It is midway through the season of spring 2009. my scooter (*Proud Mary-Jane Scoot) and I have yet to find the time to do a full tour of the trail and brainstorm my film plans. There are rumors that the newly formed Power Mobility club will soon become ambassadors of Prince George (*British Columbia) trails, ensuring nature is accessible for everyone. Our President assures us that we will be presented something declaring this by the new mayor, the Honorable Dan Rodgers... Yes folks- Welcome to "Mr Rodgers Neighborhood" (&^*%!# someone just stole my sneakers)!
I am now a member of the Prince George Accessibility Advisory Committee (PGAAC). I have been since February 2009 when I received my appointment. The committee advises city council on maters of accessible construction in new developments and tries to ensure accessibility in all the city's existing public areas. I belong to the Housing, Communication and Infrastructure sub-committees. Sub-committees advise the Committee on developments in various elements of the of PGAAC's mission; to remove physical and social barriers which impede the full participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of community life.
Stay tuned as we enter Summer 2009 and bear witness to a new era of the history of Prince George's Heritage Trail, a combined Prince George Power Mobility, City of Prince George and PG Walk-N-Roll project!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
TRAIL UPDATES:
Further information and video links about the Heritage River trail system, points of interest focuses, Hazards ect... will soon come from the newly formed Prince George Power Mobility club, who have a blog here http://pgpowermobilityclub.blogspot.com/.
Stay tuned here for new winter pictures & trail video and Heritage River updates as they happen! Congratulations are given to the newly elected city council and mayor of Prince George, we are told the trails will be well looked after under your direction. May you have a successful run in all your endeavors!
Ride with pride people, you have the power! Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned here for new winter pictures & trail video and Heritage River updates as they happen! Congratulations are given to the newly elected city council and mayor of Prince George, we are told the trails will be well looked after under your direction. May you have a successful run in all your endeavors!
Ride with pride people, you have the power! Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Preview
Our tour of the Heritage Trail System begins in Carrie Jane Grey Park, leading it's way to the banks of the Fraser river, past several recreational parks and then along the Nechako river and another park to the Cameron St bridge in Prince George, British Columbia. This was the first series of short stories in PG Walk-N-Roll in Febuary 2007 when PG-WNR was first published.
Recent natural (?) events have altered the landscape and the trail may not exist past the Fraser / Nechako confluence in the future. During the spring & summer of 2007, the Nechako River swelled over it's banks and the trail was impassable all summer. As summer 07 rapidly died into the winter of 07/08 the river went through another flood. Residents living along the north side of the Nechako (the trail is along the South bank) and major industry (Founding businesses in the city) on both sides of the Nechako were forced to either close their doors for the winter or shut down the business/housing permanently.
Ice that formed miles upriver got jammed at the confluence and created a mini dam that backed up the water to it's highest levels in well over 200 years. My contact at the city who was a member of the "Trail committee" told me the other day that the committee gave up on repairing that part of the trail, so these writings and pics are likely all that remain of Prince George's most beautiful accessible area.
Walk-N-Roll around Prince George hopes that you will enjoy this tour; perhaps you will be able to remember your personal time on the trail. Please support any efforts to restore this trail once the waters recede hopefully during the summer and fall of 2008. It is our heritage and our history; land around the nechacko trail has been used for hundreds of years.
Ken Biron, January 2008
This entire blog will be listed on the Big Blog directory at www.bigblogcollection.com
Recent natural (?) events have altered the landscape and the trail may not exist past the Fraser / Nechako confluence in the future. During the spring & summer of 2007, the Nechako River swelled over it's banks and the trail was impassable all summer. As summer 07 rapidly died into the winter of 07/08 the river went through another flood. Residents living along the north side of the Nechako (the trail is along the South bank) and major industry (Founding businesses in the city) on both sides of the Nechako were forced to either close their doors for the winter or shut down the business/housing permanently.
Ice that formed miles upriver got jammed at the confluence and created a mini dam that backed up the water to it's highest levels in well over 200 years. My contact at the city who was a member of the "Trail committee" told me the other day that the committee gave up on repairing that part of the trail, so these writings and pics are likely all that remain of Prince George's most beautiful accessible area.
Walk-N-Roll around Prince George hopes that you will enjoy this tour; perhaps you will be able to remember your personal time on the trail. Please support any efforts to restore this trail once the waters recede hopefully during the summer and fall of 2008. It is our heritage and our history; land around the nechacko trail has been used for hundreds of years.
Ken Biron, January 2008
This entire blog will be listed on the Big Blog directory at www.bigblogcollection.com
Diversion: Carrie Jane Grey Park
Along Massey Drive beside 20th Ave in Prince George you will find this hub of activity. The park was named after one of Prince George’s political figures from our early days. It contains several minor league ball parks and one major league park. It also has competition sized tennis courts, a competition area for pitching horse shoes, a BMX track & the "Family Y" (a fitness gym) sits in this area as well. One end of the Heritage trail runs south from the east end of the park. The whole area is mainly rough accessible, all sports venues can be rolled into easily enough (weather permitting, this is out door!)
Across Massey Drive You will spot a huge green area of Prince George on a south western slope. Prince George has won provincial awards for our urban areas coexisting with natural environments. Directly west of the green spaces, there is another professional sports arena. Next to that, the Rotary Roller Park for bikes, skateboards & roller-skates is always busy with youth practicing for competitions or having fun. A little further down along Massey towards the Pine Center Mall you will see Masich Place stadium where many grueling sports competitions and school sports practice are held to provide Prince George with athletic pride. It also a public walk area 5 days a week where you can "walk to your health” in a measured environment.
The area is beautiful, just look north as you enter town from the west as the speed limit slows to 50 kmh along Highway 16. It is within Rolling distance for people in Prince George and many exciting sports events happen here every year. It is almost all access-able as well, so if you enjoy live sporting events, please support Prince George and come cheer on your home teams!
The Citizen Sports arena hosts many events through the active spring summer and fall months and is in the south west corner of CJG park and, weather permitting, mostly accessible!
The area is beautiful, just look north as you enter town from the west as the speed limit slows to 50 kmh along Highway 16. It is within Rolling distance for people in Prince George and many exciting sports events happen here every year. It is almost all access-able as well, so if you enjoy live sporting events, please support Prince George and come cheer on your home teams!
The Citizen Sports arena hosts many events through the active spring summer and fall months and is in the south west corner of CJG park and, weather permitting, mostly accessible!
Carrie Jane Grey Park to Ft George Park
This is a beautiful, scenic route which runs from Carrie Jane Grey Park in the west, under highway 16 and crosses into the VLA residential area (across a football field and several recreational areas) of Prince George before following the Hudson’s Bay Slough to it’s drainage point in the Fraser River. As you go under the highway you pass another recreation area in a South-East residential area of Prince George. There is a football/soccer field, a child's play area and a path over to a convenience store ("Big Al's Food Mart"), cold Beer store and the "First Liter Party Shack" pub. (other diversions, but we won't dwell on that)
This part is compacted gravel and dirt and some of the hills are steep. We would not recommend this part for light duty electric mobility aids. Walkers, canes and bikes would find it a good workout; it is well worth the trip with a Heavy duty electric aid (Use caution; others use the trail). The slough is a “Ducks Unlimited” wild bird sanctuary with plenty of markers to display information on resident wildlife. We recommend taking small children on this walk; they will have loads of educational fun.
Just before going down the final hill to the Queensway street exit, there is a trail branching off to the right at the top of the hill. This leads to an elementary school playground with monkey bars and a sand pit (former South Fort George Elementary). It is a good spot to picnic with the kids. If you go down the hill on the original trail you will see a huge clearing, a water pump (It is safe to drink this water) and picnic benches. Watch for ants though, there is a huge hill just on the edge of the brush in this area.
After you cross Queensway and follow the path (Paved to Cottonwood Island now!) further along the slough, crossing a small bridge across the drainage channel to the Fraser River behind Ft George Park. Just b4 the bridge, there is a trail branching off behind you which leads to Regent Cresent past an abandonded ball feild. You can get to another river rest area down along Regent Cresent, "Paddle Wheel Park" which is a great area to relax across from a kiddie park (Yet another diversion- Will we ever get this trip over???).
Back on the Heritage Trail; this is a spectacular part of the trip with loads of diversions. It follows the Fraser River to where the Nechako flows into it. It is within the Bird Sanctuary on this side, Fisheries manage it as well. After the bridge, you join another trail and turn right. You can access the trail at this point from 20th avenue (behind Magnolia Gardens) if you skipped the first part from Carrie Jane Grey park.
This part is compacted gravel and dirt and some of the hills are steep. We would not recommend this part for light duty electric mobility aids. Walkers, canes and bikes would find it a good workout; it is well worth the trip with a Heavy duty electric aid (Use caution; others use the trail). The slough is a “Ducks Unlimited” wild bird sanctuary with plenty of markers to display information on resident wildlife. We recommend taking small children on this walk; they will have loads of educational fun.
Just before going down the final hill to the Queensway street exit, there is a trail branching off to the right at the top of the hill. This leads to an elementary school playground with monkey bars and a sand pit (former South Fort George Elementary). It is a good spot to picnic with the kids. If you go down the hill on the original trail you will see a huge clearing, a water pump (It is safe to drink this water) and picnic benches. Watch for ants though, there is a huge hill just on the edge of the brush in this area.
After you cross Queensway and follow the path (Paved to Cottonwood Island now!) further along the slough, crossing a small bridge across the drainage channel to the Fraser River behind Ft George Park. Just b4 the bridge, there is a trail branching off behind you which leads to Regent Cresent past an abandonded ball feild. You can get to another river rest area down along Regent Cresent, "Paddle Wheel Park" which is a great area to relax across from a kiddie park (Yet another diversion- Will we ever get this trip over???).
Back on the Heritage Trail; this is a spectacular part of the trip with loads of diversions. It follows the Fraser River to where the Nechako flows into it. It is within the Bird Sanctuary on this side, Fisheries manage it as well. After the bridge, you join another trail and turn right. You can access the trail at this point from 20th avenue (behind Magnolia Gardens) if you skipped the first part from Carrie Jane Grey park.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Diversion: Fort George Park, Prince George BC
Fort George Park is a huge area of greenspace in the city. It is bordered on the North by 17th avenue and 20th ave on the south. In those 3 blocks, we will find lots of flowers, Wide open spaces, trees, an outdoor amphitheater for many civic provincial or national events, a kiddie park , a spray park, a historic First Nations burial ground, Canada's official shortest railway c/w train station Exploration Place and an entrance to the REAPS recycling center. It is also beside our tour of the Heritage trail.
It is no wonder that the first nations bands around the area chose this location as their sacred burial grounds. It lies on river edge of the park, centered and overlooking the impressive Fraser River Cutbanks across a great view of the river.
The city started to develop this recreation area in the 1980's after Prince George expanded it's borders past 17th Avenue and incorporated Fort George as part of the city. Exploration center is our museum and many local archaeological discoveries are featured here. There is also a virtual theater there so you can experience traveling to the cosmos or go on an ocean voyage without leaving the city!
Behind Ft George Park on Heritage trail
(scene from the part just b4 meeting the Heritage trail)
Coming in from behind Magnolia Gardens off of 20th Ave we see the last part of the Slough drainage on our right. You see lots of evidence that beavers work hard in this outdoor setting. To the right you see grassy floodplains that hide many small furry animals and the occasional large predator. To the right, a tennis court, baseball fields and the Fort George Railway which is Canada’s smallest working rail line. It runs in Fort George Park every summer. The Exploration Place is just over there as well. To access FGP, it is best to continue down 20th ave and avoid going behind Magnolia Gardens. Shortly beyond here the trail turns sharply to the left behind Fort George Park, and our last trail joins us, already in progress...
...On your right flows the mighty Fraser. A large train blasts its whistle as it runs along the former BC rail line across the river. The corner is a fantastic view point for those photo hungry people who roll by looking for that perfect image. It is also a good spot to sit and contemplate the shape of your world.
(view from park bench at corner)
A little further along behind the park we see an authentic First Nations Burial ground. This area had been used by the local First-Nation bands for centuries. If you investigate inside this are, you are asked to please respect the sanctuary of the ground. It is not very accessible from this side.
Entrance to burial ground
The rest of the area east along the river to Taylor drive is pretty much behind the Fort George bandstand. This are becomes heavy with activity during special occasions like Canada Day and other national, provincial and aboriginal events. BC Rivers day is quite popular here. There are quite a few good views of the river to your right; sometimes you will see an Eagle swoop to catch a fish. Just a short journey more down Taylor drive and under the CN Bridge and you will be at Cottonwood Island… Taylor drive is short trip past a variety of luxury homes and “Bedford Place” Bed and Breakfast… There is another way just as relaxing to access the trail at this point, so the next chapter will outline that route, stay Tuned!!!
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