One Great City

During a Jane’s Walk earlier this month (some highlights were captured on video here), I walked along a portion of the multi-use trail in the Finch Hydro Corridor.

It was not visibly used by neighbours on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but for what little it costs to build these connections, they ought to blanket the suburbs. A network of trails would be a lot more useful than a single linear path.

It also couldn’t hurt to clear them of snow in the winter.

Above is the road down into Bluffers Park. It has no sidewalk. As a pedestrian, the safer way down to the lake involves so much clambering and scrabbling that it must be doing ecological harm to the bluffs.

But you should still go. (Maybe drive.) I’ve lived in Toronto for two years now and I had no idea that the Scarborough Bluffs are serious features of the landscape — an imposing and beautiful flank for a city whose topography is otherwise predominantly gentle. These pair well with the more picturesque ravines.