Too often we forget the fact that this city we call home is really quite a beautiful place in terms of parks, rivers, and nature. If you take an arial view of Toronto, you’ll find that it is intersected by long blue/green lines – these are the ravines and their offshoots. These ravines are what give us our unofficial slogan: “The city within a park”, and are largely undeveloped (though sometimes they can be cut by roads). These channels, at certain parts only forming streams a few meters wide, act as corridors for flora and fauna to enter the heart of this city – and often times they’re simply hiding behind a building, or covered by a dense grove of trees.
Toronto from space – those long dark lines are river/ravine systems
Warning: These waterways can be very fast and deep during the Spring rains, and the paths are either poorly marked or non-existent. Proceed with someone who is familiar (it is always unwise to enter a relatively deserted area of the city alone), or you may find yourself examining a plant that looks (and feels) very much like poison ivy.
UTSC
Being a die-hard St. George student, it’s a little hard for me to admit that the Scarborough campus has access to a beautiful ssprawling park and ravine system. Morningside Park connects to an entire series of ravines and parks across Toronto, extending from Highland creek to UofT Scarborough, down to the Scarborough Village, all the way back up to L’amoreaux Park. For those of you not familiar with Toronto’s geography: It’s a very long distance. Scarboroughians (Scarboroughites? Scarboroughese?), get to know your campus! A beautiful ravine system is literally surrounding your campus, why not explore?
This would be a fantastic way to de-stress
Wildlife
I know for a fact that there are several deer in the City of Toronto. I’ve seen them myself along the Don River, casually staring at me when I stumbled upon them while exploring a ravine with my friends. I personally spotted them once at the ravine hidden at Don Mills and Lawrence and another time at the lower end of that ravine at Don Mills and Eglinton. They can be found sparsely along the Don, Humber, and Rouge Rivers. It can be quite a shock for people who have never seen anything larger than a raccoon in Toronto to see a dozen deer moving through the woods, but it is quite a sight. Warning: As with all wild animals: do not try to feed, startle, or catch the deer. They are stronger than you and will win the fight.
“Come get some”
At the moment, the Spring thaw is going on – it is not unusual to find enormous bundles of snakes in these ravines. They’re just coming out of hibernation, where dozens to hundreds of snakes will curl up in an enormous ball and rest underground. Rest assured, they are perfectly harmless and will not attack you. What you are most likely to find is a garter snake (small, thin, fairly pleasant) but they will vary. Toronto’s snakes are all non-venomous, with one notable exception – the Massasauga: incredibly hard to find and even they are perfectly pleasant as long as you’re not trying to pick them up and wipe your grubby hands all over them.
Plants
Let’s get one thing clear. Everyone, I don’t care if you’re a 4th year pre-med or a die-hard EngSci who hates anything with a pulse – should know how to identify poison ivy. It’s so abundant in Toronto that you should know how to avoid it. There’s a picture below, but an easy way of identification is 1) It’s a vine, 2) Leaves of three, leave it be. It’s that simple!
Take a walk through the parks and ravines and note the sheer diversity in plant life. For example: the fact that you can find maple and pine trees growing side by side – we take it for granted, but this is not something you could find in many places outside of Southern Ontario. It’s one of the few places where deciduous trees (trees that shed their leaves) and evergreens can live side-by-side. Another fine example of Canadian politeness.
Image Sources:
http://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111128parkplan.jpg
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aboutus/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.aboutus/files…
http://www.blogto.com/upload/2011/02/2011215-toronto-space-vert.jpg
http://toronto-wildlife.com/images/deer_wt_1sh25_061710_640x480.jpg
http://www.ottawavalleymoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Poison_Ivy_Le…