While working 9 to 5, it’s hard to get out of Toronto and into nature. I found this little small gem as one of many places to hike near Toronto, by under an hour. The Greenwood Conservation is just north of Ajax, is a pretty little forest with trails to hike, a running creek, appears to be dog friendly, and a forest to wander in. There are several entrances to this conservation. On my first time heading out there, I chose only the North Entrance as it seemed on the map to be away from crowds and larger parks. Especially these days with Covid-19. The main entrance seem to be quite family friendly, but I cannot speak to it as I only looped through the parking lot.

The North Entrance has plenty of parking and seems like a better alternative, for me, than the main entrance. I didn’t research any maps prior to going, but it would appear there are several trails marked out on this web page. I would certainly go back with more knowledge of the trails and explore further.

As you’re walking through the main stretch, watch out for dog poo. I will advise, though, when taking your pup through the trail, please do pick up after the little one, as it makes it quite unpleasant for everyone else. But, also, if everyone’s pup did that, the source point pollution may exceed the ecosystem services threshold for filtering all the bacteria in the fecal matter.

However, once your down the trail a hundred meters or so, you’ll come to a fork and the trail becomes much more pleasant. It would seem all the trails are unmarked, but trodden down enough so that you can find your way back.

Maybe 20 minutes later, I ended up finding a nice little pebble bar in the meandering river that you could relax on. It was nice and cool in the mid morning, but can heat up significantly in the afternoon as the sun wraps around south with no trees to break the light. There is a slight current with the creek at this point, so if you have an old puppers like mine or have younger children, keep an eye out in case they may not be able to swim against the current. However, the creek is relatively shallow for an adult for easy supervision. Depending on the time of year, probably up to the knees for an average adult size.

Unbeknownst to me, the hike took me out of the conservation area further north of the pebble bar, and I decided double back around. The trail has marking signs for cross country skiing and would love to come back and do that in the winter.

This is a very nice relaxing trail and I would suggest it would be suitable for a nice stroll with an old puppers. There aren’t many places to have a picnic, that I would chose, aside from the pebble bar, being the highlight. If you enjoyed Greenwood Conservation, you may also like Nashville Conservation!

Additional images of the Greenwood Conservation