Urban Wilderness!

[EVCco]

West Don River - one good return deserves another

Since last week I revisited the East Don after a five month absence, I felt it only fitting to return to the West Don this week after six months away - well, unless you count this brief return to the general area in May:

But I don't count it! So let's get back to Sunnybrook where my last West Don adventure left off in earnest:

Through the Bridges of Glendon Campus:

Over the last little while I had begun to suspect that my 10 year old camera was beginning to lose a bit of fidelity and functionality, especially under certain light conditions. As I reached the Bayview Avenue overpass my suspicions were sadly confirmed in inglorious Technicolorâ„¢ as it started randomly producing pictures like this:

About every other shot now it would do something strange like the above, or the LCD screen would shut off, or something else would happen. To make matters worse, while all this was happening I was being attacked mercilessly by some of the biggest, and most relentless mosquitos I've yet encountered, causing me even to drop my already malfunctioning camera once while futilely trying to swat them away. And this is still under the bridge mind you! Far up from the woods and water:

Nevertheless, as long as my camera continued to occasionally work, I was determined to venture on. That being said, since I couldn't tell how much longer my camera would hold out, and having had my fill of mosquito bites for the time being, and seeing that I was quickly headed into the Rosedale Golf Course anyway, I decided to bypass the next stretch of river and ventured over to Yonge, then back down Donwoods Drive, to pick up along the back-ends of the Hogg's Hollow/York Mills neighbourhood:

Under Donino Ave now, and into York Mills Park:

From Yonge Street to Wilson Avenue:

After a quick trip through Hogg's Hollow proper, I reach the Don Valley Golf Course...:

...I had avoided the last set of links, but I was not about to skip this one, and for good reason - the Hogg's Hollow Bridge; one of the biggest, and the "busiest multi-span bridge" in North America. I've been wanting to get under this one for quite some time. Halfway up the course, however, I'm met with a greenskeeper who informs me that I can't go any further! Something about insurance liability if I get dinged with a golf ball. After explaining my situation, though, he kindly offers to drive me up to the bridge in his golf cart where I'm able to get a few quick shots. But, with my camera still acting up, and not wanting to waste the man's time, I'm only able to get the following:

The greenskeeper then drops me off at the other end of the course. As I only intended to go as far as the bridge on this trip, I didn't bother to bring the segment of my map which would tell me where in the world I was now. As it turns out, I found myself at a new stormwater pond at the south end of Earl Bales Park. So new, in fact, it's not yet on Google Earth, making it rather difficult for me as I attempted to pinpoint the following images:

Still lost in the wilderness, I wander around the woods for a while until fortune shines and I relocate the West Don, and follow it up to Sheppard Avenue to end my day:

 

[EVCco]

Etobicoke Creek - travelling camera review

It's not often I miss a week of wilderness trekking these days, but circumstance sometimes intervenes. As you may remember, I had been having some issues with my camera last time out. However, it seemed to be getting better over the next few days and looked ready for another go out in the bush. So naturally, after taking the hour long subway+bus trip all the way out to the Etobicoke Creek last Thursday, my camera immediately died upon the first snap of the shutter.

Now, after losing 2 cameras in less than a year, and fully expecting to lose a few more, I resolved to head out in search of the cheapest, most dispensable digital camera I could find for my wilderness hikes. After checking Henry's, Downtown Camera, FutureShop, and a few other spots, I at last came across the Vivitar X024 "ViviCam" at Best Buy. And when I say cheap, I mean CHEAP! At $39.95, this playing card sized 10M cam was more than twice as cheap as the next closest competitor, leading me at once to wonder "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" Well, for $40 I felt it was worth finding out. After all, I've come to learn that low-cost does not always equal low-quality. My similarly priced Zellers hiking shoes are still holding up (well, barely). Besides, Vivitar is a somewhat recognized named in photography. How bad could it be? My tri-pod, in fact, is a Vivitar, and has served me well for a decade or so (not that I use it all that often, as you may have noticed).

Well, I soon found out how bad it could be. To begin with, Best Buy was advertising the camera as having a 3x Optical zoom. On the box, however, it only mentioned a 4x Digital zoom. I hoped this might result in a 7x overall zoom, but alas, it was only digital to be - which, as many of you will know, even on good cameras is generally not a very dependable form of magnification. On the other hand, with its pinhole F3/7.45mm lens, everything sort of comes "pre-zoomed" anyways. I guess I can forget any sweeping, panoramic shots. It's probably a good idea the lens is so small though, seeing as how the camera doesn't even come with a lens cap, leaving it constantly exposed to the elements. What isn't small, however, is the LCD screen, which is a decent 2.5 inches. Unfortunately, the resolution is so pixilated that you can't even tell how good the picture you're taking is, which is especially frustrating considering there's no way to focus this thing. It's just "click" and good luck. Another delightful feature is the fact that I have to turn the camera on, then off, then on again every time just to get it to work at all due to some sort of "storage error" it keeps finding with the SD card. I won't even get into the fact that the videos don't even record sound, despite 3 very microphone-looking holes on the front of it which would tend to suggest otherwise.

Well, you get what you pay for I suppose. And I didn't get this camera to take videos, I got it to take pictures. So, I'll let the pictures do the talking. Since I'd already been taking a mostly "snap-shot" approach to this wilderness project, as long as the photos weren't entirely horrible, I can live with all the other nonsense. So here are the results, raw and unedited (well, mostly), beginning at Bloor Street West and the Markland Wood Golf Club:

Rabbits guard the entrance to Fleetwood Park, on the Mississauga side:

Under Burnhamthorpe Road and into Garnetwood Park:

Over the bridge and back into Toronto:

Through Eglinton Avenue, to Matheson Boulevard:

Pushing north to the 401:

Under the highway:

Finally, out behind the airport, and up a little side creek, ending at picturesque little waterfall by the side of the 401:

So that's what $39.95 buys you. Mostly cellphone level grainyness, with a sort of faded old film colour spectrum. Not exactly SLR quality stuff - but not as terrible as I was expecting either. I actually managed to get a few good shots here and there. Maybe with a little Photoshop...who knows? Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the camera managed to get around 400 3MP pics off of three dollar store AAA batteries - and they're still not done. Overall, I'd say if you've got forty bucks to spend, and you're looking for a camera you wouldn't mind dropping in a creek, or off a cliff, give the X024 a try. That's what I'll be doing - at least for the foreseeable future...

 

[r937]

evcco, as a connoisseur of creeks, ravines, and (undersides of) bridges, i salute your latest sally forth, and commend you on the selection and composition of the pictures you took

this is not a criticism, but you should spend at least $60 on your next camera

 

[EVCco]

I wonder what the cheapest "good" camera might be?
Not sure if an extra $20 would help, but if anyone has an old Canon G11 or G12 they'd like to sell for $60, please let me know!

 

[mattelderca]

I wonder what the cheapest "good" camera might be?
Not sure if an extra $20 would help, but if anyone has an old Canon G11 or G12 they'd like to sell for $60, please let me know!

Watch Canadian Tire for their Kodak offerings. I have one I bought for 60 bucks a few years ago and it works a treat.
Here is a sample image taken IIRC at 7.2 MP and in widescreen mode.
And it shoots decent video as well.

 

[EVCco]

Not bad - I have to say Canadian Tire doesn't come first to mind when thinking about cameras..
I'll see how much longer I can tolerate this one for now though.
But I should check if I have any Canadian Tire money stashed away!

 

[EVCco]

Vyner Creek - from bad to worse

In contrast to the relatively broad and open course of the Etobicoke Creek - which yielded rather mixed results from my new budget camera last week - the Vyner Creek is a narrow, densely wooded stream, running through the dim, shady backyards of Silver Hills. I felt, then, that this would provide a perfect opportunity to see how well my "ViviCam" worked under extended low light conditions; testing out all the different exposure, white balance, and metering options (such as they are) in all their varied combinations. Unfortunately, as I was soon to discover, they all combined to produce pretty much the same thing, over and over again: washed-out, blurry crap.

On the plus side, however, there isn't really much to see along the Vyner, so little has been lost for posterity. That is, I don't think there's much to see - although I may well have missed something here or there while fighting my way through some thick tangle of undergrowth, or wading down the middle of the creek itself. Indeed, with nary a footpath in sight, and private property closing in on both sides, what I thought might be a quick, hour-long jaunt at most, turned out to take over 3 hours! All in all, this was probably the closest to a complete waste of time as I've come on all these trips. But I'll let you judge for yourself, as we start just below the 401, then head south to Silvergrove Road:

From Silvergrove Road to Vyner Road:

From Vyner Road to Swansdown Drive:

From Swansdown Drive to Bannatyne Drive:

From Bannatyne Drive to Woodworth Road:

Looping back north now, from Stubbs Drive, through the Woodsworth Greenbelt:

From here the creek descends under Leslie Street, somewhere south of the Oriole GO station. I feel that now would be a good time to take a break from all these blurry, dreary photos and look at a few pics from in and around said station which I just happened to take earlier this month while still in possession of a half-way descent camera:

Back to the Vyner and the ViviCam now; picking up the creek as it enters Moatfield Farm Park (fittingly, just in behind the Urban Forestry Services HQ), from where I follow it until, at last, it meets the East Don River:

In case any of you are wondering, yes I did attempt some Photoshop on these - and, while I'm not exactly the world's foremost Photoshop practitioner, honestly, I don't think this camera even captures enough information for the program to work with. Nevertheless, just as I enjoy the challenge of these treks, I do somewhat enjoy the challenge of trying to squeeze a good photo out of what is essentially a toy. So I'm going to keep at it for a little while longer...

 

[EVCco]

Humber River - back on track

OK, enough with the camera reviews. It's cheap, we get it. Now let's get on with it! And in the aid of getting on with it, I've decided now (at least for the rest of the summer) to stick mainly to the larger rivers and streams, with their wide, expansive, brightly-lit landscapes so as to negate, as much as possible, my paltry camera's aversion to dimness. This tactic, I hope, should also prove useful in avoiding all of the brush, bugs, and overall unnavigability that one typically encounters along those smaller, denser, darkly ravines. And yet, my entry into the Humber Valley this week begins along just such a stretch; a slender shale-bed creek, which flows out of Chapman Valley Park and discharges into Raymore Park from under Scarlett Road:

From here I follow the Tommy Thompson Trail north until I encounter one of the more substantial cataracts in the city, along with just some generally bucolic scenery:

Over the bridge and into Lion's Park, past some reminders of Mater Natura's often less pleasant nature:

Under Lawrence Ave now, skirting the western edge of Weston, through Cruickshank Park:

As I head under St. Phillips Road, and past the Weston Golf & Country Club, I begin to notice a slight burning sensation on my left calf. Thorns and thistles and mosquitos by the millions have taught me over time to head out on these excursions only in long pants and long sleeves. Not always that comfortable in 30+ degree heat, but it beats coming home with a poison ivy rash, or lime disease. Nevertheless, I sense something has penetrated my defences. I roll up my pant leg and find about half-a-dozen red ants just going to town on my flesh! It seems something's always gonna get you if you're out here long enough. Oh well, on with the stroll:

Is it just me, or does it seem like I'm always heading under the 401, at one point or another, these days?:

Out now into the wonderfully alliterative Pine Point Park, where I end today's trek at Albion Road:

 

[r937]

... to head out on these excursions only in long pants and long sleeves.

stinging nettles get me every time

Is it just me, or does it seem like I'm always heading under the 401, at one point or another, these days?

http://qkme.me/3qdf3x

 

[EVCco]

Ah yes, I've been stung by the nettle many a time myself! The most troublesome plant I've found, however, is more annoying than painful...

I think it's called Swallow-wort, and if you step in a patch of it you can deffinitely get swallowed up in it (though, thankfully, no worts). The stuff is everywhere, and I'm constantly getting tangled and tripped-up in it. It's even pulled the shoe right off my foot a couple of times as I tried to free myself from it. It's also called "Dog-strangling Vine," I believe, and it's easy to see why!

 

[Lone Primate]

Here is a sample image taken IIRC at 7.2 MP and in widescreen mode.

Yeah, can't complain about that. That's not bad at all.

 

[EVCco]

This page is starting to chug a bit - a few too many pics I think.
Let me just make some room before I start posting 150-or-so more...

 

[EVCco]

Here's an archived version of a great series in the Globe & Mail from about a decade ago about those who live out in the wilderness:
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/outsiders

Since I've started uploading these pictures I've actually been contacted by a few homeless shelters asking if I've come across certain individuals out there.
The fact is, I rarely come across anyone (homeless people that is) - although there is still ample evidence of people living just about everywhere I've been.
I did, however, once stumble across two people having sex by the Humber.

 

[EVCco]

An interesting course being offered at Ryerson, somewhat relevant to the thread (at least in name):
http://ce-online.ryerson.ca/ce/calendar/default.aspx?id=5&section=course&mode=course&ccode=CHST 527

I wonder if I could apply with my college diploma in Urban & Rural Planning?
Meh. You may be "never too old to learn." But I'm definitely too old for tests and homework...

 

[r937]

Here's an archived version of a great series in the Globe & Mail from about a decade ago about those who live out in the wilderness:
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/outsiders

i remember this, a fabulous story, full of interesting characters and plenty of heartbreak

i wrote an article about one of them, fred dunn, back in 2006 -- fred died in 2009, and there's a further story about him in the toronto star -- The wonder of Fred Dunn lives on in a novel way