Tag Corktown Common

Favourite Toronto Walks -East Toronto Loop

Robert Bradt

Part of a series on my favourite walking trails in Toronto.

Hey Toronto, remember to practice Physical Distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic! Also be aware that some of the amenities, parks, or services listed below may have limited availability or opening hours. Please check the links included below for up to date information on what’s open and what’s not.

And now on to the regular post …..

Several years ago, I was training to do the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. I had never done a walk (and I walked it more than I ran it) of more than about 20 km, and since a marathon is 42 km, I planned out a walk that would be about 30 km in length and incorporate some ups and downs to get my legs built up.

This walk starts and ends in mid-town Toronto at Yonge and Eglinton, and takes in parts of the Beltline, the Don Valley Brickworks, the Lower Don Trail, Riverdale Park, Corktown Common, the Martin Goodman Trail, the Beaches Boardwalk, the Glen Stewart Ravine, the Taylor-Massey Creek Trail, E.T. Seton Park, Wilket Creek Park, Sunnybrook Park, the Burkes Brook Ravine, and Sherwood Park – whew!

Length: About 32 km, including about 200m of vertical ups and downs

Surface: Mostly paved, with gravel path on some of the ravine trails, plus the wooden boardwalk in the Beaches.

Public Transit: Start and end at Eglinton Station on the Line 1 subway

Route:

Starting from Eglinton Station, head south on east side of Yonge St and turn east (left) at Manor Road. Cross the street and turn right (south) down Tullis Drive. Follow Tulis south to Belsize Avenue, crossing the street to the south side. You’ll see a fence laneway in front of you – take that as it’s a public right of way and follow it to Millwood.

Laneway between Belsize and Millwood

Turn left (east) on Millwood and proceed down the hill. At Acacia, turn south (right) and follow that to Davisville Avenue. Cross Davisville and turn west (right) for a few meters to Pailton Crescent. Turn left (south) and follow Pailton to Merton Street. As you cross Merton at the crosswalk, there is a path directly in front of you beside a condominium building and that takes you to the Beltline Trail.

At the Beltline, turn left (east) and follow it for about 100m to the entrance into Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Inside the Cemetery follow the purple painted lines on the road, following it east under Mount Pleasant Road and around towards the memorial gardens. The marked path takes you east and south and exits the cemetery at Moore Avenue, opposite the entrance to the Moore Ravine Trail – careful, there are always many impatient drivers as you try to cross.

Descend on the trail into the ravine and follow it for about 1km. When you reach the entrance to the Don Valley Brickworks, you can detour left over the bridge and follow the trails in the Brickworks, or else continue on the Beltline south until you enter the Brickworks opposite the main buildings near the car park. Exit the Brickworks complex here, crossing Bayview Ave at the lights to join the Lower Don Trail (turn right, south). Follow the Don Trail south parallel to Bayview for about 1.5 km to the traffic lights at Rosedale Valley Drive. Cross here and directly in front of you will be the stairs up the hill beside St. James Cemetery. Climb up to reach Wellesley Park.

Walk through the park and onto Wellesley Street, and keep going about 100m to Sumach Street. Turn left (south) and follow Sumach to the entrance to Riverdale Park. Turn left into the Park and follow the path diagonally across past Riverdale Farm, in a south-east direction, to reach the stairs leading down into the Don Valley. Follow the path down to reach the bridge over Bayview Avenue – climb up, cross the road, and then take the stairs down onto the Lower Don Trail. Follow the Trail south about 1.5 km to Corktown Common.

If you go past the Common, the Trail bends a bit west and then east under the Don Valley Parkway overpass, to come to a trail junction. Turn left (east) here to cross the Don River and then join the Martin Goodman Trail parallel to Lakeshore Blvd. If you detoured into the Common, follow the paths in the park back out through the junction tunnel that passes under the train tracks to rejoin the Lower Don Trail.

Once on the Martin Goodman Trail, follow it east for 2-3 km to reach the entrance to Woodbine Beach park. It’s better to walk on the north side of Lakeshore, as the cycle path and foot path are separated here so you’re not constantly being dinged by cyclist’s bells.

Martin Goodman Trail between Carlaw and Leslie

When you reach Woodbine Beach park, cross Lakeshore at the traffic lights and turn into the park, follow the Martin Goodman trail pathway connect to the west end of the Beaches Boardwalk. Keep going east following the boardwalk for 2 km to reach Balmy Beach Park.

the Boardwalk at Beaches park.

At Balmy Beach, at the end of the Boardwalk, turn north (left) onto Silver Birch Drive and follow it north to Queen Street. At Queen, turn left (west) and follow it for about 500 m to the entrance to Ivan Forest Gardens park, on the north side of the street. Turn into the park and follow the trail north through the park, which will turn into Glen Stewart Park, and exit at Glen Manor Road East. Cross that street and descend into the Glen Stewart Ravine, following the trail north and east.

Exit the Glen Stewart Ravine trail at Kingston Road and turn right (east). Walk along Kingston Road east – you can either go all the way to Victoria Park Ave and then turn left (north) or else turn north up one of the side streets such as Scarborough Road and follow that to Gerrard – if you do that, turn right (east) on Gerrard and walk east to Victoria Park, then turn left (north). Once on Victoria Park, follow it north under the train tracks and on past Danforth Avenue. Keep going north past the Victoria Park subway station, and about 500m north of the station the road descends into a gulley. On the west side of the road opposite the Dentonia Park Golf Course you will find a set of stairs descending into the Taylor-Massey Creek Park trail system.

Once on the trail here, follow it west for about 4 km to reach the lower Don parklands. At the Lower Don off-leash dog park, turn right (north) and follow the trail north and then west crossing under the Don Valley Parkway to reach the junction with the Don Valley Trail system. Turn right (north) crossing the Don River over the old Don Mills Road bridge,

the old Don Mills Road bridge

and follow the trail through the parking lot to reach a bridge over the train tracks. Turn left (west) at the top of the bridge and follow the trail to reach the entrance to E. T. Seton Park.

In Seton Park, cut across the car park and turn right (north) along the roadway. Follow the road north till you pick up the West Don Trail inside the park, and then take that trail north through E. T. Seton park all the way to the car park on the south side of Eglinton Ave near Leslie Street. Turn left (west) at that car park and follow the roadway west and then north to cross under Eglinton and enter Wilket Creek Park.

hints of autumn on a September day

Keep going north through Wilket Creek till you reach the junction of the roadway/trail that turns west (left) heading towards Sunnybrook Park. Follow that roadway/trail west into and through Sunnybrook Park, towards the Riding Stables. Just before you reach the Stables, there is a path on the west side of the road that leads to a bridge which crosses the West Don River. Take that path west and on the other side of the river, turn left (south) on the trail beside the off-leash dog park. Follow the trail heading south and then bending west. On the west side of the dog park, turn right (north) onto the Burkes Brook trail. Follow this north and bend to the west to keep going parallel to the water. The trail officially ends after about 500-600m, but you can exit the official trail and keep going west on the unofficial trail. This continues for another 500 m to reach a steep hill climbing up out of the ravine to reach Bayview Avenue.

Cross Bayview (either directly here or else a bit to the north at the traffic lights by Sunnybrook Hospital). On the opposite side of Bayview, reenter the Burkes Brook trail and descend into the ravine again. Follow this trail west for about 1km, climbing the stairs passing through the off-leash dog area, to descend into Sherwood Park. At Sherwood Park, turn north and then west at the bridge over Burkes Brook (next to the City of Toronto maintenance buildings) and climb the hill along the roadway to exit the ravine/park onto Sherwood Avenue.

Up the stairs in Burkes Brook

Follow Sherwood west for about 500m to Mount Pleasant Road. Cross at the traffic lights and continue west along Sherwood for about another km or so to reach Yonge Street. Turn left (south) on Yonge and follow it for about 1km to reach the finish back at Eglinton Station.

Sights:

I like this walk because of the variety of scenery – the forests and wildness of the ravines, the garden settings in the parks, the sand and the lake along the Boardwalk, and the urban stretches through the upper beaches. That variety keeps it interesting over the whole length of the walk, and it also means that in any season there will something different. The ravines and shaded streets also mean you have some shelter from summer sun, though note that in winter most of the trails are not cleared or salted so they can get icy.

The Beltline down Moore Ravine

Another cool thing about this walk is that it actually follows a number of the various creeks and brooks that have been buried over time. For example, at the start of the walk, Tullis Drive follows the course of Mud Creek. If you listen carefully at the manhole cover at the corner of Tullis and Glebe Road, you can usually hear the stream following under your feet. The same happens on Millwood in the little gully that you descend into – that gully is there because of the creek. Check out the Lost Rivers project to learn more about this fascinating part of Toronto’s history.

down the hill on Millwood into the Mud Creek gulley

I also like this route for the many angles it gives you on the Toronto skyline. From the Don Valley near the Brickworks, you see it from the north and east. From beaches, you see it directly along the lake and you get the tall chimneys of industry poking up as well. You always see the CN Tower poking through and that landmark is usefully to navigate by. These landmarks are reminders that while you’re walking through many beautiful natural settings, the industrial and commercial aspects of the city are always around you.

Industrial Toronto reclaimed – the old railway bridge at the north end of E.T. Seton Park

The many parks that this route takes in are also little time capsules. Corktown Common and the Brickworks, for example, are relatively new additions to the City’s park system, having been created in the 2010’s as part of the revitalization of what had been industrial areas. A generation earlier, in the 1970’s, parks such as E.T. Seton were added, and to offer the growing middle classes not just trails but also recreational amenities like a disk golf course and an archery range. A generation before that, in the 1940s after WW2, Sunnybrook Park was laid out after a private estate was taken over during the war to create a health facility for returning veterans. And finally, another generation back in the 1920s, the parks in the Beaches are 100 years old and reflect the formal gardens, picnic areas, and baseball diamonds that were popular then.

Taylor Creek

Finally, this route, especially around the Beaches, is great for people watching, I’ve seen everything from multi-generational families out for a stroll to movie shoots to outdoor aerobics classes. It can get crowded in high summer, especially on a weekend, but for people watching that just adds to the fun.

Food & Refreshment:

There are several spots where clusters of restaurants and coffee shops will set you up for the journey. That starts with Yonge & Eglinton, which is packed with places to grab some food as you set out or as you finish.

In the Brickworks there are washrooms, water fountains, and a great cafe, plus on weekends there are often farmers markets or festivals on (note that COVID-19 may crimp these a lot so check ahead).

At Corktown, there are washrooms and water fountains, and there are several coffee shops nearby. Near the Common, the shops/restaurants at the Distillery District, or the St. Lawrence Market, offer lots of choice.

In the Beaches, there are washrooms and water fountains in several of the parks. There are also cafes near the Boardwalk, and of course along Queen Street itself there are many places to chose from. If you are paying attention to the route, you’ll see that Queen between Silver Birch Drive and Ivan Forest Gardens is about half-way, so it makes a natural spot to stop for a break.

North of the Beaches, your last chance for coffee or food is near Victoria Park and Danforth. After that, if you are following the route as described, there are no coffee shops until you get back to Yonge Street. There are some washrooms and water fountains in Taylor-Massey Creek, E. T. Seton, Wilket Creek, and Sunnybrook Parks.

Note that all of the public washrooms and water fountains in any of the city parks are seasonal, so they close around October and don’t reopen till May. Note also that COVID-19 is causing restrictions on some of these facilities. In winter, you may need to use coffee shops along the route.

Diversions:

  1. I’ve described the route in a counter-clockwise direction. You can of course reverse that and go clockwise round. The hills are the same I think – you are still climbing in and out of various ravines, but it might be a bit easier going clockwise as the climbs are less steep.
  2. It’s easy to break this up if you want and tackle it over different days. Jump on/off points include the Brickworks, Corktown Common, Queen Street, or Victoria Park Station.
  3. The Distillery District and Corktown St. Lawrence are worth exploring in their own rights, as is the Beaches neighbourhood. If you break up the route, you could spend a few hours in either area and that would be a great way to explore the eastern part of the city.
  4. As noted, seasons matter quite a bit on this route. Summer near the lake is awesome, the trees in the ravines are stunning in autumn, the wildflowers in spring are gorgeous, and the quiet of a fresh snowfall is peaceful. You could walk this route multiple times and see different things every time.

Favourite Toronto Walks -Mid-Toronto Loop

Robert Bradt 2 Comments

Part of a series on my favourite walking trails in Toronto.

Hey Toronto, remember to practice Physical Distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic! As part of its COVID-19 strategy, the City of Toronto had closed some facilities in the parks noted below. Check the City’s website for more info before you go.

And now on to the regular post …..

Graffiti art on the Lower Don

I was thinking about how to make an all-day walk that tied together some of my favourite parks and trails in mid-Toronto, and looking at a map I realized that I could put together something that stared and ended in mid-town and took in the Don Valley, the lakefront, and the parks and trails to the west around Roncesvalles. Here’s what I came up with:

This takes in a number of Toronto’s wonderful leafy parks (Moore Ravine Park, Corktown Common, Coronation Park, Marilyn Bell Park, Sunnyside Park, and Earlscourt Park), along with the Mount Pleasant and Prospect Cemeteries, and incorporates big chunks of the Kay Gardner Beltline and York Beltline Trails, Lower Don Trail, Martin Goodman Trail, and the West Toronto Rail Path Trail. Whew!

Length: Depending on your exact route and any detours, it will be about 30-32 km. Allow yourself about 7-8 hours to give time for breaks, picnics, and perhaps some shopping.

Surface: Mostly paved, with some gravel paths along the Kay Gardner Beltline.

Public Transit: Take subway Line 1 to Davisville Station and walk south 2 blocks along Yonge Street to Merton Street. Cross at the lights, walk about 50m east and turn into the laneway behind condo to reach the Beltline Trail opposite the gate into Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The finish is the same spot, so just reverse your steps to get back to Davisville Station.

Route:

Starting in mid-town on the Kay Gardner Beltline Trail on the north side of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, it follows that Trail through the Cemetery and then out on the south-east end, to continue down the Moore Ravine past the Don Valley Brickworks. Here, divert to the Brickworks for a pitstop, and then cross Bayview to join the Lower Don Trail.

Continue south on the Don Valley Trail to Rosedale Valley Drive. Since the Don Trail stops here, it climbs the hill beside St. James Cemetery and then enters Riverdale Park, following the trails there back down into the Don Valley to pick up the Lower Don Trail again. Continuing south, it reaches Corktown Common and then bends around to the west as it joins the Martin Goodman Trail along the lake.

Continuing west on the Martin Goodman Trail, you go all the way across to Sunnyside Park, and then take the footbridge over the roads and rail lines to reach Roncesvalles Avenue. Walking north up Roncy, you reach Grenadier Road, turn east for a bit, and then jog north up Sorauren Avenue to reach Dundas St W. Turning east, you follow Dundas for about 100m to reach the start of the West Toronto Rail Trail. This takes you north for several km past Bloor Street, and deposits you on Osler St, where you jog north and west to reach Davenport Road, just west of Earlscourt Park.

Cutting through the park, you emerge onto St. Clair Avenue at the bottom of Prospect Cemetery. The roads through here wind north and exit onto Eglinton Avenue. Turning west for a bit, you find Caledonia Road, go north to Bowie Avenue, and then turn west to pick up the start of the York Beltline Trail. This then curves north and then east, taking you eventually to Marlee Avenue. Exiting this trail, you cross Marlee at the lights, follow Elmridge Drive over the Allen Expressway, and then turn into the lane to join the Kay Gardner Beltline again at its western end. Following this all the way back to Mount Pleasant Cemetery completes the loop.

Sights:

What I like about this route is that it shows off so many of the best parts of Toronto – the parks, the ravines, the trails, the lake, and diverse neighbourhoods full of shops, restaurants, and bars. You get some natural fun along with some urban colour.

At the start, Mount Pleasant Cemetery is worth a visit all by itself. I love wondering its cool shaded roads and exploring the history of Toronto expressed in the headstones and monuments. The Kay Gardner Beltline Trail is incorporated into the Cemetery, so you can just follow the purple line painted on the road, or you can detour and explore a bit.

As you exit the Cemetery, you enter one of the best walking trails in Toronto, the Moore Ravine Trail. The trees, the quiet, the burbling of Mud Creek, and the people watching are all fantastic. It’s a short walk, but it then takes you past the Don Valley Brickworks, again a worthy destination on its own.

Cool Moore Ravine shade on a hot summer day

From the Brickworks, following the Lower Don Trail takes you under the Prince Edward Viaduct that carries Bloor Street and the subway over the Don Valley. Climbing the hill at Rosedale Valley Road takes you into Riverdale and east Cabbagetown. The zoo and park here are great fun for kids, and in summer the hot dog and ice cream vendors are worth a treat.

And of course, then there’s Corktown. The Common is one of my favourite recent additions to the City. I remember this area in the 1980’s as a post-industrial grey wasteland, and to see it now, transformed, is to be reminded that even if we badly bugger up the world, we can, if we put our minds to it, help nature reclaim and renew it.

The wavedeck at the foot of Spadina

The Martin Goodman Trail takes you through the Queen’s Quay neighbourhood, another area that’s seen huge changes over the past 20 years. The shops at Queens Quay itself have been joined in the area by many condo’s, and while I can’t say I’m a fan of tall glass towers, it does mean that there’s a much more residential feel in the area now. Combine that with reminders of industry like the Redpath Sugar Mills along with the marinas, the Harbourfront Centre’s art galleries, and little parks like the Toronto Music Garden and you get a diverse area with many things worth a detour and exploration.

Past Queens Quay, the lakeshore all the way west is mostly one big big green space divided into several parks – Coronation, Marilynn Bell, and Sunnyside. Each is chockfull of picnic areas, benches, Adirondack chairs, and cool shade. I could do without the roar of traffic from the busy nearby roads, but when you get a little quiet lull, the honk of geese and splash of waves reminds you that you’re next to Toronto’s greatest feature – Lake Ontario.

Little Norway Park along Queens Quay

Then you jump back into urban life, along Roncesvalles, where shops, restaurants, and bars abound. There’s a lot of life here and it’s changed so much over the past 20 years that I hardly recognize it. The recent addition of the Museum of Contemporary Art to the area just continues to boost an already-booming area.

The West Toronto Rail Path leads you into an area that hasn’t yet been gentrified (yes there are still some of those in mid-Toronto). This area still has a lot of older untrendy shops that remind you that actual working-class people still live in actual working-class houses.

Graffiti art along the West Toronto Rail Path

And then Earlscourt Park, leading to the Corso Italia area along St. Clair Avenue West brings you into a slice of Toronto that has seen waves of newcomers bring life along with their culture and foods. It’s changing still as it always has – come back in 20 years and the Corso Italia may become Little Mexico.

Prospect Cemetery is a cool oasis about 3/4s of the way through this walk, and like Mount Pleasant, it’s a reminder of so many things about Toronto’s past. Whereas Mount Pleasant’s early headstones show the Anglo-Scots surnames of the “Toronto the Good” era, in Prospect Cemetery the names are Irish, Ukrainian, Polish, and Portuguese – west Toronto has been working class for more than one hundred years.

Prospect Cemetery

You see that working class vibe as you leave Prospect and cross Eglinton. The houses and shops here are smaller but no less well tended than the bigger places near, for example, Rosedale or Forest Hill. And then joining the York Beltline, you are joining a path that follows one of the key transportation links that made this area an industrial powerhouse for decades. It’s slowly becoming more residential, and as you walk east back towards the finish, you move back in time from the newer redevelopments into the older, greener mid-town neighbourhoods.

greenery along the Beltline

In walking this, in many ways you do loops in time and in demographics as well as geographically. Along the way, the route takes you from the old City of York which dates back to 1780’s, neighbourhoods that grew up between the mid-nineteenth though to the mid-twentieth centuries, and up into the latest waves of downtown urbanization. It covers inner-city rent-controlled public housing, the latest young-homeowner condo forests, older working-class, and upscale old-money. And, it shows off the natural features of Toronto that I like the most – the ravines, creeks, rivers, and the lake.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the time of year will offer a lot of variety to this walk. You can do this in any season, though some of the trails can get icy in January and February. It’s, shall we say, bracing to walk along the lake in the winter, but when it’s cold and the waves are high the natural ice sculptures can be dramatic. Of course, autumn would always be lovely given the many treed paths and parks so a crisp October day might be perfect. And spring and summer offer their own joys. I did this walk recently, in July 2020, and picked a day that was in the mid-20’s. There are some stretches, especially near Ontario Place and on the York Beltline, where there is little shade, so if it’s bright and sunny you’ll definitely need sun protection.

Food & Refreshment:

There are many, many options along this route. If you like picnics, this route offers some excellent locations in the parks you pass. If you like quick bites, then there’s that too – food trucks, ice cream, coffee, and little cafes. And of course, there are restaurants galore, in parks like the Brickworks, or in neighbourhoods like Queens Quay, Roncevalles, or the Corso Italia.

Washrooms are located in most of the parks along the way, though many are closed in the cold months (November-April). There are year-round washrooms at the Brickworks, along Queens Quay, and in the community centres at Earlscourt Park and Memorial Park. There are also many coffee shops along the way where you can use the facilities for the price of a coffee.

In terms of water fountains, it’s best to carry at least some water. There are places in many of the parks but these are turned off in the cold months. Other liquid refreshment options abound along Queens Quay and in Roncesvalles.

Diversions:

  1. This is a route that is easy to break up over several days. The parks make good jumping on/off points – Corktown Common, Coronation Park, and Earlscourt Park are all near streetcar stops and can work well this way.
  2. If you are coming in from outside Toronto, you might want to stop/start at Union Station instead of Davisville. You can take the GO Train to Union and walk down Bay Street to Queens Quay, and join the loop that way.
  3. I’ve described this going clockwise around Toronto, but of course you could do it counter-clockwise. Either way, you have to descend from mid-town to the lake and climb back again, though I find the climb through Earlscourt and Prospect Cemetery to be a bit less steep than up the Don Valley and the Moore Ravine.
  4. In walking this, you’ll pass some great shopping/dining areas, especially around Corktown – the Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market are an easy detour away, and you can avoid the industrial grunge around the bottom of the Lower Don Trail where it joins the Martin Goodman Trail.
  5. If you really want to extend your loop, you can also incorporate the Toronto Islands. Just take the ferry at the bottom of Yonge over to Wards Island, walk the path west to Hanlon’s Point and ferry back to the docks to rejoin the path I’ve outlined. I’d allow at least 1.5 hours for this, including ferry waiting times.

TO Places – St. Lawrence Market

Robert Bradt

Part of a series on my favourite places to go for a walk in Toronto

Hey Toronto, remember to practice Physical Distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic! Restrictions placed by either the Province of Ontario or the City of Toronto may limit what you can do. Check the links for the latest info.

And now on to the regular post …..

The area around St. Lawrence Market includes nearby Corktown and the Distillery District, and it’s a fantastic intro to Toronto – downtown, close to hotels, shops, and transit, full of history, and even more full of good things to eat. If you have just one day in TO, then come here.

Location: St. Lawrence Market itself is at the corner of Front and Jarvis Streets. My personal definition of the more general Market neighbourhood is the area between Church Street in the west to Cherry Street in the east, and King Street to the north down to the Esplanade in the south.

Public Transit: The nearest subway is King Station, on Line 1. The St. Lawrence Market is about a 5-7 minute walk from there. You can also take the 503 or 504 Streetcar east from King Station and get off at Jarvis Street – the Market is just a block south from there.

Why I like it:

First of all, there are a lot of memories for me here. When I met my soon-to-become wife in 1987, she was living in the area, just off the Esplanade. Since she had a much nicer apartment than my basement bedsit, I moved in with her and we lived there for the 1st year or so of our marriage. We also lived just north of here in the early 2000’s and spent many hours walking the neighbourhood pushing a stroller to get our son to sleep.

When we were young and, let’s call it non-affluent, we would hit the market at the end of the day, when vendors were selling off their unsellables. As our budgets expanded, and as we travelled, we starting looking for things we’d tasted in Europe – the cheese, the olives, the fish, the meats. Then when we became parents, a Saturday at the Market became an easy way to keep young one entertained and fed with interesting snacks. And always, it’s been a place to take visitors to the city, who never fail to be wowed by the scents, the sights, and the sounds.

Over the 30+ years since we lived nearby, we’ve always made a point of visiting the Market whenever we can, regardless of where we’ve lived in the City (or elsewhere – we would always try to squeeze in a visit when we came home while we were living in London). There is so much to see and do any time of the year, and if we’re feeling a bit bored by food-shopping we can always explore the rest of the area, especially east over through Corktown and the Distillery District.

There are actually 2 markets, the red brick South Market which is open 5 days a week, and the now-temporarily-in-a-tent-for-the-next-few-years-and-confusingly-named North Market, which is currently located south of the South Market. The North Market, which used to be on the north side of Front Street across from the South Market, is open on Saturdays as a farmers market and on Sundays as an antique market. The City is building a new structure to house it, and it will eventually return to its rightful North Market location.

Sights:

Since this area is one of the oldest in Toronto (at least, what passes for old in the sense of European settlement), there are many historical sites and features. But for me, the starting and ending point is the Market itself. I always get a tingle of anticipation whenever I visit, thinking of what I’ll find and what I’ll cook and, most importantly, what I’ll be tempted to eat while I’m there.

It’s also one of the great all-season places in Toronto. Spring is about new flowers and days just warm enough to sit out at a picnic table. Summer overflows with vendors on the sidewalks, with fruits and veggies from all around Toronto. Autumn is my favourite, when the harvest season brings those crisp blue-sky days that make wondering so much fun. And winter is great too, especially around the holidays, when the market is bursting with shoppers and carollers and cheer.

Outside the Market, the shops along King and Front Streets are interesting too. It’s become a bit of a furniture/design destination. There’s also George Brown College just east on King, so there’s a student vibe that’s fun. And of course, over at the Distillery District, there are tons of shops and funky laneways to wander and browse.

Holiday Market at the Distillery District

If you need some green space, there’s that too. The park next to St. James Cathedral is always green and welcoming. There are also a series of parks along the Esplanade (including one that’s in the opening shots of Kim’s Convenience), and at the east end of Corktown there’s the fabulous Corktown Common.

Winter at St. James is beautiful too

There are probably other things in Toronto that some might find more fun, but for me, spending the morning shopping at the Market, then picking up a picnic lunch and going for a walk through the neighbourhood to end up at the Common where I can sit on the grass and eat my feast, all followed by a coffee at Balzac’s in the Distillery – that’s a perfect day.

Summer at the market includes flowers

Food & Refreshment:

There are just too many to choose from – if you want to sample the multi-cultural variety of Toronto, you can start here and cover a lot. There’s down-home Canadian (Paddington’s Pump’s famous back bacon sandwiches!), pizza and pasta, souvlaki, sushi, chow mien, crepes, cheeses, smoothies, sausages, pates, pickles, breads, pretzels, sweets, fruits, veggies, spices, salts, herbs, oils, flavourings, and so much more, and that’s just in the Market itself.

Breakfast at Paddington’s Pump

When it comes to food, you have options. You can view it as a giant, full-on grocery store and pick up the ingredients for a feast. You can look at it as a great take-out place, from any of a dozen or so places that range from avocado toast to zaatar-spiced treats. Or you can sit down in a more restaurant-like setting (across the street at Market Lane) and enjoy a meal and a glass of wine at one of the places there. And of course, you can do all 3 the same day, as we often do.

Along King there are many more restaurants and bars, and if you time it well you can try some budding chef’s talents at the Chef’s House restaurant run by the George Brown College catering school.

Finally, the Distillery District has its share of wine and dine options, along with coffee, tea, and chocolate treats.

Come hungry and you’ll be fine.

Diversions:

  1. I’ve used the Market in the past as my jumping off place for long walks. To the east at the Common, you can pick up the Lower Don Valley Trail. To the south, you can join the Martin Goodman Trail. Either way, fuelling up at Paddington’s Pump is a great way to start a long walk.
  2. Just west of the St. Lawrence area, at Yonge and Front Streets, there is the Hockey Hall of Fame – what could be more Canadian, eh?
  3. While this isn’t the official Theatre District, you can find your share of the arts here. There’s the Meridian Hall (formerly the Hummingbird Centre for the Arts), the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Young People’s Theatre, and the Canadian Opera Company’s St. Lawrence space, all within a few blocks of St. Lawrence Market.
  4. Throughout the year, there’s live music and festivals galore, everything from buskers and Buskerfest to BBQ fests to Toronto’s own Holiday Market. Check sites like Toronto.com or BlogTO to see what’s happening.

Favourite Toronto Walks – Don Valley Trails

Robert Bradt

Part of a series on my favourite walking trails in Toronto.

A great walk in any season, following the Don River north from the lake takes you through some of the best parks in Toronto.

Length: about 13.5 km

Surface: 90% paved with a bit of packed gravel

Public Transit options to get to Corktown include the street car from King Station on subway Line 1, along King to Cherry Street and then a short walk to Corktown. I like to subway to King Station and walk from there to Corktown, about 2 km. At the other end, there’s the Leslie 51 or the Lawrence East 54 bus from Edwards Gardens, which both take you back to Eglinton Station on subway Line 1.

From the south end at Corktown Common, the Lower Don Trail takes you up past several points where you can jump on or off – at Queen Street, Riverdale Park, Pottery Road, Crothers Woods, Don Mills, Thorncliffe, or Eglinton. You can take public transit to or from all of these, or you can find parking in many of the parks. Also the Toronto cycle path network intersects with the Trail at multiple points, so you can jump on/off that way as well.

In addition to starting at a Park at Corktown and ending in one at the Toronto Botanical Gardens, you’ll also travel through or past multiple parks along the way, including Riverdale Park, Riverdale Farm, the Evergreen Brickworks, Crother’s Woods, E.T. Seton Park, Serena Gundy Park, and Wilket Creek Park. Any of these offer shade, benches, and picnic tables, and water fountains and toilets are available from May through October. If you’re walking November through April, there are washrooms and water fountains at the Brickworks and at Riverdale Farm, as well as Edwards Gardens.

I like to start at Corktown Common and go north. Years ago, this area was industrial, rundown, and polluted – I can remember travelling through here at the bottom of the Bayview Extension. Starting in the early 2000’s, the City of Toronto has led a transformation, so that today the new residential buildings are anchored by the green space of the park.

I’ve walked these trails in both directions multiple times, in all seasons. There’s always wildlife – ducks and geese, salmon spawning in the autumn, chipmunks and squirrels, coyotes, deer, raccoons, robins, redwing blackbirds, jays, crows, hawks, and falcons. There’s also the wildflowers, the autumn colours, the spring blooms, and the cool shaded groves, the willowy grasses and the whispering reeds. And of course the burble of the river, especially north of the Bloor Viaduct, is a constant.

There is a downside in the traffic on the Don Valley Expressway, which the trail abuts along the lower stretch, but you leave that behind once you get to E.T. Seton Park. When you walk north, you’re walking from the urban to the suburban, from the industrial to the pastoral.

Also, when you walk north you realize that there is a significant elevation gradient to Toronto. The Lake is at roughly 90 m above mean sea level, so at Corktown you’re just above that. Travelling north you are climbing, and by the time you get to the Botanical Gardens, you’ll have gained almost 100m to about 180m or so above MSL. That, plus the humps over the bridges, will easily get your stair count up.

That said, since the trail is mostly paved and you are climbing gently over a 13 km length, it’s an easy walk. You can stroll it or jog it, and it’s suitable for mobility devices like walkers and wheel chairs, as well as for baby carriages, strollers, and wagons. Just keep in mind that it is a shared path for bikes, so you have to keep an eye out for them.

Finally, there are lots of options for food and refreshment along the way. Near Corktown is the Distillery District, where there are several restaurants and bars. A bit further west from there is St. Lawrence Market, with even more choice. As you head north, there is a good restaurant at the Don Valley Brickworks, and there’s a cafe at the Botanical Gardens at the end of your hike. Or you can do what I like to do, and take a picnic lunch with you and find a spot to enjoy it – a favourite is the fish ladder about 1 km north of Pottery Road where you can sit by the river in the shade.

Crossing Toronto Stage 1 – Etobicoke to the Don

Robert Bradt
Storm clouds over the lake

Once you’ve made a plan, the next step is to execute it. Stage 1 of my Crossing Toronto plan was to walk from Etobicoke Creek to Corktown Common, beside the Don River. It meant starting at the western edge of the city, and since the Long Branch GO train station is only a few hundred meters from Etobicoke Creek, that was the perfect jumping off point. I had to hustle to catch my train that morning but I could relax and conserve energy on the way there.

From the train station, I walked west along Lakeshore Blvd West over Etobicoke Creek, leaving Toronto and entering Mississauga, where I could pick up a trail down the west side of the creek through Marie Curtis Park.

Etobicoke Creek at Marie Curtis Park

In Marie Curtis park, I turned east to re-enter Toronto by crossing the creek on the Waterfront Trail, part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail system. Within Toronto, the Waterfront Trail joins together multiple shorter Trails like the Martin Goodman Trail, the Beaches Boardwalk, and the trail through Port Union Waterfront Park. It’s well signed the whole way, and I would realize over the course of my journey that following its markers made navigation easy.

MapsDonate Now

Great Lakes Waterfront Trail

Given the transit time to get to Long Branch, it was already 9:00 a.m. by the time I got going, with grey skies and forecasts for some rain, and sure enough within 20 minutes some sprinkles forced me to drag out the rain gear, before a light rain took me into a Tim’s for a coffee. That unplanned early stop was welcome nevertheless, because in dashing for my train I hadn’t had a chance to buy a coffee and I was feeling caffeine-starved.

While sitting there drinking my coffee, my mind wandered onto Tim Horton, the hockey player. The current president of the Toronto Maple Leafs is Brendan Shanahan, who was born and raised in Mimico. Tim Horton was a star defenceman who anchored the championship Leafs teams in the 1960’s, including the 1967 team that last claimed the Stanley Cup for Toronto. He was also a canny businessman whose investment in a donut shop grew into a food empire spanning the country, so that today you can order a double-double from St. John’s to Victoria to Iqaliut. For those, unfamiliar with Tim’s, a double-double is a coffee with 2 creams or milks and 2 sugars, and if you say you’re doing a Tim’s run in any workplace in Canada, a chorus of heads will pop up to place their orders.

After that little break, I listened to my inner Gandalf and resolved to follow the Trail. Since much of this area is private property, it can’t always follow the shoreline of the lake so in many places it winds through the back streets of New Toronto and into Mimico, for the most part along Lakeshore Drive (not to be confused with the larger, busier Lakeshore Boulevard which runs parallel but north of Lakeshore Drive). These neighbourhoods have welcomed many new Canadians for decades, arriving from many countries including Poland, and that’s why the Polish Consulate in Toronto is located on Lakeshore Blvd at Royal York in Mimico.

And speaking of immigrants, I also noticed many hints of Newfoundlanders in the area, from bumper stickers to ironic boat names like Chateau Newf. There are many in St. John’s who would view a move to Toronto as move to a foreign country so I guess that’s in keeping with the neighbourhood.

It was a quiet morning, a Thursday in mid summer, and the sky was glowering. There was a bit of humidity though the temperatures weren’t that high, so it felt very close and you knew rain was in the air. There wasn’t that much breeze, nor much traffic, and it felt like I was out on my own – there were few fellow walkers about.

Along the way, I passed through Colonel Samuel Smith Park, which contains some great walking trails (and a really cool ice trail for winter skating). The early part of my walk was quiet and serene – birds everywhere, wildflowers in bloom, bees and butterflies, and even a turtle plopping back into the water. Something about the looming clouds made it even more intimate, like a darkened room.

Col Sam Smith park, in addition to wonderful trails, is also home to the Lakeshore Yacht Club. I spent many a night there with my friend Paul throwing darts, as he was a member. Walking past the boats brought back some warm memories.

Lakeshore Yacht Club – it was actually about 10:00 a.m. but the rain clouds made it look like sunset

Continuing on, I passed through a series of parks that have been created around the mouth of the Humber River – Humber Bay West, Humber Bay East, Humber Bay Shores – where the famous white-painted arched foot bridge welcomed me into the old city of Toronto. Prior the 1990’s, Etobicoke was a separate City in its own right, and walking through the area it still has a distinct feel to it.

The Humber River foot bridge

Once you cross the bridge, you’re in Sunnyside Park, where a boardwalk starts and continues on for several km. The boardwalk makes for great people watching as well as bird-spotting. There were Canada geese everywhere and their poo grenades made the boardwalk slippery. There were also mallard ducks, wood ducks, cormorants, herring gulls, swans, and even a great blue heron. I’m not a bird watcher, but it was funny seeing a flotilla of geese gliding majestically along the shore while in the distance a smaller and more ragged flotilla of sail boats competed in a race.

Along the waterfront, the City has installed hundreds of Adirondack-style chairs, dotted along the path all the way to Queens Quay. I chose one that gave a great view and enjoyed a bit of lunch. I was at about 12 km, so just over half-way, and ready for a rest.

From Sunnyside, the Waterfront Trail follows the shoreline east through a series of parks, and past landmarks like the Argonaut Rowing Club, the Palais Royale, and the Boulevard Club. The Trail is also adjacent to the Gardiner Expressway, and as I was walking along I noticed a large semi truck and trailer passing by. It caught my eye because the sides of the trailer were brightly painted with faces of some of the performers in Wrestlemania. And then I spotted another vehicle in the Wrestlemania caravan, and another, and another, till I lost count at around 15. How much stuff does it take to mount this particular circus? Does the world need 15 trucks worth of loud, spandexed athlete entertainers to consider itself amused? It put my walking into perspective – I amuse myself differently I guess.

At around the 15 km mark I passed Exhibition Place, and there noticed one of the 3 sure signs of the end of summer – I spotted a truck turning into the Exhibition grounds loaded with rides to set up for the Canadian National Exhibition aka the CNE or just the Ex (the other 2 signs being the calls of bluejays (the bird, not the baseball team), and the calls of commentators on the state of the Maple Leafs).

I have to say, this stretch of the Trail is a slog, exposed to the sun, greenery-free, and sandwiched between a busy Lakeshore Blvd/Gardiner Expressway and acres of car parks. But finally you come to Coronation Park. It’s a welcome stretch of greenery and is usually quiet, but on this day I came across a fundraising group that was having a softball home run derby – some of those folks could really put a charge into a ball, and the PA announcer was providing a running commentary.

East of Coronation Park, the trail passes through the Little Norway neighbourhood and then along Queens Quay, past the Toronto Music Garden. This is an interesting idea – the plantings are arranged to illustrate different styles of music. It’s lost on me, tone-deaf as I am, but worth a visit all the same.

I had just reached the shelter of the trees there when the rains returned in buckets, and I had to make a dash for another Tim Hortons along Queens Quay, where I sheltered alongside tourists from many places, judging by the snatches of Spanish, Italian, German, and American that I overheard. They struggled with the concept of a small double-double – that’s not how one orders coffee in Rome.

After a short wait, the rain cleared and I set my sights on the Don. I was about 18 km into the walk, and it was time to push on to the finish. There is an incredible amount of construction happening near the lake, from Yonge east to the river. Condos and office towers are going up left and right, and despite the marked Waterfront Trail, you have to dodge dump trucks and skip over muddy puddles trying to follow it. After the peaceful quiet of the morning’s walk, this was a loud reminder of Toronto’s constant growth. It shouldn’t have been a surprise – Col Sam Smith Park is just one of many built in part on landfill excavated during earlier waves of building, and Toronto is no mood to slow down.

That industrial character is also evident in landmarks like the Redpath Sugar Mills and the grain elevators. As you go east towards the Don, you lose sight of the lake amidst the new construction as well as the docks, wharves, and shipping warehouses that still dominate the area. It’s hard to follow the Waterfront Trail through this mess, but if you want to pass the mouth of the Don and get to Corktown Commons, you have to put up with the noise of traffic and construction.

Keating Channel, where the Don River meets Lake Ontario
The mouth of the Don

When you do get to the river, it’s sadness that overwhelms you. Once this was marsh and wetlands alive with wildlife. Today it’s brown lifeless water and rusty bridges, with traffic roars drowning out any hint of birdsong or frog croak.

And then you follow the path a few more meters and there under the Gardiner Expressway, a bright soul has created a series of fantastic murals that add colour and life to the grey concreted mess.

That little artistic interlude takes you past the worst of the construction and then you finally arrive at Corktown Common. It’s a wonderful park, and the warm wet summer we’ve been having has brought wildflowers and greenery exploding onto the paths. 30 years ago, the area that is now the park was a wasteland of old industrial buildings, car parks, and rusty containers. Today, this green oasis served to remind me that the shocking state of the mouth of the Don can be reversed, a fitting thought to finish the first stage of my journey.

Walk Journal – Dec. 30, 2018

Robert Bradt

Location: Toronto – Corktown to the Beaches and back

Weather: 1C, grey skies, snow on the ground

Duration: about 2:45 hours, 14.5k

Today my wife and I decided to walk through the Beaches neighbourhood, so to make it longer we drove to Corktown Common and parked there. Then we walked along Eastern Ave to Broadview and then up to Queen and from there walked east through Riverside and Leslieville to the Beaches. After a nice brunch pitstop at the Sunset Grill, we kept going east on Queen to Silver Birch Ave to get down to Balmy Beach. From there, turned back west and walked along the boardwalk and the Waterfront Trail to Ashbridge’s Bay, then back up to Queen to keep going west all the way back to the Lower Don River Trail, and so back to Corktown.

If you know Toronto, you’ll recognize those neighbourhoods. For those out of town, this combined revitalized ex-industrial lands (Corktown Common), gentrified, already-past-hipster-and-on-to-Starbucks blocks (Riverside and Leslieville) and 1-kid-2-dogs ex-hippy Beaches. We’ve been going for walks in the Beaches for years – in fact the day before she went into labour, my wife and I went for a walk there after eating some spicy food in order to get things going.

It’s changed and yet it’s the same – the houses, the vibe, the people. The sound of the day for me was the rattle of sticks and pucks from the outdoor ice rink at Beaches Park, closely followed by the crunch of wet snow underfoot and the churn of small waves on gravelly shores. It was grey but it was lovely, calm, and a reminder of one of the things I love about Toronto, it’s park and trail system.

For a few years in a row when our son was younger, we’d go out to the Beaches and walk the boardwalk on New Year’s Day. This year we went a bit earlier, and now that he’s older he didn’t come with us. But watching the other young parents with kids brought back memories. Walks are often contemplative, and that was today.