News   Nov 04, 2024
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Urban Wilderness!

West Don River - double-ender

As promised, starting north of Sheppard in the early morning:

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Heading north through the Hinder Property hinterland:

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West, under Bathurst Street:

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In behind the Toronto Jewish Community Centre:

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Up through the Carscadden Greenbelt:

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Entering the Hearthstone Valley Greenbelt I become momentarily estranged from the river as I negotiate a confusing network of bike trails and pathways:

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More strange relics of the city's past as I emerge into the West Don Parkland; starting with an oddly-located and long-forgotton basketball court, then leading to yet another mysterious concrete ruin:

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On through Finch Avenue:

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Out behind Robert Hicks Drive:

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One of the more imposing structures on the Don - the G. Ross Lord Dam:

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And where there's a G. Ross Lord Dam, one usually finds a G. Ross Lord Reservoir:

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The West Don reappears just north of Westminster Memorial Gardens in a muddy flood-plain. By the way, if you know anyone buried there, and have ever wondered where all the old flowers, candles and other such grave decorations end up, apparently they end up here. Kind of a creepy place, actually:

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Over a never-ending series of bridges, through G. Ross Lord Park, for the final leg:

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So here we are at Steeles Avenue, and thus ends the Toronto section of the West Don River.


..or does it?


As I walk east along Steeles to Bathurst, just before Carnival Court I notice another one of those Don Watershed signs reading "West Don River."
But wait a minute! I just left the West Don...didn't I? Well, we'll see about that... I head down and find another stream emerging at Fisherville Road, which I follow south through Hidden Trail Park:

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Past another bridge and I end up back in G. Ross Lord Park, where the stream meets up the West Don - or is that vice versa?:

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Back home I consult the Vaughan section of my MapArt street map and see that the second stream could be a continuation of the Westminster Creek - though things get a little hazy around Loma Vista Drive.
Anyone out there that could shed some light on the situation?
 
Last edited:
Haha, nope! I figure they call it Baneberry for a reason.


PS
I also thought I might have located a patch of amanita mushrooms near there.
I considered "touching" them, but thought better of it...
 
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Haha, nope! I figure they call it Baneberry for a reason.


PS
I also thought I might have located a patch of amanita mushrooms near there.
I considered "touching" them, but thought better of it...

With some of the recent events in the news, I hope you never come across any of what has been found.
 
G Ross Lord is truly a reminder of how aggressively utilitarian such public works got by the 70s--urban infrastructure for an era when basic jeans-and-t-shirt passed for high school fashion...
 
Figures-I'm out of town, and we get to my old stomping grounds on the West Don.

The area known as the Hinder property was named after the Hinder family. Originally it was called Chuckle Hollow, after the laugh William MacKenzie had when evading government troops during his flight after the 1837 rebellion. After Montgomery's tavern was burned, MacKenzie fled up Yonge St, taking shelter with the Shepard family (as in today's Sheppard ave) He then fled westwards, along the property that is today's York Cemetery. The troops thought he would be trapped by the steep sides of the hollow, but a friend with a rope and a horse was able to get MacKenzie up the cliff face and away.

The basketball courts-could they be an abandoned part of the Forest Valley Outdoor Ed centre?

As for the concrete ruin, I'd guess it was a structure destroyed by Hazel. Unfortunately the 1954 aerial photos at McMaster University aren't clear enough to show anything around here

http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/airphotos/zoom/1954-1955_437792.htm
 
I second that.

Thank you for another enjoyable series. One of these days, I'd like to get out and see some of this in person.

Yeah, I just saw that on the news this morning. They where saying they found the body parts in some tied-up plastic bags, which is quite a common sight out in the ravines. I've never been the type to go poking around in discarded bags though - even less so now!

Apparently last month, on my previous trip to the West Don, I went past the spot where they found another body at the Don Valley Golf Course earlier this year...
 
G Ross Lord is truly a reminder of how aggressively utilitarian such public works got by the 70s--urban infrastructure for an era when basic jeans-and-t-shirt passed for high school fashion...

Speaking of bodies and dams and the 70s, it's interesting to note that construction on the dam started right around the time Deliverance came out (1972).
Makes one wonder what might be at the bottom of that reservoir...

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Figures-I'm out of town, and we get to my old stomping grounds on the West Don.

The area known as the Hinder property was named after the Hinder family. Originally it was called Chuckle Hollow, after the laugh William MacKenzie had when evading government troops during his flight after the 1837 rebellion. After Montgomery's tavern was burned, MacKenzie fled up Yonge St, taking shelter with the Shepard family (as in today's Sheppard ave) He then fled westwards, along the property that is today's York Cemetery. The troops thought he would be trapped by the steep sides of the hollow, but a friend with a rope and a horse was able to get MacKenzie up the cliff face and away.

The basketball courts-could they be an abandoned part of the Forest Valley Outdoor Ed centre?

As for the concrete ruin, I'd guess it was a structure destroyed by Hazel. Unfortunately the 1954 aerial photos at McMaster University aren't clear enough to show anything around here

http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/airphotos/zoom/1954-1955_437792.htm

Fascinating bit of history HTH - thanks!

As for the courts, that did cross my mind - however they're on the opposite side of the river from where the FVOEC is today; unless it straddles both sides of the Don?

The concrete ruins were somewhere between the Forest Valley Centre and St. Bernard's on the west bank, while the basketball courts were just a little south of them, on the east bank. I wondered if perhaps they were related to the apartments on Goldfinch Court?
 
Fascinating bit of history HTH - thanks!

As for the courts, that did cross my mind - however they're on the opposite side of the river from where the FVOEC is today; unless it straddles both sides of the Don?

The concrete ruins were somewhere between the Forest Valley Centre and St. Bernard's on the west bank, while the basketball courts were just a little south of them, on the east bank. I wondered if perhaps they were related to the apartments on Goldfinch Court?

I'm not certain as to the exact boundaries of the FVOEC. Back in the 80s and 90s when I was a kid and I'd visit the Forest Valley, depending on the school trip we'd hike anywhere between Finch and the flood control structure on the north side of the Koffler gallery/Jewish Community centre.

Some of the historical images on Google Earth were taken when the trees were bare, would you be able to find the courts and the ruins on those images?
 
Still inconclusive - but judging from the McMaster map I'd say there could be a lot more hidden away out there:

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There seems to have been a lot more open/cleared space back then, especially along the river banks.
 

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