Cedarvale Park

The first impression one receives of Cedarvale Park is that someone doesn't want people to come here. Located in the heart of Toronto, between Eglinton and St. Clair to the north and south and straddling Bathurst Street, it shouldn't feel isolated. But a series of one-way streets that change directions after each block ensure that no one gets here by accident. I managed to get in by going north on Winona Drive from Vaughn Road. From there, it was just another five turns along one-way streets to get into the parking lot of Phillip White Arena.

A completely fenced in off-leash dog park is visible from the parking lot:


This is the kind of dog park your trainers warn you not to visit with your dog: a wide open space wtih nothing for the dogs to do but get into trouble with each other.

There is a wide gravel trail running alongside the park. The walk along the trail going south-east is pleasant enough. Two-meter tall bullrushes flank either side of the trail in some places.


The trail ends at the entrance to the St. Clair subway station on Tichester Road, one block north of St. Clair and east of Bathurst. You should be able to walk from the dog park to the subway station and back in about 30 minutes.

There is a water fountain for dogs next the tennis courts west of the dog park.

Don Velley Brick Works

This small park, located off of Bayview Avenue between Rosedale and Moore Park, features wildflower meadows and wetlands in a former brick quarry. A series of boardwalks criss-crosses the wetland areas. A Great Blue Heron hunts amongst the rushes, turtles sunbathe on a floating log, and numerous songbirds fly through the meadow. The only drawback from a dogwalking point of view is that there is no shade, and you can feel the heat rising from the meadows in the mid-day sun. This should be a pleasant place to walk in the fall.



There is a side path leading halfway up the ravine along the eastern edge of the park. This wide trail is partly shaded by the trees. Local dog walkers appear to be using the path as a leash-free zone, though I may have been unlucky the one time I used that trail. The trail is flanked on both sides by poison ivy, so it is actually in everyone's interest to keep the dogs on leash and on the path.

There is also a fully fenced dog park called the "Dog Patch" just south of the parking lot. The park is about 50% shaded. The ground cover in the unshaded parts is gravel which gets very hot in the summer sun. There is a very small creek oozing its way through the park. It dries up almost completely in the summer, but still appears capable of supporting a large population of mosquitos.

Sherwood Park, Blythwood Ravine

Access to Sherwood Park is from Mt. Pleasant Road, then east along Sherwood Avenue. It is a short hike along a paved road from the parking lot to the entrance of the fenced in off-leash dog park/trail. The dog park is nicely shaded, and the trails are mostly fenced in except for a few spots where someone/thing had broken through the fencing. There is a water fountain at the entrance to the dog park.

If you turn left before getting to the dog park, there is a short path on either side of the creek going north. One side features a children's playground. The other side is fit for walking dogs. It is a very short walk (about 200 meters) to Blythwood Road, where you can cross the street to enter the Blythwood Ravine.

The path through the ravine is wide, mostly packed dirt, with some parts gravel and paved. The dirt path looks like it becomes quite wet and muddy after rain. The shaded trail appear to be popular with the locals. The entire route is quite short, with less than a kilometer's walk to the tennis courts at Lawrence Park.

E. T. Seton Park

This was not what I envisioned from reading Ernest Thompson Seton's stories about Wild Animals he had known. The fully paved bicycle and pedestrian path runs through wide swathes of manicured lawn, representing the kind of environmental destruction that drove out E. T. Seton's beloved wild animals from the Don River Valley.



The park appears to be popular with joggers and families with baby strollers. There is lots of space on the grass on either side of the path to walk dogs without getting into the way of joggers and cyclists. Garbage and recycling bins are plentiful; you never have to walk more than 100' before finding a place to deposit your poop bags.

This is a sunny trail with only partial shade provided by the isolated trees dotting the landscape. There is a water fountain near Overlea Drive. You will need a water bowl.

I came into the park through the access road to Wilket Creek Park from Leslie Street, just north of Eglinton. The parking lot is huge, and if you are lucky, you will find a shady spot to park.