Ontario Trails News - head into fall, look around Toronto from the Toronto Star, Ontario Trail News Archive

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MELISSA RENWICK / TORONTO STAR Order this photo

The changing fall colours surround the Don Valley Parkway and can be seen against the downtown skyline from the Leaside Bridge on Millwood Rd.

By: Shawn Micallef Living Columnist, Published on Fri Oct 09 2015

Fall is the best time for a hike because the air is fresh, the lower temperature means there is no sweating and jaunty outfits can be worn rather than sportswear. The leaves are changing too. People go wild for fall leaves and embark on “leaf-peeping” expeditions, travelling far to see the changing colours. However, in the GTA you don’t have to go far, and this weekend the colours will be popping all over the city. Here are five suggestions for Thanksgiving weekend walks where the autumnal spirit is alive, just be sure to bring your own decorative gourds.

Toronto Island

COLIN MCCONNELL/ TORONTO STAR

Even though Centreville Amusement Park is closed for the season, you can visit Charlotte the Landrace pig at Far Enough Farm on Centre Island.

When the summer picnic and beach crowds have gone, the Toronto Islands are still worth a trip as there’s a sense of having the island to yourself at times. Take the ferry first to Wards Island and walk through the cottages near the dock, then meander west towards the Centre Island ferry dock for a few hours, by the boardwalk and over to Algonquin Island. Though Centreville Amusement Park is closed for the season, Far Enough Farm (centreisland.ca/far-enough-farm ) adjacent to it is free to enter and open every day from 10 to 5 p.m. You can visit Charlotte, their Landrace pig, and the other animals, all of whom are giving thanks they’re not on your table this weekend.

ANDREW FRANCIS WALLACE/ TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Rouge Park is a truly wild and rural hike and it's accessible by TTC.

Rouge Park

MELISSA RENWICK/ TORONTO STAR

The changing fall colours surround the Don Valley Parkway and can be seen against the downtown skyline from the Leaside Bridge on Millwood Rd.

Rouge Park may be the wildest and most-rural hike you can take inside the Toronto city limits, and it’s accessible by TTC. This is the corner of the city where farm and city landscapes meet and the Rouge has some of the most dramatic ravine cliffs in the area. Begin at the Rouge Park Conservation Centre across Morningside Road from the Toronto Zoo. Here, the historic Pearse House (rvcc.ca/Pearse_House.html ), home to a family that ran an old sawmill on the river, adds to the rural feel of the park. Follow the trails that loop down to Twyn Rivers Dr. and return up the other side of river.

MELISSA RENWICK/ TORONTO STAR

If you visit the Humber Arboretum, be sure to climb the hill by the Centre for Urban Ecology building for the panoramic view across the Humber Valley.

Leaside Bridge

SHAWN MICALLEF FOR THE TORONTO STAR

The viewing platform at Mono Cliffs Provincial Park affords views of the beautiful rolling Ontario forest and farmland spreading out to the east.

The Leaside Bridge carrying Millwood Rd. across the Don Valley is the less-famous upriver sibling of the Prince Edward Viaduct, but it’s nearly equally impressive. Opened in 1927, the bridge commands spectacular views of the Don Valley Parkway as it makes gentle curves along the river and the buildings of Thorncliffe Park. Nature and city complement each other here wonderfully as the dozen or so stark, white apartment towers poke up through the tree canopy.

Humber Arboretum

Found behind Humber College’s North Campus, the Arboretum(humberarboretum.on.ca/) is a series of botanical gardens and natural areas near the end of the west branch of the Humber River multi-use trail. Established by horticultural students at Humber in 1977, its 100 hectares has six kilometres of trails and contains 1,700 species of plants and animals. Be sure to climb the hill by the Centre for Urban Ecology building for the panoramic view across the forested Humber Valley.

Mono Cliffs Provincial Park

For an out-of-town holiday weekend excursion, take the hour-or-so drive to Mono Cliffs Provincial Park (ontarioparks.com/park/monocliffs ) north of Orangeville for a Niagara Escarpment hike. A series of eight trails pass through park’s varied landscape, some connecting with the Bruce Trail, and one looping down near the cute Village of Mono Centre where a mid-hike Thanksgiving tipple can be had at the local pub. A viewing platform extending out at the top of the cliffs affords a deep appreciation of the escarpment’s height, with views of the beautiful rolling Ontario forest and farmland spreading out to the east.

Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef.

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Ontario Trails News - Hiking series and find your favorite Ontario winter hike!

Find your favorite winter hike!

Walk the walk and learn from the talk in “Hike with Us” series

Brighton Independent

By John Campbell 

You think you’ve had it rough trying to survive the cold, what about the birds and animals; how do they ever manage?

You can learn how wildlife adapts and thrives in challenging conditions by going on a two-hour hike at the Seymour Conservation Area March 7, starting at 10 a.m. It’s the first of five outings Lower Trent Conservation has planned for its “Hike with Us” series in 2015.

The conservation authority introduced the series last year as part of Conservation Ontario’s Healthy Hikes Challenge, and the walks were “very well received,” said ecology and stewardship specialist Ewa Bednarczuk. “We generally had pretty good attendance when the weather was good. People really enjoyed the hikes [and] felt they learned a lot about their own neighbourhood, so I’m expecting a good turnout [again this year].

“They’re meant to highlight some of the beautiful areas in our watershed and tell people a little bit more about their natural history and maybe cultural history.”

A fifth event has been added to the series this year, “Paddle the Trent,” which will take place August 8 at the Keating-Hoards Natural Habitat Area. Rather than go on foot around one of Lower Trent’s properties, participants will be asked to bring kayaks or canoes to travel the back channel behind Wilson Island.

“That’s going to be really neat,” Bednarczuk said. “There’s a beautiful wetland marsh that lines the back channel there” and the water is “pretty calm … This is the first time we’re doing an excursion on the water.

It “should be a lot of fun.”

Each outing has a theme. “Ground Awakening” April 25 at Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area will focus on the “very first spring wildflowers that come out, their ecology, how they pair up with different pollinators.”

“Heart of the Watershed” will take place May 8 at the Murray Marsh and the final outing, “In Fall Swing,” September 25 at Proctor Park Conservation Area, will be held during Brighton Applefest.

“They’re not really strenuous hikes,” Bednarczuk said, but some do involve going up slopes on occasion. “I tend to walk and stop and talk quite a bit and point at things so you don’t need to be an athlete by any means.”

She recommended taking along a snack, as the hikes generally last two hours.

Bednarczuk said “there’s such an interest in the natural world and it’s nice to stop and have a closer look at it.”

You might come across “a plant or a critter that lives next door to you [that] you don’t know about it” or find out “that there are flying squirrels that glide around at night in your backyard.” Or it could be “a hairy plant that’s kind of wearing a fur coat” that’s the first to bloom in the spring “even when there is still snow on the ground.”

People find the “little stories” she tells about the plants and animals in these natural areas “really neat” as “they learn more about what’s going on around them.

“Get out, move around a little bit, and enjoy all the health benefits of being outside,” Bednarczuk said.

The hikes are held rain or shine. For more information call the Lower Trent at 613-394-4829, or email <information@ltc.on.ca>.