Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Like the Don in the east, the Humber flows through many neighbourhoods, linking them.
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Humber River Valley
- Thread starter Urban Shocker
- Start date
Dichotomy
Banned
The Humber has much more flow, however. You'd be hard pressed to canoe on the Don, except during peak spring run-off; however, there is an actual marina on the Humber, just south of Bloor which is home to a couple dozen boats up to 25' or so. With a canoe or kayak, you can go further up the Humber, past Bloor.
There are some gorgeous marshes along that stretch and the homes are stunning.
There are some gorgeous marshes along that stretch and the homes are stunning.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
True, although it's somewhat artifical in both cases. The Humber is dammed at Clairville in north Etobicoke, and the Don at the Ross Lord Dam near Finch and Dufferin. The water flow depends on how much water they release through the dams.
The Humber is probably more attractive, all things considered. It originates well out in the country north of Bolton, and flows through rural areas in Caledon and Vaughan before getting into Toronto. It also has, at least for now, a nicer environment at the mouth of the river, entering Lake Ontario.
Dichotomy
Banned
A lot of the dams on the Humber have been dismantled. There was one in Bolton years ago. As kids, we used to swim at 'dick's dam' right in the main area of old Bolton. Earlier than that, Boyd Park (at Islington/Rutherford) had a nice dam and swimming hole in the '60s,. which I also used to use. Also gone now.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Yesterday I took the Jane bus north from the subway and got off at Weston Road.
It isn't a part of town I visit often - in fact I'd only been there once before, 27 years ago. My partner had been a patient at West Park TB Hospital in 1980, and the next summer he returned with me to take a walk along the nearbye Humber Valley. He brought a picnic, and I remember that during our walk we'd sat on high ground somewhere - with a steep drop in front of us, a frost fence to lean against at our backs, and a fine open view overlooking the valley. I'd completely forgotten about that trip until recently, and decided to go back on the long weekend and take a look.
I walked along Buttonwood, through the grounds of West Park which didn't seem familiar at all, and along Emmett as it curved distinctively down to Eglinton flats - which I vaguely remembered from my previous visit. I turned right onto a footpath that led into the valley, a canopy of trees above, the sound of the river on my left. Again, quite familiar. Yesterday was a typical hot midsummer day, not unlike my previous visit. There were varieties of butterflies I don't usually see. One or two people came along the path towards me, and passed.
Memory told me that I would have a view of the hospital, to my right, as I walked along the path. But memory proved wrong - the hospital was higher up and hidden from view.
Memory told me that the footpath would narrow, and lead steeply up along the side of the ravine to my right, but memory proved wrong again.
I followed the footpath further along through Raymore Park, and the river came more in sight to my left. Insects buzzed about. Large birds - herons I think - took off from the water. Soon I reached a concrete weir that spanned the river.
With no sign of the narrow path I'd expected, I scrambled up the ravine embankment to the right, and emerged at the top at the exact place where we had sat for our lunch all those years before. Well, at least this isn't a false memory, I realised. But the trees and shrubs had now almost completely obscured what had once been been the view down to the river and along the valley, yet the fence was there, and little Denison Park behind it. Immediately to the south, also overlooking the valley, was St. John's Cemetery-on-the-Humber which I didn't recall seeing on my earlier visit.
Later, I retraced my steps - more or less - down into the valley, back up to Jane Street, and got the bus back to the subway. Then home to Riverdale, and a big pot of tea and some digestive biscuits.
It isn't a part of town I visit often - in fact I'd only been there once before, 27 years ago. My partner had been a patient at West Park TB Hospital in 1980, and the next summer he returned with me to take a walk along the nearbye Humber Valley. He brought a picnic, and I remember that during our walk we'd sat on high ground somewhere - with a steep drop in front of us, a frost fence to lean against at our backs, and a fine open view overlooking the valley. I'd completely forgotten about that trip until recently, and decided to go back on the long weekend and take a look.
I walked along Buttonwood, through the grounds of West Park which didn't seem familiar at all, and along Emmett as it curved distinctively down to Eglinton flats - which I vaguely remembered from my previous visit. I turned right onto a footpath that led into the valley, a canopy of trees above, the sound of the river on my left. Again, quite familiar. Yesterday was a typical hot midsummer day, not unlike my previous visit. There were varieties of butterflies I don't usually see. One or two people came along the path towards me, and passed.
Memory told me that I would have a view of the hospital, to my right, as I walked along the path. But memory proved wrong - the hospital was higher up and hidden from view.
Memory told me that the footpath would narrow, and lead steeply up along the side of the ravine to my right, but memory proved wrong again.
I followed the footpath further along through Raymore Park, and the river came more in sight to my left. Insects buzzed about. Large birds - herons I think - took off from the water. Soon I reached a concrete weir that spanned the river.
With no sign of the narrow path I'd expected, I scrambled up the ravine embankment to the right, and emerged at the top at the exact place where we had sat for our lunch all those years before. Well, at least this isn't a false memory, I realised. But the trees and shrubs had now almost completely obscured what had once been been the view down to the river and along the valley, yet the fence was there, and little Denison Park behind it. Immediately to the south, also overlooking the valley, was St. John's Cemetery-on-the-Humber which I didn't recall seeing on my earlier visit.
Later, I retraced my steps - more or less - down into the valley, back up to Jane Street, and got the bus back to the subway. Then home to Riverdale, and a big pot of tea and some digestive biscuits.
adma
Superstar
The Mount Dennis Jane's Walk covered (or paralleled) a lot of that.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Thanks, adma, if they walk the walk again ... I hope to go.
In a The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there or perhaps a Trip to Bountiful sort of way, it was a worthwhile afternoon. Not just to reconnect with my past, and to realize how neither of us then could have clearly predicted the world that I live in now, but to discover how unreliable memory can be - and how gaps in it are sometimes "infilled" with the monster homes of our imagination.
In a The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there or perhaps a Trip to Bountiful sort of way, it was a worthwhile afternoon. Not just to reconnect with my past, and to realize how neither of us then could have clearly predicted the world that I live in now, but to discover how unreliable memory can be - and how gaps in it are sometimes "infilled" with the monster homes of our imagination.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
There's an article about the Humber River turtle guy in the latest Spacing.
Glen
Senior Member
I believe that the Boyd Park swimming hole is still there.
PS. it is the East Humber that runs through Boyd.
Dichotomy
Banned
Well, you can swim there, but the dam that used to make a small lake where the concession stand/washrooms still are is gone. My family owned the property on the corner of Islington/Rutherford back in the '60s, before it was expropriated (and now its just another boring subdivision.) As a kid, I used to swim in Boyd Park a lot, as it was a 10 minute hike through the forest to get there.