Don Valley

There is nothing better than dropping down into the valley and exploring. You can be 100 feet from the parkway and feel like you are lost in the woods. The valley is full of wonderful wildlife and magical flora, and it is right in my backyard.

i like standing over waterfalls on a grate

If you head from the Riverdale park footbridge, down the steps to the Don, and head north towards Pottery Road, it's amazing how you lose the city (and, the DVP). I saw a muskrat swimming.

The Bring Back the Don mural of the fish going from skeleton to life on the fence down in the Don Valley is a simple uplifting mysterious graphic, and I love the words on the arch of the bridge where Queen crosses the Don, about never stepping in the same river twice.

you can cycle all the way from the lakeshore up to Sunnybrook Park, or take a side trip east through peaceful Taylor Creek Park. The trail is wide, there are a few good hills, and the trees are thick enough that most of the time you can't even tell that the traffic on the Don Valley Parkway is metres away.