Mast Trail, Rouge National Urban Park

Rouge National Urban Park is a federally protected area at the eastern edge of the city, and the Mast Trail is its most demanding entry. From the Glen Rouge Day Use Area on Kingston Road, the trail climbs a wooded ridge above the Rouge Valley, with steep sections and a descent on the far side toward Twyn Rivers Drive. The transition is less abrupt than the downtown entries in this guide: there is a parking area, signage, a day-use edge. But the forest closes in quickly, the ridge makes the topography unmistakable, and the city does not follow you in.

Context

The trail follows a 200-year-old former logging route. In the 1800s, the area’s tall, straight white pines were cut for ship masts and floated downriver, bound for shipbuilding yards in Europe. Parks Canada manages the Rouge as Canada’s first national urban park.