Toronto Harbour Light on Vicki Keith Point in the Leslie Spit

One of the coolest places to go in Toronto is the Tommy Thompson Park.  I've been coming here long before it was cool to most anyone.  Or so I thought. 

When I first discovered this place about 10 years ago, there were very few people walking or cycling around.  This may have been due to the road blocks put out front to keep cars out at night -- but I'd squeeze through on my bike and ride along the asphalt trail as far south as I could go.  

Back then, there was nothing around but rubble and sand, mangled cables, bricks and cinder blocks as far as the eye could see.  It looked like nothing more than a construction dump site and that's exactly what it was. 

The dumping was intentional and started decades before in 1959.  In anticipation of a boom in shipping with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Toronto Harbour Commission began developing an "outer harbour".  This was created by dumping millions of tons of fill into Lake Ontario to construct a five-kilometre-long barrier known as the "Outer Harbour East Headland" or what I know as the Leslie Spit.  

In the early 70s, it was apparent that the outer harbour would not be needed for port-related facilities, so they had to come up with other uses for the newly developed man-made peninsula.  

One plan was to develop the land into an aquatic park with a hotel, amphitheatre, private yacht clubs, and camping facilities, among other things.  Thankfully this was ruled out by local residents concerned about the destruction of Ashbridge Bay and thus the Friends of the Spit were established in 1977 to create a public urban reserve which it remains today.  

So here we are 60 years later beholding acres of a nature reserve that continues to thrive.  

When you finally reach the end of the 'spit' you will see off in the distance a lighthouse, known as the Toronto Harbour Light, which was completed in 1974 by the Toronto Harbour Commission.  Today it is fully automated and powered by a solar panel and directs shipping traffic along the Eastern Channel into the Toronto Harbour.  

The lighthouse stands at the highest point of land on the Leslie Street spit, called the "Vicki Keith Point", named after a noted marathaon Canadian swimmer who made most of her landings after crossing Lake Ontario.  Vicki Keith held 16 world records has received over 41 honours and awards, having crossed many of the world's most challenging bodies of water.

The Toronto Harbour Light is known on the Canadian Coast Guard's List of Lights  as the Toronto Harbour Aquatic Park Light.  

At night, the tower produces a red flash every ten seconds at night.  During the day, as you can see the tower has been vandalized with colourful graffitti and nonsensical scribblings.  It kind of makes me wonder why we deserve nice things...

I decided to take pictures of it anyways and turn it into some form of art even though I think it's a sin to destroy any historical landmark. 

Rockway Conservation Area

 I loved the Rockway Conservation area, located in Lincoln.  We parked at the Community Centre on the top of the hill.  The first thing you see entering into the gorge are the duo waterfalls off into the distance, which are unfortunately almost completely hidden behind trees.

As you can see by my photos, it's early spring but even with the sparse trees, there's no way you can take a decent shot of them.  I won't even post mine because I don't want to encourage anyone to take better pictures of them (which is easy to do! lol).

The first waterfall is known as Rockway Falls which is a ribbon cascade waterfall where 15 mile creek drops 18m into the gorge below.  It's one of four waterfalls in the immediate area and has a width of 4.5 m.   I wondered if there was a way to get a closer picture.  We spoke to a young guy taking photos down by the bridge, but he was unsure of how to get closer.


There also no barrier up top, and I'm sure by looking at the mud tracks, there are people who dare themselves to the extreme.

Really, it's not ever worth it, and if you are a social media buff, you've probably seen young people who take pictures of altitudes that would make you cringe.  I don't advocate thrill seeking behaviour and I think if we all encourage it, it won't ever go away.


Back to the trail-the path in it's worst state is mucky, slippery and slopy.  Wear well-treaded boots or shoes and be prepared to get dirty.  I love this kind of hike because it is good exercise, but there are plenty of trails here that are safe after all it is the Bruce Trail so it's pretty well maintained.

The trees are well marked and because it's early spring, we found a few divergent rivers caused by flooding.  Once you get into the valley near the bridge, you will see a very pretty cascading waterfall, which is a classical cascade water fall with a crest of 4.5 m and a drop of 5 m.   with an amazing flow from the 15 Mile creek.

Further down into the valley, there is another waterfall cascade which is best seen right after the rain, like you seen my pictures, I really can't complain about the water flow even if I was disappointed by many of my shots as I didn't bring my tripod!

I'm coming back again to this spot when the foliage is out,because I think this would be an absolute gorgeous here when the grass has grown.

All the conservation areas south of Jordan and around the St. Catherine's area are all beautiful.  We stopped for lunch just before the COVID-19 became a pandemic so now that all those places are closing down for the time being I will concentrate more on hiking and exploring and less on eating.

Good news for me as I love to do both!