David A. Balfour Park, Toronto
Sometimes it’s fun to just open up a map of Toronto, identify a green space on the map, and pop over for a mystery hike. That was how I ended up at David Balfour Park. The first thing I discovered was that part of the park was under construction, so it takes a bit to find your way in if you’re coming from the North side. The Rosehill Ave part is blocked off, but if you walk up Avoca Ave, you’ll notice a downwards slope with lots of giant construction vehicles on it. I would never have known if I hadn’t seen other people enter this way, but this is actually the current entrance.
So first impressions - the park is more a “path” or a trail then what you’d generally think of as a park. If you go North after entering from Avoca Ave, the trail features dirt steps. Due to the rain yesterday, it was pretty muddy and slippery (had a couple folks warn me) but there was a wooden handrail for most of this section of the park. It kind of gave me summer camp hiking feels because the wooden features (e.g., the railings and the steps) seemed old and not the sturdiest or most reliable.
I ended up under the Vale of Avoca, a beautiful large car bridge with a pretty intense sounding name, and explored the graffiti and street art for a bit.
You would need to hike a bit up behind the trail to the higher under-the-bridge area to see this quote.
(Rare selfie to give an idea of relative bridge size).
Afterwards, I walked back towards my original entrance and explored the South side of the park. The path here was paved which was nice. It led to another even more imposing bridge which, to my knowledge, doesn’t have a super dramatic LOTR-y name. This one was specifically for trains.
The trail from David Balfour Park left me at Mount Pleasant Rd & Roxborough - careful crossing here as there are no signals - and I was able to continue further down the trail which at this point would be called the “Park Drive Reservation Lands”.
A yes, a discovery walk. What am I supposed to be discovering, though?
So interesting thing, there are all these signs to keep out of the storm water area, but a few meters after this sign the fence just....ends.
The aforementioned storm water area.
Had I the time, I could have continued following trails in this area for an entire day as it would have eventually taken me near the Don River and related trails, which span out for kilometres across the city. My route is highlighted in pink (within the larger map) to give you an idea of the immense spread of trails.
