News   Mar 28, 2024
 1.1K     2 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 575     2 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 877     0 

Urban Wilderness!

Good to know I was pronouncing at least one street right..

For years after I moved here I would pronounce Ossington with an "S" instead of a "Z" sound
I'd call Strachan Ave. "Strackan", Trethewey "Trethway", and I still, from time to time say "Queen's Kway"
 
Cliffcrest Creeks - where the streams have no names

Talk of the Scarborough Bluffs from last week's trip got me hankering to get back that way. Looking at a map of the area I notice two small, unmarked streams at Cudia Park emptying into Lake Ontario in the Cliffcrest neighbourhhod. So I head out to see what they're all about - starting with the western one near Fernwood Heights:

66277736.jpg
66277746.jpg


66277756.jpg
66277768.jpg


66277772.jpg



I can see why the first one is unnamed - its barely there! So I head east to see if the other one is any bigger..:

66277785.jpg
66277793.jpg



...Bigger or not, I can see that its in a much deeper, and much steeper valley than the last one. Nevertheless, I slowly make my way down to the bottom (conveniently forgetting that I'd eventually have to climb back out again):

66277809.jpg
66277819.jpg


66277830.jpg
66277837.jpg


66277843.jpg
66277848.jpg


66277853.jpg
66277865.jpg


66277874.jpg
66277887.jpg



Well, the streams themselves may not be much to look at - but the views are fantastic:

66277890.jpg
66277897.jpg


66277907.jpg
66277911.jpg



From the unnamed streams I head east to a waterway associated with an abundance of names - the Bellamy Ravine Creek in Gates Gully by the Doris McCarthy Trail at Sylvan Park. And if those aren't enough appellations for you, the Province would also like to inform you that the surrounding area has also been known as Springbank and Fool's Paradise:

66278367.jpg
66278374.jpg


66278377.jpg
66278406.jpg


66278378.jpg
66278381.jpg



If I thought the Mimico was easy to walk through, the Bellamy is a veritable stone staircase for the majority of its length:

66278389.jpg
66278399.jpg


66278402.jpg
66278410.jpg


66278418.jpg
66278441.jpg


66278444.jpg
66278450.jpg


66278456.jpg
66278463.jpg


66278470.jpg
66278481.jpg


66278492.jpg
66278498.jpg



I head north now, up Bellamy Road, to another unmarked stream beginning just above Nelson Street, near Porchester Drive:

66278872.jpg
66278875.jpg


66278881.jpg
66278888.jpg


66278894.jpg
66278903.jpg


66278910.jpg
66278914.jpg


66278919.jpg
66278923.jpg


66278935.jpg
66278945.jpg


66278955.jpg
66278959.jpg



North of Banmoor Boulevard things start looking a little familiar, and I find myself back in Cedarbrook Park where I was following the West Highland Creek about a month ago:

66278966.jpg
66278975.jpg


66278986.jpg
66278992.jpg


66279001.jpg
66279009.jpg


66279012.jpg
66279017.jpg



I turn east now and end my journey at Markham Road:

66279030.jpg
66279036.jpg


66279041.jpg
66279049.jpg
 
Toronto's idea of "naturalization"

These need to be naturalized at some point.

-Paving dirt paths in forests and in the Don Valley. So the people who can afford the million $ homes on the river valley won't get their $300 shoes muddy.
-Light the paths, so animal's circadian rythms are completely screwed-up.
-Build fast-food restaurants and "activity centres" in nature areas so urbanites won't feel too out of their element.
-forbidding activities that people established in natural areas long ago, like mountain biking and rock climbing on the premise it "damages" things while permitting their ilk to ride 1200lb horses in the same areas.
-Tearing down, buldozing anything that resembles an historical ruin. Then selliing the land cheap to buddies at outfits like Cadillac Fairview.
 
Some of 'our' photographers may want to look into this current City tender call?

Commodity: Professional Services, Service Providers
Description: For: Photography of Natural Parklands in Toronto
The purpose of this request for proposal (RFP) is to contract a professional landscape photographer to create a collection of photographs that document, interpret and celebrate natural parkland areas in the City of Toronto during 2012 and 2013 for the City's City Planning Division.
Issue date: February 9, 2012 Closing date: February 24, 2012
at 12:00 Noon
Go to: https://wx.toronto.ca/inter/pmmd/calls.nsf/professional?OpenView
 
Heh. Even if I was "a professional landscape photographer," years ago I had a job doing nothing but writing proposals for government RFPs, after which I vowed never to look at another RFP again...

...it is interesting, though, how much construction equipment you come across in the middle of the woods lately.
 
West Don River - tri-borough trek, part 1

Today I embark on a journey which takes me through not one, not two, but three of the former Metro municipalities - starting at the very heart of East York, the forks of the Don:

66866538.jpg
66866548.jpg


66866561.jpg
66866571.jpg



From there I head north through E.T. Seton Park:

66866574.jpg
66866577.jpg


66866583.jpg
66866586.jpg



Under the towering Overlea overpass where the river straddles the boundary between East York and North York:

66866595.jpg
66866599.jpg


66866602.jpg
66866607.jpg


66866611.jpg
66866614.jpg



At the upper reaches of Seton Park I approach the massive CP Rail bridge:

66866617.jpg
66866622.jpg


66866628.jpg
66866630.jpg


66866634.jpg
66866640.jpg


66866646.jpg
66866654.jpg



Past Eglinton Avenue and into Wilket Creek Park:

66866661.jpg
66866665.jpg


66866673.jpg
66866679.jpg



Further northwest into Serena Gundy Park:

66866690.jpg
66866697.jpg


66866691.jpg
66866706.jpg



I travel but a few steps north into Sunnybrook Park before doubling back at the Don Riding Stables bridge and striking out due-west down a new riverway:

66866712.jpg
66866716.jpg



to be continued...
Now!
 
Burke Brook - tri-borough trek, part 2

At the western edge of Sunnybrook Park the West Don meets the Burke Brook (not to be confused with turn-of-the-millennium pseudo-celebrity Brooke Burke):

66867681.jpg
66867689.jpg


66867697.jpg
66867704.jpg


66867714.jpg
66867723.jpg


66867728.jpg
66867741.jpg


66867748.jpg
66867755.jpg


66867762.jpg



Across Bayview Avenue and into Sunnydene Park:

66867768.jpg
66867775.jpg


66867788.jpg
66867792.jpg



As Sunnydene merges into Sherwood Park, the Burke leaves North York and heads underground, beneath Mount Hope Cemetery, only to re-emerge in the old City of Toronto - our third borough - at the other end of the park:

66867804.jpg
66867811.jpg


66867819.jpg
66867838.jpg



North, under Blythwood Road, and into the Blythwood Ravine:

66867846.jpg
66867852.jpg


66867858.jpg



West, under Mount Pleasant Road, and still in the Blythwood Ravine:

66867864.jpg


66867872.jpg
66867880.jpg


66867887.jpg
66867894.jpg


66867898.jpg
66867908.jpg



The brook heads back underground for a few blocks - underground, beneath such things as the Alexander Muir Memorial:

66867915.jpg


66867921.jpg
66867929.jpg



The Burke Brook re-surfaces just west of Duplex Ave in the Chatsworth Ravine, then quickly culminates (that is, goes back underground for good) at Otter Creek Centre:

66867933.jpg
66867941.jpg


66867952.jpg
66867966.jpg



Finally, returning to the subject of finding "odd edibles" from a few posts back, as if to reward my long tri-borough trek I find submerged at the very end of the creek a full, un-oppened can of beer:

66867973.jpg


...a little worse for wear, no doubt. But at least I knew it would be cold!
Did I drink it?
I'll leave that up to your imaginations...:p
 
fantastic, EVCco, what a monstrously large hike, i'm guessing at least five or six hours, because i've been up and down that entire stretch myself although never all in the same day!!

going up the west don river on the east side is actually pretty easy, the west side is a lot more challenging, and a better representative of "urban wilderness"

the chain basket you showed under the hiscott bridge is the target for hole #6 on the 18-hole frisbee golf course laid in last summer in e.t.seton, which i play often (e.g. http://rudy.ca/frisbee-golf-in-the-snow.html -- similar "horse and rider only" photo)
 
Imagine some douche tagging a memorial like that one to Alexander Muir. Mail boxes and factory walls aren't good enough for these talentless cries for attention? Seriously, those people should be tied to a tree every day for a month for eight hours for people to bring their dogs by to piss on. I think they'd quickly get the idea that there's not much difference in what they're doing.

Some guy asks you to do a mural? Different story. Mind you, the second the paint's dry, some artless, no-talent "tagger" will come along... :mad:
 

Back
Top