Detours: to Yonge and Eglinton

 Hey everyone! For today's Detours post, I am documenting my walk to Yonge and Eglinton from my house. Similar to the previous Detours post, I will be providing my thoughts and showing pictures of sights from my walk. 

So, I had set my alarm for 6:30, and I rolled out of bed at maybe 10:30. Tuesdays really are not it, so thank god I have no class then. I got dressed, and made my way out of the house. I would like to say that I do regret not taking my gloves or hat with me, as the first stretch and the walk from the bus stop home was quite cold. Whatever, I survived. 

I headed north on Victoria Park, and crossed that road at Cassandra. Here, I ran into my friend Ella heading to Tim Hortons. I walk this stretch along Cassandra very frequently. There's not much to say here, besides passing Brookbanks Park. This is one of the many linear paths that connect parts of Parkwoods and Don Mills. I find this one a bit less useful personally than the one just east of Wallingford, but nevertheless it serves a purpose. A bit further done, I crossed Underhill. While the intersection at this point was not busy due to the time, during rush hours, it's a bit much. They really should install a traffic signal here.

I travelled north on Underhill for a bit, before heading west on Brookbanks. At the base of the ravine is a relatively-newly paved path that parallels the Deerlick Creek. Its quite a short path, but still very nice nonetheless. I headed up the other side of the valley and passed under the Don Valley Parkway, which had a nice mural. I couldn't quite get a great photo due to the lighting, so you'll have to visit yourself to do it justice. The mural had a small painting of a fox! I love foxes. Under the bridge, Brookbanks becomes Three Valleys. This long road keeps going and going deep into the Don Valley. It probably would take fifteen minutes to walk from the top to the end. I did not go this way, I continued along Laurentide and Silverdale out to York Mills. I passed a Rover on Laurentide with a pearlescent paint job that alternates green and purple. It's pretty cool. I did take a picture but I'm too lazy to blur the plate. Tough.

Next, I travelled west on York Mills. I crossed the bridge over the Donalda Golf Course, then crossed Don Mills. I know that intersection has very little, but that shouldn't be a reason for me as a pedestrian to feel unsafe: it's a ridiculously busy bus transfer point. I headed into the Starbucks because I wanted a hot drink to warm me up. I got the White Chocolate Mocha with oat milk I think? To be honest it was just average. I crossed the York Mills bridge over the Richmond Hill GO Line to head to the first of today's multi-use paths.

The entrance to the Leaside Spur Trail is shared with vehicular traffic to the Rogers' parking lot below the York Mills Bridge. It's an odd arrangement to say the least. The Leaside Spur Trail, at this point, is definitely not the most scenic trail in the city. It's bounded to the east by the rail corridor (partly used as a construction staging area? For what?), and to the west by industrial uses along Scarsdale. It is more apparent further south (and by its name), but this corridor used to be a rail line itself (the Leaside Spur, shocking, I know) that substantially shortened the route for trains heading from downtown towards Beaverton. This makes sense given the surroundings, I suppose. 

One thing I noticed on this stretch were a handful of desire lines to the industrial uses to the west. For those unfamiliar, a desire line is an unplanned pathway made by humans in the absence of infrastructure. One thing I noticed about two in particular is they had some form of rudimentary architecture, namely the logs on the side and the pallet used as a bridge. If there is seemingly use for these paths, why haven't they been paved yet? Near Bond Park, the path crosses over the Bond pathway, with a short linking path beyond.

South of Bond Park, it is much more clear this used to be a rail line. Both sides of the path are flanked by homes, at a bit of a setback from the path. I noticed a few rudimentary staircases from these homes to the path. There is a small crossing at CN Don Mills Spur Park near Talwood. I also saw a cardinal in the trees!

Not long after, I reached Lawrence (and, somehow, the first garbage can for basically two kilometres). I crossed Lawrence here and headed west. The trail continues south but ends just north of Eglinton. I think it is because of a property dispute with the condo complex at 1103 Leslie. With Sunnybrook Park Station on Line 5 opening at Leslie and Eglinton in a few years, I would hope this link would be completed soon. Wishful thinking eh?

I took a short break outside of Edwards Gardens. The 51 bus passed me while I sat on the bench. Although we have the same destination, I still got around two hours ahead of me.

I walked through the parking lot of Edwards Gardens, and entered the Wilket Creek Trail. This trail has a number of bridges over the Wilket Creek. Time for local history: this creek is named for Paul Wilcott, who lived in the area. The creek used to have a fast flow, and powered a number of mills in the area. The last mill was owned by Alexander Milne, who is the namesake for the Milne Hollow and Milne Valley Middle School.

It was basically at this point my phone battery decided to drain. So, I posted the first half of my walk on Strava, and then let my phone charge. I decided to sit on the rocks by the creek. Now, normally when I go for walks, I stick to the trail. Today I definitely said fuck it, and I used the rocks to cross the creek and get some better pictures. Also worth a mention: the Wilket Creek Park washrooms are year-round.

I continued along the path that followed the park's roadway. I cannot be the only person confused by this: what exactly is the boundary of Sunnybrook Park, Wilket Creek Park, and Serena Gundy Park? Like, there's three names for basically one landmass. Not that it matters (like at all) but just a thought. I took a picture of a horse crossing sign: not a common sight! Slightly north of the sign was a small cabin. Now, I am confident it pre-dates the Kilgour Estate, which was established in 1909. I know the Burke family owned the land prior, but not sure from which year onwards. The cabin reminds me of the Scadding Cabin, which was built in 1794! I'm not sure this one is that old, but it is definitely one of the oldest buildings in the city. I passed the Sunnybrook Park Estate, which had a devastating fire last year that killed a number of horses. It's pretty sad, I used to come here as a kid.

I then crossed over the Don River West Branch and travelled down a path than followed the south side of Sunnybrook Hospital out to Bayview that had a boardwalk section (in very bad shape). In theory, the path did as it was supposed to. However, at some completely arbitrary point the path just, stopped? Like? There was a muddy route ahead that continued the direct I wanted, so I followed it, but I had to make a few awkward movements to even get there! In addition, while I knew it would be, the hill to Bayview was steep as fuck. With it being just rocks it was not an easy climb!

The path brings you out to Bayview, halfway between Sunnybrook and the CNIB, with no signalized crossing! A car stopped for me to jaywalk (thank you!) and I entered Sherwood Park. There was a steep decline into the park. One property on Sunnydene Crescent encroached onto the parkland in a way I really didn't like, pictured below.

From another arbitrary point onwards, it becomes an elevated boardwalk, which is cool. It had some nice views from it, and a great view above Mt Hope Cemetery. With the pandemic, however, I felt as if it was way too narrow to keep distance from people. It really didn't help a number of people just straight up refused to move out of the way for other people (not just me). They look at you as if you're the one inconveniencing them.

The park is really lacking signage. There were multiple groups of people confused on which way leads to which. I've complained before that a number of trails have literally nothing letting people know which way to go, and directions saying "turn left at the third intersecting trail" when the trails may be paved, or gravel, or mud, are not helpful. I eventually made it out to Sherwood Avenue, where I passed some cute townhomes. At this point, I reached Mt Pleasant.

The rest of the route is on street. I headed south on Mt Pleasant, and crossed at Broadway. I passed Northern Secondary School, which has underrated architecture. I headed west on Broadway, where I saw North Toronto C.I. (I am obsessed with the renovation okay!) and St Monica's Catholic School, where I worked for a summer. The old South Street Burger I used to go to is soon to be a Jollibee! Once at Yonge Street, I was done my walk!

I love finishing my walks where there is good food, like Yonge and Eglinton. So what did I get for lunch? Banh Mi Boys! What a shock! Their lemongrass tofu (no mayo) is great, and the price is pretty good too. I also got Chatime. I tried their new Iron Goddess Milk Tea (with oat milk and tapioca) and it was great! Probably my new favourite flavour. I then made my way home! 

That trip took me a total of 15.3km (including about 500 metres between the first trip on Strava and the second). The maps are displayed below, with the first trip on the left. With this, it means I am at 40 kilometres out of 50 on Strava's November Walk Challenge. My friend Gabby is also at around 40km, so we may plan a walk together to finish it off! Overall, this walk wasn't too difficult, but the steep inclines near Bayview are not fun!

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this adventure. I'm not sure if I'll be doing a walk next Tuesday as I have some other things to do, but I may walk sometime soon with Gabby to finish off the November Walk Challenge.

If you have yet to, add me on Strava (Patrick Stogianou)! I post a lot of the walking routes that I do both around the city and in my neighbourhood!