Ed's Sk8toronto Website THE LOWER DON VALLEY OVERVIEW Although not the greatest route in the the Don Valley this route is the link between Sunnybrook Park (and Taylor Creek Park) to the Martin Goodman Trail (MGT) down at Lake Ontario. This route goes south from the point where Don Mills Road crosses the Don Valley Parkway. It is a rather difficult route which I skate often (but only because it is close to where I live). The setting of the pathway could best be described as meadow. This route should not be attempted by novice skaters as the asphalt is sometimes rough, pedestrian bridges are difficult and there are some tricky hills. PARKING The best place that I know of is in Taylor Creek Park (east off Don Mills Road just north of the DVP). There are no washrooms here. The route can also be skated up from the bottom -look for a pathway on the north side of Lake Shore Blvd at Cherry Street. You would have to park on or near Cherry Street to skate the route from the bottom. As well, there is a pedestrian bridge across the Don River at Lake Shore Blvd and the Don River that will take skaters to the west side of the river (where the path is). Other access points are at Pottery Road and at Beachwood Cr but it is not legal to park down in the valley at these places. Finally, the path can be accessed from stairways leading down from bridges at Queen Street or the pedestrian bridge connecting the two sides of Riverside Park. THE ROUTE If you are linking up to the Don Valley route from Sunnybrook Park you must skate south on the park road, past the big parking loop south of Overlea Drive. Keep your eye out for a narrow path to the left leading to a bridge taking Don Mills road over some railway tracks. Follow the path under Don Mills and over the tracks. This pathway under Don Mills Road and over the tracks is a real pain for skaters as the decking is wood, there are numerous mini speed bumps and there are fairly steep grades at each end. If you are headed southbound, agile skaters can run the hill. Skate over an old bowstring bridge and take the path to the right. This path goes all the way to the Martin Goodman Trail (MGT). I find the next section of the path to be the most pleasant of the whole route. After passing under a ramp from the Don Valley Parkway the path goes under the Bloor Street Viaduct –to me, one of the architectural marvels of the city. After a time the path takes a hard left, feeds through a pedestrian control gate and through a short culvert under some railway tracks. Slow down for this. After another 150 meters the route makes a hard right and goes across a pedestrian bridge to the west side of the Don River. Both approaches to this bridge are tricky.
Only 100 meters from the railway bridge the path forks. The left fork goes back across the Don River and becomes a very new and very high quality path running along the north side of Lake Shore Blvd Road all the way to Coxwell. The only downside to this pathway is that it crosses a few driveways, some side streets, a couple sets of railway tracks and ,of course, there are the traffic lights at Carlaw and Leslie Streets. It’s still worth skating. Taking the fork to the right leads to downtown Toronto and to the Martin Goodman Trail at Cherry Street. Watch out for another pedestrian control gate only a couple of hundred meters from the fork in the path. If you are skating down toward the lake it really comes up fast. Latest update -May 2010 This map below is taken from from Toronto Parks and Trails Map. To get a hard copy of this map or to view the map in PDF format click HERE. This map is part of Section 8 -Downtown Central Don. The red dashed line shows the Lower Don Valley route. The blue dashed line shows the route I call Sunnbrook Park. The yellow dashed line shows pat of the Taylor Creek route.
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If you parked at Taylor Creek Park just look for the path to the bridge under Don Mills Road right near the entrance to Taylor Creek Park. Again, you must be careful on the wooden walkway under Don Mills, near the entrance to Taylor Creek as it was not designed with skaters in mind. From here the path is reasonably wide and flat for quite a while, although the asphalt is a little rough in places. Not long after passing under the Leaside bridge the path goes up a little hill and back down. From either direction there is a turn at the bottom of the hill and a bit of a blind corner. Be assured that the situation is not as bad as it seems when you are coming down the grade. You will be able to make the turn and stay out of trouble at the bottom. The path continues along for a time and then becomes a road (pretty rough) until you reach Pottery Road. South of Pottery Road, the path climbs a moderate hill. Coming down is pretty exciting and again there is a blind turn at the bottom –but there is not much to worry about. 
From this point on, the path is fairly narrow, often a little overgrown, and somewhat bumpy. The path goes under Gerrard, Dundas, Queen Street and finally a railway bridge where the path quality improves greatly. 