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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
EAST DON RIVER (NORTH OF 401)
OVERVIEW
This route is situated in the East Don River Valley north of the 401. The setting is secluded woodland and meadow with no hint of the park-like setting that is characteristic of some other routes. The upper Don has 3 sections of pathway suitable for skating; the Betty Sutherland Trail which runs for a short distance south and east from the corner of Leslie and Sheppard; a much longer section which leads north and west from the same corner and ends up back at at Leslie St near Steeles Ave; and finally, a short, unconnected piece of pathway (the Duncan Creek section) further upstream near Don Mills Road.
This route is subject to flooding and path washouts. Right now however, the path through Alamosa Park and all the way up to Steels is in great shape. Don't try to skate this route until 24-48 hours after a rain. Because of the tree cover, the pathway takes a long time to dry out.
This route was first suggested to me by Bill Innes.
There is a short portion of the path which is only gravel (at Cummer Ave). It looks as if it will be paved soon .
PARKING
There are plenty of places to park in the neighborhoods bordering the pathway. There are a fair number of side-paths heading toward local neighbourhoods. As well, there is a great place for parking right at the NW corner of Sheppard and Leslie. Go west on Sheppard from Leslie, take the first right and turn right again into the lot. This parking lot is clearly associated with the park-pathway. There are washrooms at this parking lot -open in high season.
THE ROUTE
I will describe the route as if starting from Leslie and Sheppard.
On the SE corner, just a little way to the east on Sheppard is the north end of the Betty Sutherland Trail. The south end of the Trail is south of the 401 on Duncan Mill Road. The route runs through woodland and meadow and is quite flat except for the sllopes on each end leading down to the main section. The path is about 10 feet wide (3m) and the asphalt quality only fair to good. There is also a bit of an awkward pedestrian bridge crossing the river at one point. All in all, this section is pretty short and uninteresting.
On the NW of Leslie and Sheppard the path leads down to the main section of the East Don pathway. Near the bottom of the hill there is a side-path coming in from the parking lot. Not too far after this, in the shadow of a high railway bridge, there are two awkward pedestrian bridges joined by a narrow section of trail. Be careful here and watch for blind corners. Going north from the 2nd bridge the pathway improves greatly. The pedestrian bridges become more skater friendly and the terrain is flatter. North of Cummer Ave the best trail follows German Mills Creek rather than the East Don River. The general asphalt quality is good and the path is 10-12 feet wide. After around 4k the path emerges onto Leslie Street around 150 meters south of Steeles Ave. There is no (legal) parking at this point.
If you check a bicycle route map of the area it will seem that there is a continuation of the route toward the east (the Duncan Creek section), staying south of Steeles and ending up at Don Mills Road. It is not really worth the effort as you have to skate for a long time through residential streets and negotiate some significant hills in order to find a path that (although nice) is a little too short to bother with.
Last update- May 2010
This map has been scanned from the 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 -East Don River.
The red dashed line shows the best section of the Upper Don route. The yellow dashed line shows the Betty Sutherland Trail section of the route.
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