bridges, brickworks, and backyards
Tried to go with a slightly spooky theme on last week's walk. With a stroll alongside Mt. Pleasant Cemetery as the starting point, who knew what ghoulish sights and sounds awaited?
Heath St is one of Toronto's most chopped-up streets, hacked off into three sections due to ravines. The busiest portion is the main branch, running from the Rosedale ravine to almost the back entrance to St. Clair West subway station (from there to Bathurst, it's Tichester) - I often use this portion as a car/bike alternative to St. Clair. We joined Heath at the end of its Moore Park branch, where it runs into a footbridge across the Moore Park ravine.
Once across the bridge, we headed into the ravine. Our eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly, the only light provided by the occasional house up top. The path followed Mud Creek, which was appropriate given that we wandered along a combination of mud and leaves, which created a spooky squishing sound.
We emerged from the forest at the Don Valley Brick Works (City site. Lost River Walks page), where we ran into low-hanging fog.
We headed along a path that took us uphill, towards the North Slope/Wall. The higher we went, the more spectacular the view of downtown offices and the multiple layers of traffic at the DVP/Bloor/Bayview interchange. The gravel soon ran out, turning into a muddy trail that led into the woods. We lost the trail a couple of times - when we found it, it usually involved steep slopes that required slow, steady movement. We saw lights ahead, but no obvious exits, which led to two possibilities: retrace our steps and try not to slip, or hop a wealthy family's fence. It felt like a prison escape scene.
It turned out someone laid stones into the woods, which led to a driveway that we quietly dashed across. We had emerged from the wild in the Governor's Bridge neighbourhood.
More on this walk at Squiddity.
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