Walking Toronto's ravines: where to start, how to get there, what to know

From most streets in Toronto the ravines are invisible. You cross a bridge, glance down at treetops, and keep going. Below is a second city: river valleys and creek beds, forest and marsh, running from the suburbs to the lake.

The system is large. According to the City, Toronto's ravines extend more than 300 kilometres and cover 11,000 hectares, about 17 per cent of the city's land area. More than half of the system is publicly owned parkland. You do not need a car to reach it: several of the City's walking routes start at subway stations.

This note is a starting kit: four routes, how to reach them, and what the City and the conservation authority ask of walkers.

Start with a Discovery Walk

The City publishes a set of self-guided Discovery Walks, each with a printable route map, an estimated time, an interest (ravines, history, architecture) and the nearest TTC station. They are the easiest way in, because someone has already solved the hardest problem for a first visit: where to enter and how to get back out. Four good ones to begin with:

Don Valley Hills & Dales. Start at Broadview station. The walk makes two overlapping loops through the Lower Don Valley. Along the way you can visit Riverdale Farm, the Prince Edward (Bloor Street) Viaduct, Chester Springs Marsh and Todmorden Mills, with side trips into Cabbagetown and Rosedale. The City estimates two hours or longer.

Humber River, Old Mill & Marshes. Start at Old Mill station. The route loops through the Humber River valley from roughly Bloor Street south to Lake Ontario, past the historic Old Mill and Old Mill Bridge, through riverside parkland and on to the river's marshes. Also two hours or longer.

Western Ravines & Beaches. Start and finish at High Park station. The route runs through High Park to the Western Beaches boardwalk, the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion and the Humber bridge for cyclists and pedestrians, then back through Rennie Park ravine and the Swansea neighbourhood.

Garrison Creek. Start at Christie Pits, across from Christie station. This one follows a ravine that is no longer there. Garrison Creek once ran in a deep valley from north of St. Clair Avenue to the lake; it is now buried. The walk traces its line south through parks including Trinity Bellwoods to Fort York, built at the creek's mouth in 1793. It is the shortest of the four, one to two hours by the City's estimate, and the best introduction to how much of Toronto's shape comes from its water.

The full set includes walks in the northern ravines near Lawrence station and the eastern ravines toward the Beaches. All of them are on the City's Discovery Walks page.

If you want scale: the Rouge

At the city's eastern edge is Rouge National Urban Park, run by Parks Canada rather than the City. Parks Canada describes it as the largest urban park of its kind in North America, at 79.1 square kilometres once fully complete, and close to 50 times the size of High Park. It is a larger outing than the walks above; plan it with Parks Canada's own visitor information.

Go during Ravine Days

Every autumn the City runs Ravine Days, a city-wide series of guided walks, workshops and self-guided activities in the ravines, held each year since 2017. In 2026 it runs from September 26 to October 18. It is a good time for a first visit: the leaves are turning, and there are guides.

What the City and the conservation authority ask

The City's Ravine Days guidance and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's safety tips cover the same practical ground:

• Stay on official trails. Both say so plainly. Staying on them protects the slopes, plants and wildlife, and keeps you on ground built for walking.
• Go in daylight. Many ravine trails are deliberately unlit, to limit light's effect on wildlife.
• Avoid storms. Heavy rain can cause flooding and bring down branches. Check the weather first.
• Bring water and plan washroom stops. Many ravines have no easy access to either.
• Dress for the ground and the plants. Wear running shoes or hiking boots for stairs, slopes and uneven surfaces, and long pants and sleeves against poison ivy, giant hogweed and ticks. TRCA notes that black-legged ticks can carry Lyme disease, so check yourself afterwards.
• Do not feed wildlife.
• Expect patchy cell reception in parts of the valleys, and tell someone your route if you go alone.

Dogs

Dogs must be on a leash in Toronto parks except in designated off-leash areas. The City lists a fine of up to $615 for letting a dog run off-leash elsewhere, so a ravine trail is on-leash unless it is a designated off-leash area.

The ravines are protected

The City protects ravines through Chapter 658 of the Municipal Code, the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection by-law. In protected areas, it requires a permit to injure or remove trees, dump fill or refuse, or change the grade of the land. For walkers, the practical meaning is simple: take nothing, leave nothing, and do not cut new paths.

The City's Ravine Strategy, backed by an implementation plan adopted by City Council in January 2020, sets out a ten-year program to clean up and protect the system, including added funding for restoration and invasive-species control. Volunteering with those efforts is another way in.

A first outing, planned

1. Pick one Discovery Walk and print or save its map.
2. Take the subway to the station it names.
3. Go on a dry morning, in proper shoes, with water.
4. Stay on the marked trail and leave it as you found it.
5. Allow two hours, and more if you stop, which you will.

Drafted with AI assistance.

Sources

1. City of Toronto — Ravine Days return and kick off Saturday, September 30 (news release, 29 September 2023) toronto.ca
2. City of Toronto — Ravine Days toronto.ca
3. City of Toronto — Ravine Strategy toronto.ca
4. City of Toronto — Discovery Walks toronto.ca
5. City of Toronto — Dogs off-leash toronto.ca
6. City of Toronto — Municipal Code Chapter 658, Ravine and Natural Feature Protection toronto.ca
7. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority — Outdoor safety tips trca.ca
8. Parks Canada — Rouge National Urban Park backgrounder (2017) canada.ca

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