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Urban Wilderness!

Here and There, Again - three days in November

Since my last post, last month, my travels have remained short and infrequent, so it would seem another compilation of mini-treks from the past couple of weeks is in order. As previously noted, the range of these short, infrequent treks has become increasingly obscure. Little could I know, then, that the first of this installment's treks (to investigate a series of small tributaries in the Humberwoods Park area) would coincide with current headlines. But indeed it did, as this journey just happened to begin around the Queen's Plate housing project which recently became somewhat (in)famous as the setting for this CNN report on Rob Ford:

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Well, fancy that. Another point of interest at the above-pictured pond (which I unfortunately failed to catch on camera) was the sight of a Canada Goose getting rather "familiar" with what I first took to be a large duck, but later determined to be a Snow Goose. I was intrigued to learn that, although rare, this is not an unknown occurrence. Strange goings-on up in Etobicoke lately! Anyway, here are the rest of my pics from that day:

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A few days later I head from the West Humber to the Lower Don, to cover a small stretch of the river which I had left somewhat lacking in the pictures department, up until now - that being the stretch between Eastern Avenue and the Gardiner. First up, the section between Eastern and the CN rail crossing, where I give the Old Eastern Ave bridge a thorough going-over:

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And then from the tracks to the expressway, where the old Korex Don Valley plant gets its fair share of the spot-light:

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My third and final trek, from yesterday, covers two spots in North York; the first being a short creek eminating from Prince Andrew Place which takes some drastic drops before emptying into Wilket Creek:

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Ending now as I began, at a pond. This one just off the West Don, and tucked in behind the Ontario Science Centre, by the idyllically named Lung Cancer Canada Grove. I had actually tried to get to this one earlier in the year, but was literally chased off by swarms of unrelenting mosquitos. No such problems this time, though, in the brisk midst of November:

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earlier today, in the valley of the west don river, only yards from the Scenic condos on Eglinton near Leslie --

[video=youtube;VbYXV5t59I8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbYXV5t59I8[/video]

i'm thinking mother and daughter...
 
Great video!
I was going to mention how I hadn't seen any deer for months now, but then I saw another one today (more to come in my next post).
Must be something about the snow...
 
Nice video r937!
I'd agree a doe and a yearling.
This time of year the rut is on and bucks are looking for girl friends, by May/June the new fawns will be born close to when the wild leeks and fiddle heads pop out of the ground.
I've spent a considerable amount of time at the archery range near the Sci Ctr in ET Seton park and as a quiet sport the wild life walks across the field some times. My eye is trained for movement along edges of brush and there can be sightings all year long. Toronto's ravines, glacial spillways, are highways for wildlife.

My daughter was a tour guide on a boat in the Toronto harbour for 3 summers and has seen deer swimming across the east gap. When she questioned an experienced boat captain about it he said it's common, the deer come from the Don Valley, and follow the river.
Thanks for posting the video!
 
Petticoat Creek - junction to junction

It had been a while since I'd done a solid, long haul hike of the 4+ hour variety. So I figured if it was time to go far off again, I might as well get as far-gone as possible - out to the absolute north-east extreme of the city, to traverse the Toronto constituents of the Petticoat Creek. And if it was walking I wanted I sure enough got it here, as it took a good 40 minute schlep from the closest TTC stop at the junction of Meadowvale & Park Road, then past the Little Rouge and over the mountainous Beare Road Landfill, just to get to the creek itself:

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At last I arrive at the Petticoat Creek - or, at least, some small section of it. Just a little further to the east, in Pickering, the Petticoat explodes into a plethora of separate branches heading every which way they can. Fortunately, for my purposes, only two of these branches enter T.O. - although, according to my map, once in the city they themselves branch-off again. Prior examinations of the aerial evidence, however, suggests that these sub-branches have since vanished, or at most exist only as the faintest of trickles, not much worth documenting. So, to save myself some considerable time, I won't. Just the two main branches, then, with the first beginning at the junction of Finch Avenue East and the Scarborough/Pickering Townline, in a fozen series of icy ponds and sunken woods:

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One last big pond, just north of the Belleville Subdivision, before this branch peters out upon reaching the Finch hydroline corridor:

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The second Toronto branch of the Petticoat starts just south of the Townline/3rd Concession juncture, and procedes in a rather more creek-like fashion up to Steeles Ave:

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Having completed the Toronto run of the Petticoat, I now find myself even further from a bus stop than when I began - way out in the city's rural boondocks, in a landscape that many residents would not even recognize as Toronto. The long slog back to urbanity, though, affords me the opportunity to tackle a portion of yet another stream - one of the Little Rouge Creek's own multifarious branches - this one heading south from Plug Hat Road, along the York Subdivision, where I run across that aforementioned deer:

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Just past the deer, another junction, where the CN's York and CP's Belleville subs criss-cross, and the Little Rouge spur line interweaves between the two:

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One final leg as 'Le Petit Red' joins back up with itself, leaving me pretty much where I started as well, circled around in a grand conjunction of junctions:

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Nice work!

Your comment about being so far from the nearest TTC stop led me to wonder: which two points on the TTC system are the farthest apart and has anyone conducted an experiment to see how long it takes to get from one to the other?
 
You can also get a Steeles bus at Staines Rd. just a tich west of the Rouge proper. It's 5K west of Pickering town line.
 

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