 |
Ed's Sk8toronto Website
LESLIE STREET SPIT (TOMMY THOMPSON PARK)
OVERVIEW
In the last couple of years I have started to really enjoy this route -especially since they upgraded the asphalt between the floating bridge and the lighthouse! It may not be worth a special trip to the area but it certainly makes a good 'side route' to the Martin Goodman Trail -East End. It's best to skate this route on a calm day.
The Leslie Street spit is a huge man-made projection jutting out into Lake Ontario and running south and west from the bottom of Leslie Street.. The project was started in the 1950s in order to protect the harbour area and the Toronto Islands from storm damage. Those who are up on the natural history of Toronto will know that for thousands of years storms have taken material from the Scarborough bluffs and deposited the sand and silt in such a way as to form the Toronto Islands and create a natural harbour. Early this century, the Toronto Islands were connected to the mainland and were, in fact, a natural spit. Then, a huge storm ripped open the eastern gap and the island was created.
While it is true that the island and harbour benefit from the protection of the Leslie Street Spit the biggest beneficiary of the project was the Toronto construction industry which, for decades, had a cheap dump for all of the excavated material coming out of construction sites around town. Now, only broken concrete is being dumped at the spit -in an effort to protect the spit from storm damage! A truly ironic situation indeed. As a result of the ongoing dumping at the spit, it is open to the public only on weekends. It is only because of the efforts of a small group of citizens (Friends of the Spit) that the spit has been preserved as an urban wilderness and that it is now open to the public.
Although trees have grown to a fair size on some parts of the spit the roadway (where the skating is good) is quite open and thus very exposed to the wind. Most often, skaters fight the wind on the way out and enjoy a big wind assist on the way back in. Recent improvments allow skaters to go all the way to the lighthouse although there is a bit of effort involved.
PARKING
There is plenty of parking at the foot of Leslie Street (south of Lake Shore Blvd E) and portable toilets are maintained by the city. Don't forget that the spit is only open on weekends.
THE ROUTE
The route is about 10k round trip. Start at the foot of Leslie Street and proceed south onto the spit. The path is the roadway which is still used by dump trucks and service vehicles during the week. This flat, wide road has numerous speed bumps placed along it to slow down the dump trucks. The asphalt quality is average as the surface is a bit rough.
After skating around 1k the road passes by a weigh station. In another few hundred meters a road heads off to the left. There are two options: The road to the left used to be the best option for skaters. This road gets progressivly rougher. The road straight ahead is the shortest route to the best skating on the spit. After dealing with a bumpy road, a short stretch of gravel and the narrow floating bridge there is a brand new stretch of asphalt that goes almost to the lighthouse.
Actually both roads lead to the lighthouse since they make a loop. As I have indicated, the best route is probably the one across the floating bridge. When I make the effort of skating out to the lighthouse I skate back and forth on the nice asphalt at the end a few times before heading back. Be sure to take in the unique view of the Toronto skyline when you are out on the spit.
Thanks to Morgan Williams for pointing this route out to me.
MAP. . .Route is shown in yellow. Martin Goodman Trail -east is shown in red. Red dots depict parking.
Latest Update: May 2010
The map below is 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 -Downtown Central Don.
The dashed red line shows the Martin Goodman Trail (East End) as described. The dashed yellow line shows the Leslie Street Spit. The dashed blue line shows the bottom end of the Lower Don Trail.
