Vacation in Southern Ontario

Oh, and one more thing if you have the time, another hidden gem. Stop at Queenston Heights (right off the NIagara Parkway, a very nice park) and goto the Brock Monument. For a couple bucks they will let you walk up to the top. Yes there is a very tight spiral stair-case inside of it. Its really cool, great view.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock's_Monument

Could ride the escarpment towards Dundas area and see more waterfalls (the hidden type off the beaten path)..

Think this is the GPS file - I will double check tonight on mapsource - and will let you know if it isn't:

file presently removed -

The route that Ecarnell posted, which myself and 3 others laid out last year, sounds like it will suit you well. Gravel, hills, scenery, a bit of trail, beach views on the bay and it does waypoint at a great spot in Creemore for lunch(and maybe a beer). Enjoy the route, it is worthwhile. Steve.

I should also note, now that I see the actual file is posted, these are for members only. So, I will leave it there for 24hrs, then remove. Please download asap.

Thanks Steve - I was going to take it down also when Kelly confirmed they got it.
Please take it down as you see fit!

Eric

Yes, Toronto can be expensive.
For cheap accomadations, check this out:
http://www.neill-wycik.com/index.php?op ... Itemid=116

Its a student residence that is a hotel in the summer, right in the middle of all the action.

I got the file Eric.
I will have my son load it up and make sure everything is go to go with it.

Steve, thanks for letting me have it. It is VERY much appreciated. I think you are right, that it is well suited for what we were looking to do.

How long, at a non-rushed pace, would you estimate that route takes? Just so I can sort of plan how much time we will need.

Riding from Elora, it will take basically all, or most of the day at a reasonable pace, with time for stops etc.- ie 9-10am to late afternoon/6pm-ish or so.

Enjoy. Wish I could ride it with y'all(isn't that an american saying eh??)! Cheers

That sounds like a perfect day then.
My son loaded it to his GPS just fine. Now he is even more excited than he was already.

We leave for PA next weekend (June 26th). So I am going to spend this weekend getting things for the Canada trip mapped out and "scheduled" a bit more since I now have SO many great suggestions.

Hey everyone. Well, we are getting our last minute items together for our trip tomorrow. We are very excited.

One thing we are trying to do is get some directions we put together with Google maps to my son's Garmin. This is not working out too well with MapSource.
Does anyone have any software they can recommend to use Google maps AND to have more detail roads than what comes with the free standard software?

Sorry Kelly - not much help. Most of us in Ontario have specific Ontario maps - and not free. Never tried to sink my garmin with google maps.
Alternatively you can pick up a $10 "Ontario map road map atlas" at walmart which will have all of the roads - in case you get lost.

I don't use Google Maps/Earth to work on trails and routes but I believe it's possible to do a direct transfer from Google to your GPS using Garmin Communicator.

After you prepare your route, click on the E-mail button (top right) and then select GPS. You need to have Communicator on your PC but it's a free download available during the download process.

Bob

Well, I just tried exporting a route from Google Maps to my GPS using Garmin Communicator but it only sends the destination waypoint. This isn't much use for a motorcyle route but probably OK for a car route using a Nuvi.

I thought I'd read about saving route details in a KML file file (and then using GPS Visualizer to convert this to a GPX file) but I cannot find any buttons/menu choices in Google Maps to do this. I know you can do it in Google Earth as I've tried it previously. However, I always use Mapsource maps to prepare routes so it isn't an issue for me.

If you don't have City Navigator (it's $150 so many don't buy it as it's free in a $100 Nuvi) you can usually find an inexpensive copy of Metroguide N America on the Internet, and then use MetroGold ($6 download) to convert Metroguide to do full auto-routing. These products can be downloaded but it may be difficult if you are already on your trip here (to Ontario).

Bob