The Lower Humber River Loop located near the Old Mill in the Kingsway area lies along a scenic trail with rushing waterways. Collectively, the loop consists of the Etienne, Magwood and Home Smith Parks.
While winter is in full swing, you can still get out to the enjoy the trails. If you 're not much into the winter footing sports (like me) such as skating and skiing, you can keep your feet planted on the snow by building a snowman or hike through some pretty beautiful landscaping here. 
When it's safe to do so runners love this 16 kilometre stretch along the humber river. It has a total ascent of about 70 metres and a total maximum elevation of 148 metres (ouch!) I love to walk at a nice brisk pace but running is not my thing.
This beautiful Humber River is part of a watershed that collects from about 750 creeks and tributaries north of the city. One of the major ones is a branch that runs for 100km from the Niagara Escarpment to the northwest. The other one starts in the Oak Ridges Moraine near Aurora to the northeast. They then join north of Toronto and come southeasterly into the Lake of Ontario.
It isn't so unusual from spring to fall to see a beaver or two busy along the river. I've seen raccoons hanging around too. Over 25 fish species live in this part of the river, but the salmon of yesterdays autumn are long gone. You won't see many fishermen in the winter, but occasionally a line with go out for a brown or rainbow trout downstream of Eglinton. Other times of the year you'll find pike, bass and perch swimming in the shallow waters. Personally, never want to see a line going for salmon, especially in the fall.
Magwood and Home Smith Park are located on the west bank on the opposite site of Etienne Brule Park. Robert Smith was born in Stratford in 1877, and is a son of a Manitoba Supreme Court judge. Not that has any bearing of anything other than the fact that he inherited enough money to buy over 1200 hectares of land which he developed in the Humber Valley. This would be why the Park was named after him. Now back to the exploring. Happy trails, even if they are snow trodden!
