Pine Point Park (in 'The Elms' Recreational Community)

In the western part of the Humber River Valley lives a Community known as the 'The Elms'.   In it you will find a whole host of things to do and see.  Included in the 5.5 km trail is a Recreational Park called Pine Point.  It is a long linear park is that is visible of of Highway 401 and Weston Avenue, and encompasses the southern boundary of this neighbourhood.

Pine Point is a multi-use recreational park which includes as you can see here an expansive and popular soccer field and used often for regular lacrosse practice.  I was stunned when I heard that up before 1994 Canada's national sport was lacrosse.
  Well, since 1994 they added hockey to the mix, which makes more sense to me.


On top of the hill is an indoor Arena which is the home of the Etobicoke Hockey League, a figure skating club and a Ball Hockey club.  As well, there is the Pine Point tennis cub with 4 clay surface courts.

Next to the Arena is the Pine Point Banquet Hall which hosts a variety of social, cultural, and business events. But the best is, in addition to this park is the beginning of a 1.7 kilometre paved trail with bridges across the Humber River and nearby Berry Creek.  Berry Creek runs through the centre of this neighbourhood and serves as a watershed of the Humber River Valley.

Exploring the Eramosa Karst

I have to say that the most recent visit to Eramosa Karst Conservation Area in Stoney Creek was unplanned, but I found it an interesting place.  I knew next to nothing about karsts before coming here.

I guess before I go on about some of the karst features like caves, sinking streams and dry valleys, I might as well tell you that I did not enter any one of them.  

inviting bridge

I was surprised that all of the caves were in the ground.  When I saw the map at the entrance to the conservation site, it indicated 'caves' and so I expected to be able to stand up into them, not crawl or climb down to them.  The karsts were very shallow and seemed tiny from up top, so I was surprised to learned that Eramosa has the 10th longest cave in Ontario, which is something like 335 metres! 

So what is a karst? Think of a soluble bedrock that acts like a sponge absorbing the rain (rain that contains carbonic acid, which gets picked up from the carbon dioxide in the ground...come on you remember how the rain cycle works right?) and over thousands of years, the bedrock starts becoming porous as it dissolves creating crevices, creeks, and caves.  Of course eventually when the ground above gets wet from heavy rains, it will start flowing and sometimes flooding into these cracks and crevices which will add to the development of sinking streams and at the same time abandon existing creeks elsewhere creating dry valleys then.  It's really quite fascinating, but like biology, geology is not my thing either.

Potruff Spring

This place tries it's best to offer the learning experience from the karst and some really lovely trails making it a great hike even if you aren't that keen about exploring underground.  About a half hour into my trek and I see a posting on 'Coyotes in our Conservation Area'  then suddenly hiding in an underground cave didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Seriously, recent reports in the news have been to make the public aware of sighting of coyotes in the Ermosa Karst, and to keep your pets close to you as the coyotes might find them a threat to their territory.  

part of nexus cave

They were spotted on the yellow trail, a trail to which I was currently on...as the trail winded around trees and cut through paths I was very aware after that.  Suddenly a guy shows up with his husky...but I don't see the guy first, just his dog and for a second its me and him and I think my skin was there too...the guy thought it was funny.  Wildlife is and should be safe from people and their pets, so I just as soon keep my distance. 


 

wildlife comes in all shapes and sizes

Further on the yellow trail I saw a sign tacked to a tree or a post, which advertised purchasing a "Nature Rewards" card giving you access to many of Hamilton's popular sites at a low annual fee.  The money would go to support the maintenance of the conservation areas in Hamilton.  I thought it was a good concept and did some research on my own.  I took some initiative on this project for Toronto and look forward to speaking with them further about the possibility of implementing the same program for a city of a larger scale, and really quite surprised it hasn't been done already.  Will keep you posted if anything comes of it.






















Happy to see the sky was clearing up nicely by the time I left the park.

Tiffany Falls - Hamilton

 The Tiffany Falls, is really a very pretty waterfall.  Its classified as a ribbon waterfall and is 21 metres high.  It's a shame that I didn't catch this beauty right after a rainfall, but instead right in the middle of a heat wave in Ontario.  Tiffany is located in the Tiffany Falls Conservation Area, which is just off Wilson Avenue as you descend the escarpment.  There is a small parking lot off to the side and you see a large sign identifying it as you enter.  


Tiffany Falls is made

up of two waterfalls, the Upper and Lower Falls.  The Lower Falls, cascades 19 metres from a valley above the escarpment and the Upper Falls, is about 6 metres located above.  There are dolostone cliffs on either side, and as you can guess if you are feeling at all adventurous, you will have to climb the rock wall above the Lower Tiffany as seen here, to reach Washboard Falls (Upper Tiffany).  


Most of the waterfalls have typical Bruce trail terrain, with rocks to step over and steep ascents and descents, so even if the flow isn't there, you won't be disappointed with the beauty that's all around you anyways.  Hey with a trail that is 840 km long, you are bound to see a thing or two. 
 
Historically speaking, Tiffany Falls was named after Dr. Oliver tiffany who was the areas first doctor.  he studied in Massachusetts and came to live in Ancaster in 1796.  you will find this waterfall very accessible as it has a pull off area off of Wilson Avenue in Hamilton.  The route is direct to get to and is nearby Sherman Falls as well (Old Lions club Road).   

Don Valley Brickworks Park and Moore Park

This is the last segment of the Toronto Beltine Trail on my blog, which features both the Rosedale Beltline and the Kay Gardner beltline. (previous posts).  As you travel east across Moore Avenue from Mount Pleasant you'll see the entrance (or exit) to the Moore Park Ravine and as the the trail shadows the Bayview Extension you will come to the Evergreen Brick Works.  The Milkman's Lane, which was built in the later part of the 19th century is said to have picked up its moniker by serving as a popular route for dairy workers who were transporting the products from the farms of the Don Valley.  The road was officially closed in 1958.



In amongst this part of the belt-line houses a very unique collection of historical building.  The entire works is known as the "Evergreen Brick Works"  I had already planned on taking a closer look here, but had the perfect opportunity during this years', "Doors Open Toronto" Photography festival to take some pictures of these architecturally, historically and socially- significant buildings, which were featured in the festival. 

The Belt-line trail itself was originally built as an 1890's commuter steam railway line.  It had circled the City by going around Union Station and coming up through North Toronto.  If you check out a google map of the trail, you can easily spot the loop. It only began being used as a multi-use trail towards the end of the last century.

Today the Belt-line is so heavily used for hiking, running or what ever is your pleasure that Toronto is seriously in the process of doing a very expensive overhaul to the condition of the trail.  Some of the deterioration occurring are the widening of the trails by almost 6m of the naturalized areas caused by foot and bicycle traffic.  Much of the improvements proposed will be right along the Moore Ravine.  

Historically, the Evergreen Brick Works or also known as the Don Valley Brick Works was created in 1889 by the Taylor brothers.  The brothers (3 in all) had bought this land where their first attempt was establishing a paper mill on it.  They did well and probably would have continued to stay in the paper mill business had it not been for the digging of the post holes to build a fence around the mill.  

While digging the older brother William had noticed some good quality clay in the ground.  He took a sample to a local brick works where they had determined that in fact it was very high quality clay.  It wasn't long after that, the brothers began a quarry at the north end of the site and a brick making plant was built at the south right near the Don River.

It was in operation for nearly 100 years of which that time they provided bricks for some very well known historical buildings like Casa Loma, Osgood Hall, Massey Hall and the Ontario Legislature.  The original factory has closed and today the quarry is converted into a city park.  Here there are naturalized ponds, a youth cultural centre, and a national charity which dedicates itself to building and restoring nature in a city environment.

Milkman's Lane

As for the future of Evergreen Brick Works, everything about Evergreen is here on an informative and event filled website, so I'll just let them to the talking.  Here's what they have to say.

Lasalle Park - Waterfront Trail

Lasalle Park is a section of the Waterfront trail that has been built along LaSalle Park Road..  You can follow this down to the pier to watch the boats and waterfowl.  Pedestrians can walk east along a section at the water's edge.  The trail then curves northeast through the park and rejoins North Shore Blvd.

There is plenty of historical value at Lasalle. The land was bought in 1915 by Hamilton which owns the 57 acre park, but leases it to Burlington.  LaSalle got its name to honour a French explorer, Rene Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who set out from Montreal in 1669 to find a passage to the southern sea.  He landed instead on the shores of Lake Ontario (Burlington Bay). 

In the late spring up until Fall, LaSalle is an active park for boaters, fisherpeople and bird watchers.  For those land lovers, LaSalle has a lovely wide view of the lake and marina from the elevated lookout at the south end of the park.  You will almost always get a chance to see a swan skimming across the water, or some Canada geese floating ashore.  

If you are on bike, you will enjoy a short section of trail that cuts through the north end of LaSalle Park along an asphalt path east and connects with North Shore Blvd.

Ah yes, and the the trail weaves its way along the tree-lined North Shore Blvd. where old estate homes shelter behind field stone walls and picket fences, as beautiful as anything that I've seen before.   

If you take the stairs from the lower portion of LaSalle to the top you will notice a beautiful building called LaSalle Park Pavilion.  It was originally built in 1917 as a dance pavilion.  This now has a heritage designation.  Back in its day the upper ballroom was the sight of big band sounds of Duke Ellinton and Glen Miller.  People used to come by ferry from Hamilton to dance the night away on the hardwood floor.  It was renovated in 1994, and now serves as a Banquet and Meeting Hall.