Waterfront Trail (Queens Quay access)

Shipped docked at HTO Park

There is a route terminus located at Lakeshore Blvd and the Don Roadway.  Looming overhead is the Don Valley Parkway where it splits off into the Gardiner Expressway.  Heading westbound along Lakeshore (Waterfront Trail West) you will pass Sherbourne Common and the HTO Park.  The HTO park is like an urban beach.  I have never seen it before but heard quite a lot about it.  It opened in 2007 and its located right at the Harbourfront 

HTO Park

Sherbourne Common

Lakeshore and Don Roadway

Centre, on Lake Ontario.  Although it was quite busy, I found it looked a little awkward seeing people sit on beach sand that was obviously scattered over clean cement.  It was very surreal.  Almost like a perfect world made with artificially enhanced green grass and bright yellow umbrellas. It looked much like 'SIMCity", but with real people.  Back on the trail westbound on Queens Quay.  This portion of the path is on-road, so youre sharing with buses, cabs and other cyclists.  The sidewalks are extra wide, but not only is it against the law, but you may find this area of TO a little to busy to manoeuvre around, especially during the summer months, when there is so much happening by the water.  I suggest you stop here and take a look around, take the ferry boat across the water to the Islands or a cool one at many of the outdoor patios along Queens Quay.

CNE / Ontario Place

Pavillion/Rowing Club/tennis/swimming

Continue west of Queens Quay past Spadina Avenue and Bathurst Street and the trail picks up again after the the HMCS York (Canadian Forces naval Reserve) building and curves into Coronation Park and the Yacht Club.  Up next is the gates of the Exhibition Place (CNE) and Fort York.  This will bring you directly through the docks and Ontario Place.  While continuing on the 'Waterfront Trail" on Lakesore past the Argonaut Rowing Club and the Boulevard Club, you'll seeing some tennis courts, and swimming pools.  Continue westbound to Sunnyside Park.  This is a gorgeous spot for picnics, swimming and inline skating.  Once through the park, the trail curves to the Humber River Bridge.  The Humber River Bridge is right next to the Palace Pier.  This is when the trail becomes tricky.  At the western point of the bridge there is a path that leads down onto the Humber trail (see "Humber Trail" Path).

Back on Humber Trail

Humber River Bridge

Caribbean Carnival (formerly "Caribana")

 "Saturday night’s shooting, in which one man was killed and two others wounded along the Caribbean Carnival parade route, is not the first instance of violence related to events of the festival, which used to be called Caribana", Toronto Star, Sunday July 31, 2011.


The Caribana festivals and parade have been a tourist attraction with sets the stage for a million people to enjoy.  It starts off inside the Ex and runs along Lakeshore Blvd and ending at Parkside.  Wild and beautifully colored costumes, charged and sometime comedic steelpan music (steel drums) and amazing food from oxtail (don't really like this!) to jerk chicken and rice and peas.  This is what the festival conveys.  


Over 44 years of celebrations, Toronto and other cities that host the Caribana have seen violence in the past years.  


Taken from the Toronto Star Library, Media Reports, Star Files
 • July 31, 2005: Dwayne Taylor, 27, dies after a rival gang member fires two shots into Yonge-Dundas Square during a crowded Caribana celebration.

 • July 31, 2003: A man is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and firearms possession after his SUV rams another car during Caribana-related celebrations at Yonge and Gerrard Sts. He had run a red light while fleeing police.

 • Aug. 2, 1997: Gary Newman, 22, is shot at point blank range amid a crowd of pre-Caribana revellers on Yonge St. Earlier, a man had been shot in the leg about a block away.

 • Aug. 4, 1996: Two Buffalo men in town for Caribana are hit by a single bullet while walking near Yonge and Gould Sts.

 • Aug. 3, 1996: Elrick Christian, 23, is shot and killed and three others, including a nurse visiting from Britain, are wounded during the Caribana parade. Three men are also arrested on weapons-related charges after a volley of shots are fired in Marilyn Bell Park, beside the parade route.

 • Aug. 3, 1992: A man is stabbed twice in the back on Bay St. as crowds come off the ferry from Olympic Island where the Caribbean Music Festival was held.

 • Aug. 1, 1992: An Oshawa man is shot amid the throngs watching the parade on Lake Shore Blvd. W. Police shut down the parade after two officers are assaulted.

 • Aug. 5, 1985: A police officer is stabbed and another hit with a beer bottle as violence breaks out among a large crowd during Caribana celebrations on the Toronto Islands.

I believe in vigilance, in being aware of the company you keep, and in most importantly in intuition or instinct.  I also believe in taking chances and not believing everything that is told to me, especially by the media.  If I was to listen to the news, I would never leave my house on most days.  These celebrations are precious and few and although I didn't go or participate as I was asked to volunteer, I still think it's should be a welcomed event to Toronto and its just too bad that a few rotten apples, can sometimes cause some people hysteria or to look at the whole tree as spoiled.


Go Caribana, I'll try and catch you next year! 

Tommy Thompson Park Trail (Leslie Spit)

Once you reach the end of the trail at Lakeshore you can turn eastbound on the trail towards the Martin Goodman trail or you can veer right at Leslie street and follow the road straight down to the end.  There  you will see the opening to the Tommy Thompson Park Trail (or the "Leslie Spit as Torontonians call it). 

Who ever thought garbage could look so good? The Tommy Thompson Park Trail is a landfill site.  It is flourishing with an abundance of wild flowers and grassland covering what appears like rolling hills and valleys.  It is surrounded by the beautiful Lake Ontario.  As you can see the trail has a lot of beautiful scenery and there are many off road paths that take you to the waters edge.  Many secluded spots for exploring or having a lunch break.

At the peak of the 'spit' you will see an old lighthouse, called the 'Vicki Keith Point Lighthouse'.  (named after the Canadian swimmer, who swam across all 5 great lakes for charity in 1988).

The Tommy Thompson Park trail is open for cyclists, joggers, walkers, roller-bladers, and boaters on weekends and holidays.  During the week, it is bustling with dump trucks offloading and extending the park further.


I couldn't believe the number of birds that I saw, until I read up later and found out that the park is through one of the largest bird sanctuaries in Ontario. 


I love it here, next time I 'll come back with a pen and paper and just write. It's very peaceful and secluded and there's just so much you can take in and leave with.  



    

I remember when I was a little girl, my grandmother told me that she had been all around the world 4 times after my grandfather died.  She told me that Toronto was the most beautiful city in the world. I look back at all the trails and parks that I have been through in the past 5 months.  I honestly can't believe how much nature surround us 5 million people here.  
  

Lower Don Trail

Taylor Creek/Charles Sauriol branch

Enter Lower Don Trail

Taylor Creek begins branching off at the Charles Sauroil Conservation Reserve Parking lot (Don Mills southbound/DVP). If you pass over the white bridge you can head to north Toronto through the E.T. Seton Park, and Wilket Creek and end up at Edwards Gardens.  The aternative is to head south and accompany the Don River to the Lakeshore. 

Cement pants!

The first thing you may notice on the trail, is what a lot of Torontonians consider to be a bit of an eyesore.  It is an elevated man-made concrete wetlands sculpture known as “The Teeth”, but they look more like a pair of cement pants ! 

Pottery Rd crossing

Trail sights

Leaside Bridge

As you continue on the trail you will have to cross Pottery Road.  I have no idea what they are working on right now, but it is a mess with construction, CATs, gravel and broken lanes.  They have a portion of the path fenced off for trucks and I am really hoping they don't plan on allowing vehicles down into the Valley but I guess I haven't been asking the right questions to the right people.  Once you pass Pottery road, you will continue southbound under the Leaside Bridge (Toronto's alternative "suicide bridge" to the Prince Edward Viaduct (or the 'Bloor Viaduct").  They erected a "luminous veil" which costs millions of dollars to prevent people from jumping 

Lower Don Valleywoods

to their deaths.  The only thing it did do was to cause more people to commit suicide in alternative ways or places.  (I will be covering the "suicide bridge" in greater depth in another post on my blog.)

Prince Edward Viaduct (aka "Bloor" Viaduct)

Further southbound you will see the Prince Edward Viaduct bridge.  I wanted to show you the inner structures of this brilliantly built bridge.  A lot of men lost their lives in the construction of the bridge before it was fully erected. It's really an amazing structure!

You will soon pass under Queen Street (there is a pedestrian bridge above if you want to get off the trail and carry your bike up the stairs to check out the "The Beaches" . The now defunct Eastern Avenue bridge (circa1933).

The defunct Eastern Avenue Bridge (1933)

The old Unilever brothers soap factory has been shut down due to bankruptcy since 2009.  It was a 120 year old factory and ended with a 12 million dollar debt.  Future plans still unknown.  The shut down hasn't seemed to have affected the wildlife around.

Unilever Factory and Lakeshore bridge (east/west trails)

Just up and over the hill and you are at the intersection of Lakeshore Blvd and Cherry St.  From here you can go eastbound on Lakeshore towards the Martin Goodman Trail (see "Martin Goodman Trail" on this blog) or Tommy Thompson Park ("the Leslie Spit").  Alternatively if turn right you follow the trail westbound towards Queens Quay and the Harbourfront (Waterfront trail).