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Ontario boasts over 80,000 km in trails. Whether you're in downtown Toronto or North of Superior, we have a trail for you. The Ontario Trails Council is a registered charity, led by volunteers who promote the development, management, use and conservation of Ontario's trails. You'll find everything from gentle walking trails to rock faces for climbing and water routes to canoe and kayak.
Showing posts with label Toronto Trails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto Trails. Show all posts
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Ontario Trails News - Trailwise - June 22, 2017
Friday, July 15, 2016
Ontario Trails News - news from all around Ontario about Ontario's Trails, trail activities and trail locations.
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A glimpse into Toronto ravines: The secret ‘remnants of wilderness’ that have been left behind
Chris Selley | July 8, 2016 4:34 PM ET
Toronto’s ravines “are the shared subconscious of the municipality,” Robert Fulford once argued in the National Post. It’s a lovely turn of phrase. These improbable green tears in the skin of the city are where a few of the rivers and streams Toronto co-opted and buried still get to announce their presence, however briefly, which in turn reminds us how we got here. With money and hard work and ingenuity, we built this place up from a wilderness into a great metropolis, mercilessly erasing and starting over — and too often forgetting — as we went.
Laura Pedersen/National PostEvergreen Brick Works in Toronto, Ontario on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Yet “remnants of wilderness have been left behind,” as Anne Michaels wrote in Fugitive Pieces. “Through these great sunken gardens you can traverse the city beneath the streets, look up to the floating neighbourhoods, houses built in the treetops.” They are rarely visually spectacular or even, to the average citizen, particularly interesting beyond their very existence as quiet forests in an unlikely place. They are islands of urban tranquility of a type that few cities can offer.
Toronto makes excellent use of the upper Don Valley, our biggest “ravine.” Like much of this city, Thorncliffe Park is socially and commercially vibrant but esthetically rather bleak. Yet residents are minutes away from acres of lush river valley parkland, and on weekends it teems with multi-generation families from myriad backgrounds loving life.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA pedestrian enjoys the quarry at the Evergreen Brick Works ravine.
We seem far less sure what to do with the ravines proper: Moore Park Ravine, for example, which runs from the east side of Mount Pleasant Cemetery to the Brickworks; Rosedale Ravine, which runs from the west side of the cemetery, across Mount Pleasant Road and then into the valley; and Cedarvale and Nordheimer ravines, which take you from near Eglinton West station all the way down to Poplar Plains Road.
Even the official paths are haphazardly pavement, gravel and mud. Signposting is all but non-existent: identical-looking paths diverge without notice; stairs offer egress to parts unknown; this week I accidentally found myself on the east side of Rosedale Ravine, scrambling north toward the cemetery.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA broken storm sewer at the Rosedale ravine.
I wouldn’t recommend that hike, but it does offer some impressive views of Yellow Creek. You’ll see collapsing retaining walls and a phenomenal amount of soil erosion, which has fractured an enormous cement storm sewer pipe. You’ll see a heck-load of garbage, including not one but two discarded shopping carts.
And if you want to get there from Moore Park, you’ll find the stairs gated shut. A storm blew over a tree, which crushed the steps, explains Robert Spindler, a local resident who has launched a petition to fix the mess.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA broken storm sewer is seen surrounded by caution tape at Rosedale Ravine in Toronto.
That was three years ago. In the meantime, he says, a group of residents simply fixed the stairs themselves and installed stumps to help climb over the fence. City staff took the stumps away; residents put them back; and eventually, Spindler chuckles, city staff gave up.
To be clear, most ravines are in far better shape. But surely such a state of affairs wouldn’t be tenable in the first place if more people knew about them and used them. “Torontonians really don’t have a sense or appreciation of what a remarkable treasure our ravines really are,” says Jason Ramsay-Brown, who published a book last year about their history and ecology. “They’re 15 per cent of the city of which most Torontonians know nothing about.”
When I was a kid, the ravines were seen as threatening, especially at night: bad teenagers did bad things under the bridges; heaven knows what the men who lived rough down there might be capable of; the Vale of Avoca, part of the Rosedale Ravine, was a popular spot for gay men at a time when that was enough to impugn the topography itself.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA sign marking that the steps are closed is seen at Rosedale ravine.
Nowadays the stigmas have lifted, but the ravines are still obviously underused — whatever you think they ought to be used for. To engineers, they are drainage ditches. To naturalists like Ramsay-Brown, they are rare and endangered ecosystems, plagued by invasive species and full of rare urban fauna. To the average citizen, they might be anything from a jogging track to an unofficial mountain bike park or off-leash area. Not all of those uses are compatible.
The city is putting together a “ravine strategy,” to better coordinate the multiple agencies responsible for them and seek public input on how to protect, celebrate and attract investment to ravines. (They strike me as ideal potential targets for philanthropy.) Notably it proposes informing people in the ravines where they are and where they’re going — what a concept — which might attract more people all on its own.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA shopping cart lies in the water at the Rosedale ravine.
More people are a potential problem, though, and the strategy clearly has a bias toward protecting and restoring the natural environment over expanding human uses beyond simply visiting and appreciating. (Ramsay-Brown says dogs off leash can spread invasive species, and unofficial paths can disrupt nesting sites.) That seems entirely appropriate to me.
There are plenty of places to have a barbecue or ride a mountain bike or play Frisbee golf, as Ramsay-Brown says. “But nature has such specific requirements in order for it to thrive, and we have such limited space for actually doing it, that I don’t think it’s outrageous to say: ‘this far and no further.’”
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Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Ontario Trails News - head into fall, lot's of events, Ontario's Trail News Archive
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Lot's of events around Ontario and on Ontario Trails5 underrated places to check out fall colours in Toronto Toronto gets a lot more scenic when the temperature starts to drop, and what better way to celebrate the beginning of fall than by seeing the colours of the leaves change. While you could head to a well known green space like Glen Stewart Ravine or Rouge Park, why not go off the beaten trail? These low key places will have you taking in the beauty of autumn without the crowds.
Here are my picks for the most underrated places to check out fall colours in Toronto.
Craigleigh Gardens Park
A mere kilometre from the Brick Works is Craigleigh Park, a peaceful 3.4 hectare reserve filled with greenery. When the seasons start to change its tree canopy is one of the most beautiful in the city. If you're looking to do more than see the fall colours, the park also features an off-leash area for dogs and is in close proximity to a ravine trail (for those who like to hike).
Park Lawn Cemetary
Though a cemetery doesn't normally seem like a joyous destination, it can be come fall time.Necropolis and Mount Pleasant are both popular destinations for checking out fall fall foliage, boasting trees galore and great views. However, Park Lawn should not be overlooked. Its grounds are filled will manicured trees and bushes that look even more stunning when they start to change.
Chatsworth Ravine
This ravine, just south of Yonge and Lawrence, is the optimal place to enjoy autumn outdoors nearNorth York. It may not have the grandeur of Moore Park or Glen Stewart, but it looks mighty fine dressed up in fall colours. Plus, with it's below-the-radar status you'll find it distinctively less populated.
Guildwood Park
At Guildwood Park you'll find much more than just greenery. Among its trails and trees there are architectural gems from demolished buildings. It's a favourite for engagement photos, but even if you're not with a loved one you'll be able to snap some 'grams with the changing colours in the background.
Windfields Park
This former farm site offers 31 hectares of green space in the Bayview and Lawrence area. It boasts 15 bike trails as well as outdoor fitness equipment, making it ideal for those who want to view the fall colours while staying active (it really kills two birds with one stone). |
Friday, July 17, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Ontario Trails News - where Torontonians Bike and Run, find your favorite Toronto Trail!
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Find your favorite Toronto Trail! |
CITYSCAPE
Where Torontonians Bike and Run
Developers map out the world's most popular spots for walking, jogging, and cycling—and reveal where in this city Torontonians like, and don't like, to get outside and get active.
Explore where people walk and run in Toronto with the pink routes, and where they cycle with the orange routes. Data is from RunKeeper. Map by Mapbox’s Garrett Miller and Eric Fischer.
If you made a New Year’s resolution to get outside and be active, you might wonder which are the most popular spots in Toronto for running or biking.
Mapbox’s Garrett Miller and Eric Fischer have your answer. The developers collaborated on a snazzy-looking map that shows where the world’s cyclists and runners—including those in Toronto—like to go.
Using data from RunKeeper, an app that allows runners and cyclists to track their trips and upload results, Miller and Fischer mapped more than 1.5 million trips from around the world. They cut off the first and last 200 metres of each one to anonymize individual routes, and the result is a resource featuring trails marked by various intensities of pink and orange. The pink routes are more likely to be walks or runs, while the orange routes are longer trips, more likely to have been taken by cyclists.
As CityLab points out, the maps highlight commonalities among cities. For instance, people love to run by water—whether along Lake Shore and Queen’s Quay in Toronto, or along the borders of Manhattan.
Toronto’s map reveals that, in addition to being drawn to water, people—no surprise here—love to be active in green spaces. The data shows that the city’s extensive ravine system and its trails are very popular: Don Valley and Humber routes are coloured brightly on the map, showing they’re well travelled. Large downtown parks such as High Park, Queen’s Park, and Trinity-Bellwoods are also well used.
The map also shows a correlation between an area’s built form and the likelihood that people will walk, run, or cycle. East York, North York east of the Allen, and the old city of Toronto are fairly well represented—the walkable downtown core is coloured bright pink. But Scarborough, York, and, to a lesser extent, Etobicoke show a relative lack of use. This could be because of RunKeeper’s data set, which might be produced largely by self-selected users from a younger demographic—but these areas of the city are certainly also more car-dependent and have lower Walk Scores.
These kinds of data don’t just make for shiny maps—they can also support very real policy discussions about how to plan for and encourage more active transportation.
A growing body of research suggests a link between walkability and positive health outcomes. City staff discussed how to build a healthier city by promoting walking and biking [PDF] in a series of 2012 reports [PDF].
In fact, areas highlighted on Miller and Fischer’s walking, running, and cycling map of Toronto appear to be inversely correlated with those known to feature higher rates of diabetes.
Taken from the 2012 City report Towards Healthier Neighbourhoods, this map shows the prevalence of diabetes across the city, with higher-intensity areas highlighted in red.
The data are also suggestive in light of the conclusions of a 2012 University of Toronto study, which found that some neighbourhoods—including south and central Scarborough, North York west of Allen Road, north Etobicoke, and York—had up to five times more cardiac arrests than others. In a 2012 interview with the Globe and Mail, the lead author of the study noted that the rate of cardiac arrests increases as soon as you go east of Victoria Park Avenue: on Miller and Fischer’s map, we see a big drop-off in walking, running, and cycling east of Victoria Park.
Map of cardiac arrest incidents across the city from a 2012 study by the University of Toronto’s Katherine Allan.
Of course, there are many factors—income levels and the availability of transit, for example—that influence an area’s walkability and the health of its residents. Studies such as the 2011 Vertical Poverty Report by the United Way [PDF] and David Hulchanski’s famous Three Cities [PDF] examine data to produce a more nuanced look at the complex underlying issues.
Miller and Fischer’s maps show pieces of a larger story. The most popular trails might seem simply like fun places for a run or merely the result of individual choices, but they’re part of a larger context that governs how the city works—how the built and natural environment, a community’s land-use mix, housing affordability, community health options, and other factors affect the way we relate to and use different parts of the city.
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