whether you live here.”
Ahead of the launch, Crowe said was was very excited for it, noting it’s created a lot of interest.
“There’s all sorts of little gems of history up and down the river,” she said.
“There’s Indigenous history, there’s settler history, pioneer history; all sorts of little architectural gems – a lot of nature.”
Though the network won’t be doing direct funding, Crowe said the new website will hopefully allow it to draw in more interest for future investments into the trails as traction grows.
“I think the great thing about the internet is it has so much reach,” she explained. “So it’s going to enable us to get a lot more interest.”
The new website is now available at www.grandtrails.ca/.
