LEISURE

Best Hiking 🥾

Thanks to London’s 12 Environmentally Significant Areas (ESAs)—it’s easy to get into nature without having to get out of the city. Here are our picks from each corner of the city (and the centre).

 

Meadowlily Woods

With a 3.6 km “big loop” and enough smaller loops within to let you cover 10 kms, a hike through Medowlily Woods offers a lot of variety with little commitment—making it the perfect little sport for those days where the weather is hard to predict or if you’re not sure how long the kids will last. The woods also feature some fun footbridges and great views of the river.

 
 

Fanshawe Conservation Area

Boasting three smaller (1 km - 3 km) trails for hikers only and a 20 km trail (around the lake) shared with bikers, Fanshawe’s trail system has something for all levels of hiker. In particular, the loop around the lake offers a good mix of forest and meadow—with a few stretches alongside the road—to add some variety to the mix.

 
 

Westminster Ponds

With six major ponds, 11 km of managed trails and covering 200 hectares, Westminster Ponds offers a lot of unique little pockets of forest to explore without leaving the city. Though it’s never encouraged, winter hikers may have the pleasure of watching skaters gracefully enjoy the frozen ponds’ surface. The Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) is also home to the 675-year-old “Meeting Tree”—believed to be a meeting place during the 1800s for those fleeing slavery—where annual Emancipation Day celebrations are held.

 
 

Kilally Meadows

Located in the city’s northeast, Kilally Meadows loops along the river for 7.7 km and shares its paths with the Thames Valley Parkway (TVP), making it easily accessible by bike from pretty much anywhere in town. The meadows this ESA is named after attracting their fair share of butterflies to watch and ponder while taking a break from your hike.

 
 

Medway Valley Heritage Forest

You’ll find the Medway Valley Heritage Forest not too far from Western University in the city’s northwest. Home to deer and all sorts of wildlife, the ESA also offers a mix of paved, wood chip and dirt trails along its 10 km—making it that much more of an adventure the further along one goes!