Biking from the NEPG (Northeast Pioneers Greenway) to BHPP (Birds Hill Provincial Park)

Tuesday, April 26, was the perfect bike ride evening - nice temperature and no wind.  I thought about going to the Chief Pegius Trail extension meeting at Douglas Mennonite Church but remembered it was to be held on Monday, the night before.

Stepped up to the plate to answer the question from a previous post - where does the human power only path go to on the floodway north of Hwy #59 and how does it connect with the new bridge over Hwy #59 at the BHPP.

Hit the road . . .

 Jumped on the NEPG just south of McLeod - nice path surrounded by lots of traffic.

 North of McLeod it continues by a rest stop.

 A little farther is an active area of the path.

Here is the first indication of the Chief Peguis Trail extension making its way east across the NEPG.  It should shut down the path for quite a while!  See an illustration on a previous post on the human power bridge over the new Trail on the west side.

North of McIvor the asphalt ends and the gravel continues.  A little rough but with some quarter down it would be much better.  The shelter indicates that more upgrades are coming!

North of Headmaster the path gets pristine - very nice!

 And then the north perimeter #101 and traffic.  Another bridge for safety?  Had a pleasant chat with a young man of 85 who loved biking down the path at this point, talking bike path stuff.

North of the Perimeter back to gravel path with asphalt for a while. This is where I used Raleigh going north instead of the path - no traffic and a better ride.

Crossing at Prichard Farm Road.

 Road changes to rutted gravel for a while.

At the end of Raleigh it's back to asphalt with the path of gravel.

A look right (east) along Hoddinott for a short piece.  You can see the lights at Birds Hill Road.

 Turning north along Birds Hill Road for another short ride on streets.

Turning east again along Garvin Road to get to the floodway.

Down Garvin Road.

The parking lot at the end of Garvin Road on the top of the west bank of the Floodway.

Looking south to Hwy #59 bridge over the floodway.

The path midway along the west side of the floodway.

The current end of the path at Dunning Road.  Who knows if the path will eventually continue north to Lockport?

Looking north over the flooded Dunning Road towards BHPP.

At this point, without a bike that can ride on water, my ride ends.  There might be no plans to "jump the pond" here so usage might only be for times of no flood water.  Considering the extent of the bridge being built over Hwy #59 north of the BHPP entrance it is hard to guess. Love to see some plans but I'm not sure that is up for public consumption.  This is based on my perception that the public does not even know that the path I rode on exists.

Very beautiful though, with noise from the highways the only shout that the outside world is still whirring!

From here you can see the car entrance to the BHPP - not very far to go . . .

And even a prairie sunset over the hill!

Well, its time to go home.  This point is 15.5k from home and a nice ride at that.  Kind of stuck thought, to get to BHPP unless I travel on Hwy #59 which I don't want to do so here's to the floodway drying up, the new bridge over #59 being completed and connected so I can have that picnic.

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The Northeast Pioneers Greenway Path (the Marconi Trail) Split

Following my thoughts on the paths north of the city (Winnipeg) a question was raised about the Marconi Trail being cut in half by the Chief Peguis Trail extension.  There is information on this on this at the City of Winnipeg web page.  I have included two important pictures below.

The first is an overview of the project showing the future paths at the Marconi Trail.

This is a sketch of the proposed people bridge over the traffic joining up the severed Marconi Trail.

Looks like there is information on this.  It will be a little more cumbersome but it will be a safe crossing.

Does it exist if no one says it exists?

One of my dreams is to ride bike from my home in East Kildonan on dedicated bike (human power) paths up to the Birds Hill Provincial Park to picnic or camp and come home again.

Last summer I was out for a ride up through Birds Hill (the town) to the floodway expansion project on Garven Road.  Turns out, at the end of Garven Road (the Birds Hill town side) at the floodway there is a parking lot.  From this parking lot there is a wide asphalt path going north along the west side of the floodway!  The path is designated for use with no motors.  It also goes south from this point up to the Hwy #59 bridge over the floodway and might eventually connect up with the Duff Roblin Provincial Park?  I didn't have time to find out how far it went north but it possibly could go all the way to Lockport.

A partial step in 'the dream' but getting from the west side of the floodway to the east side (where the park is) might require getting wet, or at least, using the graveled Dunning Road during the 'no water in the floodway' season.

Went out to BHPP this weekend by car and what do I see?  Below is a picture from the park's entrance northward to what looks like a bike / pedestrian bridge over Hwy #59 going east to the park gate and west to 'I don't know where.'  Maybe there is also a similar bridge planned from one side of the floodway to the other.

I have spent time looking for information on the scope of this project and have come up empty handed.  Lots of effort is going into this project but I have found no public information.  I'm not sure why the silence, but that aside, maybe this summer I will be able to make that ride in comfort!

Just in time, though, for the Northeast Pioneers Greenway Path (the Marconi Trail) to be cut in half for the Chief Peguis Trail project.  The city will be putting a bike / pedestrian bridge over it but I'm not sure of the time line for that to be completed!

One pedal at a time.