Don North Trail (Edwards Gardens)

Edwards Gardens / greenhouses

surrounding gardens

upper level of the gardens

The furthest northwest point of this particular part of the trail you will enter the beautiful botanical gardens (a former estate) called Edwards Gardens.    As you can see its easy to be a great photographer here!  This was site of another saw mills once owned by Rupert Edwards and in 1944 he made  this site his country home. Unbelievably, I had read that there was a time when this land was actually neglected!  But thankfully the city of Toronto had bought the land in the mid 50s, and Edwards Gardens was born.  Today the botanical gardens are in full bloom in the spring and summer months.  There is a fully functioning garden as well that is used to grow fresh fruits and vegetables which are donated to the homeless shelters.   My favorites will always be the weeping willow trees and there were quite a few here.  Awesome and beautiful shade trees they are ornaments to any garden in my opinion and there is no other tree quite so lovely. 

The weeping willow

functioning garden 

This pretty much covers the bike trails in and around Toronto.  There are plenty of foot trails that are easier to access without a bike too, but I won't be covering them on the blog.  There are plenty of great sites around already that cover hiking trails in Ontario :)

Don North Trail (Wilket Creek)

Following northwest on the trail you will come to a junction which acts as a meeting place, a rest station or terminus to Sunnybrook Park, Wilket Creek or Edwards Gardens.  Wilket Creek park is surrounded by mature oak and maple trees, sloping trails and ravines.  The creek is surrounded by ferns and cattails. A peaceful and beautiful portion of the trail.

Another popular parks for meet ups and family picnics.  The Terry Fox run usually starts at Wilket Creek.  The park itself is accessible from Leslie Street north of Eglinton Avenue.  This portion of parkland will eventually merge into the famous Edwards Gardens.  

Don North Trail (E.T. Seton Park)

Travelling further northwest on the trail and you will ride into E.T. Seton Park. A park which was obtained by the City of Toronto in honour of E.T. Seton in the 1960’s.  Originally it was to be the future site of the Metro Toronto Zoo, but now the established parkland abuts the Ontario Science Centre.  Spacious and abundant with parkland and trees, it is a good site for fundraisers, picnics, BBQ, and the new Lung Cancer Canada Grove.  Kind of a weird name but there is a portion of the park that contains a unique grove of trees.  The ‘healing circle’ is a path leading to the heart of the Grove which is a circle of 8 large limestones, with trees surrounding it. If you purchase a tree, the tree will be transplanted and a bench with a plaque will have your name on it.  The cost of the tree is $1,000. a piece.  


Oh, by the way, there's also plenty of parking if you choose to bring your vehicle to the park!

Don North Trail (Flemington Park)

Don North to Flemingdon Park

Flemingdon Park (the West Don)

There is a terminus, which I mentioned earlier in the blog ("Don River Trail") which indicates that you can either go to Taylor/Massey Creek park, follow the Don River downtown or cross the bridge to Charles Sauriol Conservation Reserve which ends up at Edwards Garden (north). This is a long trek, but a really nice ride going north.  The entire trip is a slight incline but barely noticeable.  


Entering the Conservation area, there is a bridge which overlooks the DVP to the east.  Up and over and down into Flemingdon Park travelling westbound. The land historically was owned by Robert Fleming and sold as public land after his death in 1925.  A multicultural area, post second war highrises developed in 1961 turning into public housing and low income section of Toronto.  The reputation has improved since the new millennium, and since 2000, the addition of new middle upper class homes and developments have increased property values.


History out of the way, just enjoy the pics for now! The goal is Edwards Gardens, so I decided to break up the journey into park parts :)