New Trail!: Kains Woods

   Once I became interested in running some of the local trails and after exploring the internet, Kains Woods kept popping up as a great place to hike and run.
   As it happens, Kains Woods is only a hop, skip and half a jump from where I live and I decided that I would give it a try today.
   The closest access point is only about 2 and a half clicks away, right near the Oxford Street bridge over the Thames. I've literally driven past this access point a couple of thousand times without even realizing it was there!
   Due to its proximity, I decided to just walk there. My goal was to run from one end of the trail to the other and then return the same way. This would total approximately 10K and I know that this is about as much mileage as I can handle these days so I wasn't going to run there.
   The Kains Woods trail basically follows the Thames River in a horseshoe shape around the Riverbend community and is classified as one of London's ESA's (Environmentally Significant Area). It's a single path trail which follows a fairly narrow forested area. For the first half a kilometer or so, you can catch glimpses through the trees of where all the rich people live but, after that, it's all forest and river.
   It's a beautiful place to run! You run along deep ravines on twisty paths and then you find yourself on more level terrain winding your way through tall trees. Parts of it are up on a bluff along the river and then other parts take you down to the edge of the Thames. But maybe rather than describe it to you, I'll just do a photo dump! 

The steep hill from Oxford Street
to the trail access point.

The Rules! Oh, and the warning about
Wile E.

Trail along a deep ravine

Thank goodness for the plank!

Intermittent railings so you don't fall off!

Finally down to the river....

...where some romancin' has been going on! Pretty well gotta be
"Jack and Diane".....

Some more beauty

Ironic that you deface it to save it....

A trail led up past these boulders. When I went to
investigate, I found.....

...a golf course!

Changing terrain

Better than a wooden bridge!

Found this pond at what I thought was the end of
the trail. Apparently I was supposed to run around it.

Lots of rock tumbles, I'm thinking from when they
cleared the land for the subdivision.

Thought this was part of the trail but...

...it led to this.

End of the trail leading up to the subdivision. Time to head back.

W

Lots of signs steering you away from private property

I met Ron again!! Met him earlier in the year at Komoka. He
mentioned that these trails have been here for likely about 40
years and that he was part of the Association which formed them!

Finally back to the Oxford Street access point. Legs cramping
up nicely, thank you!

Took a short cut underneath Commissioners Road to get home.

Very tropical-looking at the end of that tunnel!

   At the end of the running part, my legs were in rough shape and had actually started to cramp up while running, causing me to adjust my gait and cadence somewhat. Oddly, running faster made the legs feel better. I was wishing I'd maybe driven, because the long walk home was a bit of a killer. And later in the evening, when I went to stand up from the couch, I got this godawful cramp on the inside of my right thigh. It was one of those f--k, f--k, f--k, F--K!! moments my wife has come to recognize all too well. I guess a little bit of work to be done there....
   So there you have it, my first trip to Kains Woods! Best guess is, the first of many!