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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
MARTIN GOODMAN TRAIL (EASTERN SECTION)
OVERVIEW
The Martin Goodman Trail (MGT) between Jarvis Street in the west and the Eastern Beaches is a pretty good place to skate. The highlight is the newly constructed sections east from Leslie St –past Coxwell and well into the 'Beaches' beside the boardwalk. The most pathetic section is on the shoulder of Unwin Ave between Leslie Street and the narrow bridge a few hundred meters to the west. The setting varies all the way from abandoned industrial land along Queens Quay and Cherry Street, through virtual wilderness east of Cherry Beach (technically it’s Clarke Beach Park but the common name is Cherry Beach) to parkland at the Eastern Beaches.
NOTE: Some maps show the MGT to be continuous along Queens Quay between Jarvis Street and Bathhurst Street. This is not so. To skate this section it is necessary to skate on the sidewalk and the road.
There are great maps of this route available at the website for the Waterfront Trail. The main site for the Waterfront Trail is: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ .The three maps that pertain to this particular route are: http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-2_11.pdf ; http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-2_12.pdf and http://www.waterfronttrail.org/maps/wt-2_13.pdf. To look at these maps you need an Adobe Reader (Version 5).
PARKING
Try parking at the foot of Cherry Street (Clarke Beach Park) where there is never any charge or in one of the lots south of the Lake Shore Blvd at Coxwell where you have to pay on the weekends. As well, you can park at the foot of Leslie Street near Unwin Ave (at the entrance to the Leslie Street Spit for free on the weekend.
There are washrooms at Cherry Beach (Clarke Beach Park), the Leslie Street Spit (on weekends) and at a couple of places along the boardwalk (Eastern Beaches).
THE ROUTE
(I will describe this route from the west side skating towards the east.) Decent skating starts on the south side of Queens Quay in the vicinity of Jarvis Street. The first 3 to 4km of this trail is through former industrial land along the lake and harbour area around Cherry Street. The area is safe enough but quite uninteresting. The path quality along the south side of Queens Quay is pretty good but on Cherry Street skaters must contend with a liftbridge and set of railway tracks at each end. Except for these hazards the path is pretty good as it runs along the east side of Cherry Street. However, the asphalt on Cherry Street is so smooth that I usually cannot resist skating on the street. Both Commissioners Street and Unwin Ave are good shortcuts over to Leslie Street but the bike path between Cherry Beach (Clarke Beach Park) and the narrow bridge on Unwin Ave is quite new and lots of fun to skate. A new pedestrian bridge at the point where the path joins Unwin Street is a big improvement over what was there before but the path on the south and east side of Unwin Ave is rough, often sandy and sometimes uneven. It is survivable and there is better skating ahead.
At the corner of Unwin and Leslie the MGT turns north and heads up the east side of Leslie St to the south side of Lake Shore Road. However, before skating north consider skating out onto the Leslie Street Spit if it is the weekend and the wind is not too strong. ( See Leslie Street Spit for more information).
The new section of pathway along the south side of Lake Shore Blvd from Leslie to Coxwell is a pleasure to skate, unless there is a south wind, in which case the foul smell of the sewage treatment plant will spoil the experience. At Coxwell the path veers southward toward the boardwalk. Paralleling the boardwalk, the path was improved greatly in the spring of 2005 and is now a fine place to skate. It will be very busy on weekends and warm summer evenings however. Another option for skaters is the path system in Ashbridges Bay Park at the end of the park road which leads south from Coxwell. Here the paths are not quite as good but not as crowded either.
Last Update:April /07
The map below is 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 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.
