This side trail of the Ganaraska Trail is beautiful. It's well maintained and mostly flat and pretty well blazed. I knew it was going to be a scorcher of a day, so I woke up at 2AM to drive over to the trail for an early start. On my drive over, I stopped at a gas station for a Gatorade and Sweedish Berries to add to my already packed UD Ultra Vesta pack. I started on the Tiny rail trail 3:23AM, knowing that running on a flat, non-technical trail in the middle of the night would be wise.
There is a section coming into Wasaga Beach that is closed due to land owner permissions, but on the Ganaraska website, it basically states "pick up the trail" on the other side (picture attached). To make it as accurate as possible, I quickly took Crossland Rd and ran south on Flos Rd 11. A couple of kilometers later, I cut across a subdivision which took me right to the start of the Wasaga Beach section. (From Flos Rd 11 > Right - Twin Pines Rd; Right - Sunward Dr; Left - Archer Rd). This reroute isn't on the ONDAGO app, but I believe it to be the most fair way to connect and experience most of the trail.
Wasaga Beach is gorgeous! However, I wasn't able to grab water like I planned from the beach. It's ironic, isn't it?! It's the largest fresh water beach in the world, and I couldn't fill up my BeFree flask haha. Well, let me correct that, I would of had to get my feet wet and I wasn't willing to do that. I figured, I'd just get water down the trail.
The trail runs through Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. This was my favourite part!! It's just so beautiful! The sand dunes are spectacular. The heat was creeping up and I had to step off the trail a couple of times to get water. I'm super glad I brought that Gatorade!!
After Wasaga Beach, the trail is linked by open road and a few limestone paths. It was HOT! The last 10k were difficult, but my goal was to break 8hrs and I didn't lose sight of that. With words of affirmation when things got tough, I succeeded.
Gear: Altra Torin, UD Ultra Vesta, BeFree Bottle, Endurance Taps and various other bars