Mimico Creek - rocky road
Starting off 2012, I thought I'd give the east end a bit of a break, and head west to Etobicoke and the mighty Mimico Creek. Beginning in Islington, I head south at sunrise under Dundas Street into Thomas Riley Park:
Past Bloor Street, and into the Spring Garden Park area, where things begin to get decidedly more stoney:
It's not only the creek banks here that are steeped in stone. I look down and notice that instead of the usual soil or concrete riverbeds that I've become accumstomed to, Mimico seems to be paved with nature's own concrete - shale bedrock:
Man too, however, has made his own contributions:
The Mimico, at points, is so littered with rocky debris that, for significant stretches, I can walk right down the middle of the creek:
But I've been lured into a false sense of security, and just south of Meadowcrest Road I'm forced to scale a precarious series of backyard retaining walls to keep from soaking my legs in the deepened, icy waters (I should probably invest in a good pair of hip waders if I'm going to keep doing this!):
Under Royal York Road, into Reid Manor Park, where I'm able to continue my rocky river walk:
Heavy landscaping on a new creekside feature heralds my entrance into Berry Road Park, as the Mimico cuts through a deep valley and progresses towards Woodford Park:
Through The Queensway now, as the Mimico widens and the natural creekbed gives way to a massive concrete flume under the QEW:
Past the GO Transit rail line, and Lake Shore Boulevard, and into Humber Bay Park where the mighty Mimico empties, at last, into Lake Ontario:
