G2G Rail Trail

G2G Trail

With the Goderich-to-Guelph (G2G) Rail Trail now open and improved from end to end, walkers, runners and cyclists are now free to travel from Goderich to Guelph and to all points in between on an abandoned rail bed that has been converted into a fine, smooth trail.

The rail line, built by the Guelph and Goderich Railway, was completed in 1907. The rail line’s goal was to link the port of Goderich and a number of rural communities to Guelph.

While the rail line proved to be beneficial for decades, freight and passenger traffic began to decline with the advent of the

automobile and the line would eventually be decommissioned. The line was officially decommissioned in 1988.

The process of turning the former line into a trail began in 1998, when the County of Wellington and the Municipality of Waterloo leased 45 kilometres of the trail from just outside of Guelph to Millbank and created the Kissing Bridge Trail. The Goderich to Auburn Rail Trail and the Blyth Greenway Trail would be developed in later years as well, bringing a trail and its benefits to the west end of the former rail line.

The process of creating the G2G Trail then officially began several years ago, when local trail enthusiasts saw the potential of the G2G and began preparing the necessary paperwork and clearing the trail.

G2G Rail Trail Inc. was formed in 2013 and work began on ensuring the trail’s success and accessibility from one end to the other for a number of recreational, tourism and economic reasons. The trail officially opened to the public in 2015 and has seen plenty of traffic in the years following.

In the years since, much work has been done and improvements have been made. The G2G has even played host to a number of events in recent years. It is even the subject of a Lynda Wilson book called Walking Home, which details her and her husband’s trek from one end of the trail to the other. They were the first to walk the trail from end to end before it was officially opened to the public.

For more information on the trail or any of its events, visit its website at g2grailtrail.com.