TAKE A HIKE
Former mayor David Miller wants us to Go Wild and reconnect with nature,
People say hi to David Miller like he’s still the mayor.
Heads turn and some even pat him on the shoulder as they pass by while on an urban hike up the Humber River Valley. “Have a great walk” and “Enjoy the long weekend” were the booming responses people got from the former mayor. Some mayors never stop being mayoral; just look at David Crombie.
Miller’s like a Toronto ambassador now, but he’s also the CEO of WWF-Canada (World Wildlife Fund). He wanted to go on an urban nature hike to talk about Go Wild, the WWF campaign to get Canadians, particularly urban ones, more involved in nature. Despite all of our outdoors mythology, Canadians spend 90 per cent of their time indoors.
“We want people to connect with nature, not just go in it,” says Miller. “When you’re out working with your hands, you get a physical and emotional attachment to the place.”
To this end, WWF wants people to submit their own ideas to get their community more involved in natural areas, and the top five proposals will receive a $1,000 microgrant to implement their projects.
We began our walk at the historical Lambton House, a former hotel and tavern on Old Dundas St., now a dead-end spur off Dundas St. itself that once carried traffic across the river until the current, bigger bridge was built in 1929. The lower bridge is gone now but the abutments can be seen on either side of the river, and Lambton House serves a museum.
As we walk north underneath the newer Dundas bridge, Miller points up the ridge to where Lambton Arena is just beyond the trees.
“I’ve been going to hockey games there for years,” says Miller. “Both my kids played there; you could look down into the valley, typical of some of our amazing views.”
Up on the ridge by the arena there are two perfectly forlorn benches on an overgrown patch of concrete overlooking the bridge and river. It’s a great and historical view, but not just because this is an ancient valley. The benches here read “City of York Parks and Recreation — For Further Information Call 394-2469.” They are vintage pieces of the sevendigit dialing era and a preamalgamation city. Sit here like it’s 1996 while you still can.
We stopped for a spell on the footbridge that carries the trail over to the west side of the Humber. Next to it, GO trains rumble by on the high-level CP railway westward to Kipling Station and Mississauga.
There’s some irony standing on the footbridge with Miller, the man whose extensive and funded Transit City light-rail plan was largely cancelled by the Ford administration. The footbridge is built atop the concrete footings of the old Toronto Suburban Railway bridge that crossed here, an interurban electric rail line that ran from the Junction to Guelph, Ont., begun in the 1890s but put out of business by the automobile in 1931.
The Toronto Suburban lines would be invaluable now, but the right of way and bridges are all gone. This city has a long history of giving up on the transit it has in hand for something else.
We continue walking north, alternating through seemingly natural areas and cultivated spaces such as the James Gardens, passing by tree trunks halfgnawed by local beavers, slipping under the Scarlett Road Bridge and across the savannah-like landscape up to Eglinton Ave. where we turn around.
We did the 10-kilometre round trip in about two hours, but time passed quickly. The sun was out and Toronto seems friendly in the ravines, yet many people rarely venture down, needing some encouragement.
“There’s a deep craving in people to be in nature if they’re missing it,” says Miller. “People sparkle when they are first taken on a ravine visit.”
Go Wild runs until April 15; see wwf.ca/gowild for details. Shawn Micallef writes every Friday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef.