East Don Trail Project

[beatle04]

Phase 2 is basically unofficially open. Biked the trail today and there were lots of people on it even though one small section of the trail still obviously had fencing going up. It’s a nice trail but what shocked me is how unfriendly the bridges are to bikes. The bridges seems to have A LOT of small bumps built into them which caused my entire bike to vibrate quite severely while crossing. And no, I wasn’t going fast at all...I was crawling and I could barely handle the vibration.

 

[robmausser]

The bridges seems to have A LOT of small bumps built into them which caused my entire bike to vibrate quite severely while crossing. And no, I wasn’t going fast at all...I was crawling and I could barely handle the vibration.

Perhaps thats done on purpose. Officially, I believe bikes are supposed to dismount on all bridges. Silly, but thats the rule I believe.

 

[junctionist]

Perhaps thats done on purpose. Officially, I believe bikes are supposed to dismount on all bridges. Silly, but thats the rule I believe.

That's actually not the law in Ontario, though such rules have occasionally been created in certain locations through municipal signage.

 

[KevinT]

The bridges seems to have A LOT of small bumps built into them which caused my entire bike to vibrate quite severely while crossing. And no, I wasn’t going fast at all...I was crawling and I could barely handle the vibration.

Waterloo had the same issue when they twinned the bridge on the Laurel Trail over Silver Lake in Waterloo Park. They closed it again, pulled the decking, and redid it with a different fastener system. (Or it may have been the replacement bridge on the Iron Horse Trail over Henry Sturm Creek, one or the other of them had this issue.) Hopefully this one is as quickly resolved, although it's a shame that they can't just get them right in the first place.

 

[robmausser]

East Don Trail Newsletter - Construction of Phase II is Complete

 

[Northern Light]

Sooo, after the Meadoway, I went and walked this new trail. I have pictures and observations.

So, I started here, at Wigmore Park, which is the southern end of this phase.

The trail access here follows a narrow ravine/gully which contains or ought to contain Wigmore Brook, a tributary of the East Don.

You can see the culverts here which suggest water flow, but no water is present at the top of the hill here.

The condition of this space is improved in that the water here, when present used to flow in/over a concrete ditch. The paving has been removed.

Unfortunately, for reasons that escape me, no effort was made to naturalize this space. Shading the immediate area would not only add to the natural environment in general, but would likely increase

the presence of water, due to shade (less evaporation)

The brook originally had a route to just east of Victoria Park Avenue. Today, it ends in Wigmore Park, just a bit further east.

This is a view 'upstream', heading east, where the former brook route is visible and still wet in spring, in a small depression between some backyards and a school.

We now begin our descent into the valley. You can see the creek bed clearly along the south side of the trail; but there is no visible flow whatsoever. In my experience, prior to this work, I have seen water here, though not much, and usually moreso in spring.

Same location, but now centred on the trail.

Looking back up the hill, a missed opportunity not to naturalize an otherwise unused piece of slope. This can be done later; but since restoration crews did work on this project; it would have made sense to do this now.

Next we see a bit of ugly as we descend. This is the north slope the moment it goes natural (from mowed grass). The very light coloured leaves all tied up in vines on the ground are the non-native, invasive plant known as Dog Strangling Vine.

Would have made sense to treat or remove this early in the project, then re-plant.

Fortunately, it does get nicer.

But before I let everyone get all happy happy............A shot up the north slope again...........shows lots of barren ground, an indication of forest health. Also probable evidence of past erosion given just how close the homes are to the edge of the slope.

As we continue our descent, we encounter a lovely stand of mixed conifers. Lovely to see; and the fallen needles bringing a wonderful cedar scent to the fore.

Another look back up the hill, with the view improving considerably.

More to come, next post.

 

[Northern Light]

As we approach the mid-point of our descent, a shot of fairly healthy forest we don't see as often as I'd like in Toronto, on the southern slope. The one problem here, look at the ground, very little regeneration.

Once again, a (last) look up a dry creek bed.

Ah, but the water isn't completely gone........lets look over the slope below:

A closer look:

Children are often told to put their toys away when they are done playing with them. Somebody should tell the TRCA:

A brief interlude, mid-slope before going down further...........brings us to clear evidence of past human intrusion...........an old orchard tree. Its not doing any harm to anyone. Stubborn bugger! Has to be over 50 years old.

Hmmm, an unpaved branch trail leading down; I didn't have time to explore this today.

A little unintended colour in this shot, but its still worth posting, as it shows you how far down and far up we are.

The buildings in the distance are along Wynford, going as far south as Eglinton.

Excuse me, width notwithstanding, its a trail, not a road; and it is most certainly open!

Ahem......I purposefully captured the top of the new fence here at the bottom of the pic to show you this is the slope cut the TRCA's crews made.

Its already eroding. Its too steep to be either unvegetated or without some form of retaining wall. Grumble.

A pretty nice view as our descent resumes in earnest. The north end of Wynford Drive in full view.

Just a smidge lower:

Next post, we'll be at the valley bottom.

 

[Northern Light]

Here we are at the valley bottom at the first of 2 bridges in quick succession.

Note that the grass has been introduced here, the area was previously natural. This was done, I assume, to hold the ground; but its not on a slope, and I'm not overly impressed. I do hope the intent is to introduce native forest plants here and not leave what will prove to be a very wet lawn.

From the bridge you just saw, looking north, you can see a very large erosion scar.

a brief interlude from my photos to give you aerial shot of that same scar, via Google: (center of the vertical axis, to the right of the river)

Now back to my photos and a close-up of that scar:

Now for a look the other way, looking south down the river. Are you really in Toronto? Are you sure? (very much so)

We're now approaching the second bridge, and here some restoration has been done.

Here's bridge #2

The angle here is deceiving, as we are again looking north, off the second bridge, but this time, we are looking down river, instead of up, as we catch the river in a switchback.

One last post for the day forthcoming........

 

[Northern Light]

Post bridge #2, we again find another TRCA toy left outside the toy box:

Just beyond that, some really nice nature, and the rare shot where I didn't have to wait for a people-less moment. Pretty as it is; this one makes me a bit sad, as I used to hike here before the trail went in.

I preferred it without the pavement or the substantial pedestrian traffic. I rarely used to encounter anyone; today I would hazzard a guess that in just over an hour on trail, I encountered maybe 200 people.

I can get behind sharing; I'm pro-bike, but I do want to see some of these spaces reserved to nature.

Just beyond the above shot, I found a lovely little tributary to the East Don.

Now we encounter Metrolinx's tracks (the Bala Sub), aka, the GO Richmond Hill Line.

Next, another erosion scar, this one on the south slope of the river, immediately west of the railway bridge. Yes, that slope will fail further up. Not much to be done about at this point.

Uh, excuse me..........WTF is this.............this is a Metrolinx contractor by the looks of it, clearing vegetation away from the Bala sub. While that is necessary periodically, they took far more than necessary, unless they are intended to add a passing track here, which, to my knowledge, they are not.

We're almost ready to wrap up this journey, if only cause my camera battery ran dry............Some lovely looking White Birch here.

And finally......once again with the TRCA and their toys! What a messy lot!

 

[smallspy]

You can see the culverts here which suggest water flow, but no water is present at the top of the hill here.

In all my years of riding through the area, I have only ever seen water at the top of that gully in the spring - it's almost always been dry by the end of May.

There were 2 or 3 springs that would feed it as it dropped into the valley, but I can also recall some summers having one or more of those dry up as well.

Uh, excuse me..........WTF is this.............this is a Metrolinx contractor by the looks of it, clearing vegetation away from the Bala sub. While that is necessary periodically, they took far more than necessary, unless they are intended to add a passing track here, which, to my knowledge, they are not.

View attachment 281408

There is a bridge enhancement/replacement programme planned for the lower stretches of the Bala Sub. They are going to replace along the same alignment, but I believe that they will also be lengthening the spans to allow for more water flow in high water events. Thus they need a bit of room on either side of the bridge - for now - in order to pile for new supports and abutments.

Dan

 

[Northern Light]

In all my years of riding through the area, I have only ever seen water at the top of that gully in the spring - it's almost always been dry by the end of May.

There were 2 or 3 springs that would feed it as it dropped into the valley, but I can also recall some summers having one or more of those dry up as well.

Yah, I used to see it dry at the top in summer too, but it usually had water by the mid-point, before the plateau. May just be the product of less rain than usual.

There is a bridge enhancement/replacement programme planned for the lower stretches of the Bala Sub. They are going to replace along the same alignment, but I believe that they will also be lengthening the spans to allow for more water flow in high water events. Thus they need a bit of room on either side of the bridge - for now - in order to pile for new supports and abutments.

Dan

Ty for the explanation.

Perhaps they need that much space at that location.

But I have to say the clear-cut goes a long way in both directions.

This is a picture from a Facebook group:

Credit: Floyd Ruskin

Seems like a lot of damage relative to the task at hand. Disappointing, even if reasonable. (not 100% sold on that either, just yet)

 

[MisterF]

 

[smallspy]

Ty for the explanation.

Perhaps they need that much space at that location.

But I have to say the clear-cut goes a long way in both directions.

This is a picture from a Facebook group:

View attachment 281475
Credit: Floyd Ruskin

Seems like a lot of damage relative to the task at hand. Disappointing, even if reasonable. (not 100% sold on that either, just yet)

I guess it depends on how far they - Metrolinx - plan on taking the bridge abutments back. On the Stouffville Line, they replaced three wooden trestles with three 3-span steel girder bridges, and in every case cut the abutments back a good 50 to 80 feet inland from their previous locations. This also involved a decent amount of piling in order to create new footings and bridge seats. They may be planning for much of the same here.

Dan

 

[UpperAvenue]

Great tour @Northern Light ! I biked up to the trail this weekend to check it out and would never have picked up on the things you pointed out myself - so thank you for the insights!

A shot up the north slope again...........shows lots of barren ground, an indication of forest health. Also probable evidence of past erosion given just how close the homes are to the edge of the slope.

How would you improve the health of slopes in these areas? Is this something that volunteers could do or would it require more extensive regeneration efforts? I feel like many ravines in Toronto face similar conditions. I remember walking through Moore Park Ravine many seeing slopes that looked like this.

 

[Northern Light]

Great tour @Northern Light ! I biked up to the trail this weekend to check it out and would never have picked up on the things you pointed out myself - so thank you for the insights!

You're quite welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

How would you improve the health of slopes in these areas? Is this something that volunteers could do or would it require more extensive regeneration efforts? I feel like many ravines in Toronto face similar conditions. I remember walking through Moore Park Ravine many seeing slopes that looked like this.

Moore Park is very clearly a case of Norway Maple domination; they need to be removed and replaced with natives. As most are established trees of size, they would need to be removed by professionals.

The public could be involved in replanting, though with many steep slopes, its probably more practical to do that with professionals as well.

Moore Park ravine has been incredibly altered over the years, going at least as far back as the Beltline and likely further.

Some of that is straight-forward to fix, if you want to spend the $$ (daylighting buried sections of mud creek).

Some of that is considerably more challenging/expensive in that some homes were built very close to stable top of bank, and its likely that slopes were altered, making them steeper (to create more yard space at the top) and probably compacting them for short-term stability.

Buying up homes in that area to restore a 45 degree slope is pretty much not on, in all but the rarest of cases.

There are ways in which portions could be fixed, but again, mostly a professional intervention and not cheap.

For now, I think the best we can hope for there is a gradual reduction in the domination of Norway Maple, some new native plantings, and maybe some effort to restore some degraded soils in pockets.

***

Wigmore ravine does have some Norways, but at first blush, that doesn't seem to be principle issue.

I suspect that again we're looking at altered slopes that supporting the housing development; and I'd have to consult my maps, but I'm wondering about old landfills being likely too, certainly I know there's one just to the north.

Altering compacted, and depleted soils is very possible; but lots of challenges. Again, I don't think a lot for volunteers to do here.

This isn't a litter pick-up issue, or some easy tree planting on level'ish ground or gentle hills.