The concrete barriers that have blocked access to the Jokers Hill parking lot have been moved, bringing an end to a deceptively complicated situation that has lasted since the spring.
After a week's delay, the barriers were removed by the University of Toronto, which put them there initially when it tried to close the trails to meet public health directives at the beginning of the pandemic.
All summer, hikers parked along the shoulder of busy Bathurst Street, at a neighbouring plaza, and along residential roads, much to the residents' irritation.
Lisa Heckbert was been one of the most vocal of the residents trying to get the situation addressed.
"I'm happy the barricades are gone, at last," she said on Monday, but she doesn't think the fight is over yet.
She and other neighbours noticed that a back entrance to the Koffler Scientific Reserve, where the Jokers Hill trails are located, was closed off at the end of Brickell Place even as the parking lot was reopened.
The director of the research area, John Stinchcombe, told NewmarketToday that one of the reasons the university kept the barricades in place for so long was that they helped cut down on a number of problems on the trails, which have ranged from illegal campfires to the theft of research equipment.
The university agreed to remove the barricades after it was discovered that the segment of old Bathurst being used as the parking lot is owned by the Town of Newmarket.
The municipality and university have been working to find a mutually agreeable way to keep the trails and parking lot open while addressing some of the university's concerns. If that proves impossible, local residents may need to find other places to hike.
For readers interested in exploring other York Regional Forest trails near Newmarket, NewmarketToday has compiled a guide to nine trails.
