We love our city for many reasons: the diverse food scene, The Blue Jays, the eccentric nightlife, Drake, and so on. But sometimes, it’s necessary to take a break and escape the bustle for a while. You don’t have to drive very far to find yourself completely surrounded by nature. If you’re looking to exercise, take photos, or walk your dog, these are all great options for a hike right outside the city.
Here are hiking trails in the GTA you have to check out this spring.
Crawford Lake Conservation Area
Location: Milton, Ontario
This unique park is surrounded by an elevated boardwalk trail that circles the entire lake! Take a stroll through 18km of beautiful hiking trails, featuring lush forests atop the Niagara Escarpment. Make sure to check out the 15th-century reconstructed Iroquoian Village and heritage site.
Mount Nemo Conservation Area
Location: Burlington, Ontario
Mount Nemo is a small park but always worth the hike – it’s dog-friendly too! Get away from the crowds at Kelso Conservation Area and check out this equally beautiful park. There are five kilometers of trails to explore, which are for all levels of fitness. The reward is the view over the escarpment once you reach the top.
Edward Gardens
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Edwards Garden is a tropical oasis in the middle of the city. There are different areas of this park to picnic, fly a kite, or bask in the sunshine. Make sure to head over to the Toronto Botanical Gardens, which features a stunning collection of themed gardens, a greenhouse, sculptures, and a variety of fountains.
Colonel Samuel Smith Park
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Known as one of the largest waterfront parks in Toronto, this park is located along a stretch of wooded shoreline in the Kipling and Lakeshore area. It is home to a variety of plants, trees, birds, and other wildlife, as well as a network of paths and the city’s first ice skating trail (in a figure-eight shape). The park also features a dog off-leash area.
Heart Lake Conservation Area
Location: Brampton, Ontario
Take a perfect walk, past the small natural kettle lake and into the forest. Enjoy fishing, boating, bird watching, or have a good old-fashioned picnic by the water.
Evergreen Brickworks
Location: Toronto, Ontario
The Don Valley Brick Works is a former quarry and industrial site located in the Don River valley. It’s an environmentally-focused community and has a cultural center that has events. Behind it is a magical forest with lots of walking trails.
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park
Location: Caledon, Ontario
The forest is so beautiful that this spot is also a popular location for weddings! Go to the Forks of the Credit for its hiking, fishing, sightseeing, and more.
Rouge Park
Location: Toronto, Ontario
The marshes at Rouge Beach are the biggest and best in Toronto. Follow the Cedar Trail and you will pass through meadows, wetlands, streams, and more.
High Park
Location: Toronto, Ontario
—
This 161-hectare park features lots of activities such as sporting facilities, cultural facilities, educational facilities, gardens, playgrounds, and a zoo. It is also known as THE SPOT to watch the cherry blossoms bloom in April.
Joker’s Hill Trail (99 Steps)
Location: Newmarket, Ontario
There are 3 different trail loops you can choose on this hike ranging in length. Nicknamed “The 99 Steps,” this conservation area is best suited for people who are seeking a challenge. The infamous Joker’s Hill trail consists of 99 natural log steps along a steep hill that offer quite the intense workout.
Orchard Trail
Location: Toronto, Ontario
A classic Rouge Valley hike, the Orchard Trail features young forests mixed with wetlands and traces of early European settlement, including remnant orchards, residences, and an old mill. The trail can be accessed at two places: the north trailhead is located at the bottom of Zoo Road on the south side of the road (next to a portable washroom), a short 5-minute walk from Parks Canada’s Welcome Area at the top of Zoo Road; and the south trailhead is accessed via Twyn Rivers Drive.
Scarborough Bluffs Trail
Location: Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough Bluffs Trail is a 6.8-kilometer heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Toronto, Ontario, Canada that features a lake and is good for all skill levels. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on a leash.
Dundas Peak
Location: Dundas, Ontario
Dundas Peak, a part of the Spencer Gorge Conservation Area, is a hike of nature trails that leads to a beautiful scenic lookout. This trail is a little over an hour away from Toronto and takes about 45 minutes to complete. You can bring your dog along as long as it’s kept on a leash, and if you’re planning to head over a long weekend, reserve your spot here.
Tiffany Falls
Location: Ancaster, Ontario
If you’re looking for an easy and short hike that leads to a great waterfall, Tiffany Falls in Ancaster, Ontario is the spot to go to. It gets pretty busy on weekends with nice weather and parking is limited, so maybe head over on a weekday if you want to avoid wait times.
Posts you Might be Interested in:
There Is a Lantern Festival Coming This Summer
A Massive Floating Waterpark Is Going To Be Open This Summer
There’s a Brewery Coming To The Toronto Islands This Summer
Multi-Vendor Food Concept Set To Open On Queen West
Massive Outdoor Space Coming To The Royal Ontario Museum
Looking for cheap but chic home décor to fill your space? With what feels like a zillion locations across the GTA, HomeSense is a haven for trendy, designer home décor items for every room in your home, minus the hefty price tags! As the sister brand of Winners, HomeSense offers an identical “grab it before it’s gone” shopping experience with an ever changing inventory of furniture, cookware, lighting, and decorative accessories priced at 20-60% off department and specialty stores. With the merchandise mix of every HomeSense location being a bit of a lottery, we’ve done the research to bring you the best HomeSense locations across the GTA in order to maximize your time and savings while shopping!
Here are 7 of the best HomeSense locations in the GTA!
Etobicoke (1840 The Queensway)
This Etobicoke HomeSense store is in the vicinity of a slew of other home décor retailers. Our guess is that this Etobicoke HomeSense has really upped their inventory game in order to remain competitive with neighbouring décor retailers. We found this HomeSense store to be a hot spot for large, modern furniture pieces like dining room tables, nightstands, and armchairs. Act fast because although these larger items are heavy to transport back home, the “sold” pile of items by the entrance accumulates rather quickly!
Mississauga (4141 Dixie Rd.)
Located just inside of Rockwood Mall, this Mississauga HomeSense location will blow you away with its huge selection of decorative wall pieces. Unique and modern picture frames, clocks, mirrors, and artwork spill over into multiple aisles, one with more selection than the next. We particularly loved this location for the amount of clearance merchandise at the back of each aisle. Each department from cookware to bathroom accessories had a minimum of two end caps worth of clearance décor items to shop from.
Burlington (777 Guelph Line)
This west GTA HomeSense store is tucked away inside of Burlington Mall and is a gold mine for glassware, bowls, plates, and other kitchen knick-knacks. Bonus points to this store because it has a unique selection of stationary finds and paper products by the checkout. The shelves of merchandise surrounding the checkout line house a wide selection of novelty mugs and high-quality gift wrap – a great one-stop shop for gift giving indeed!
Vaughan (1 Bass Pro Mills Dr.)
Looking for a deal? We were pleasantly surprised by the assortment of pantry and closet organization items at the Vaughan Mills HomeSense location. While this particular store isn’t as large as others on our list (it’s combined with a Winners location), we found staff to be friendly and very helpful. Just be sure to shop this location early in the day for the best selection; we found that by early evening the store becomes messy and a bit discouraging to shop through.
Newmarket (17940 Yonge St.)
When you only have one HomeSense location in your town, it has got to be a good one! The Newmarket HomeSense store at Woodland Hills Shopping Centre is a great source for a mix of items from laundry storage solutions to decorative vases to quality bedding. While the clearance selection at this store isn’t the greatest (we found most items to be damaged or missing parts,) the inventory of new merchandise was incredible. In addition to shopping through the aisles, be sure to pull pieces from the curated displays found around the store (these items are for sale too and aren’t just for display!)
East York (957 Eglinton Ave E)
Situated right at Eglinton and Brentcliffe is a under-the-radar Homesense location that’s quietly known as the best one in Toronto. It’s larger than it looks, so don’t knock this store until you really explore. Here you can find everything from top-quality bedding and cookware, to decorative pillows and expensive looking on-trend furniture.
Thornhill (1054 Centre Street)
The mission all the way up to this Thornhill HomeSense location will be well worth it once you start filling your cart. This store has a well stocked cookware section filled with cookbooks, beautiful pots & pans, baking trays, cookware, utensils, and more. Not just that, but there’s a stellar selection of seasonal home decor, so if you’re looking to decorate for Halloween, this is the store to visit!
The Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket will be home to a new and unique concept, ‘Market & Co.’ To make it even more special, a demonstration kitchen, as well as 18 incredible local merchants and first-to-market eateries will enhance the overall shopping experience.
“With the growing popularity and prominence of urban food markets worldwide, we saw an opportunity to pioneer this concept within a shopping centre. Market & Co. at Upper Canada is a first of its kind food market that features a highly sought-after collection of first-to-market and local merchants and brands,” said Bradley Jones, Head of Retail, Oxford Properties. “We have designed the market so guests can purchase quality groceries and speciality items to take home, enjoy food experiences at the market and take part in special events at the state-of-the-art, built-in demonstration kitchen.”
Market & Co. will host regular events, pop-ups and workshops at “Kitchen & Co,” that will educate visitors and also allow them to get to know local vendors in the complex better.
There will be a diverse range of food vendors and eateries, including full-service restaurants. The list of vendors includes: Bake Three Fifty, FloralEscence, Humble Roots Organic, Ma’s Best Quality Soups, Newmarket Olive Oil, Our Farm Organic Bakery, Pier 87, Fish Market & Grill, Ray Woodey’s Craft Chippery, Seed to Sausage Meatery, Sweet Jesus, and Village Juicery.
You can also expect some of York Region’s favourite brands like including Vince’s Market and Amadeus Patisserie as well as well-known brands including Starbucks and Sugar King Factory.
The full-service restaurants opening in the market include Canada’s first MidiCi The Neapolitan Pizza Company, Union Chicken (spit-fired, rotisserie chicken eatery), and Amano Kitchen.
“We are thrilled to introduce Market & Co. to the community, foodies and guests at Upper Canada. Upper Canada has invested $60 million to bring exciting new food experiences and 18 premium food brands and merchants to the centre,” said Bri-Ann Stuart, General Manager, Upper Canada Mall. “We look forward to celebrating our opening this September with special activities and promotions.”
Source: Retail-Insider.com
Featured Image: Retail-Insider.com
Are you excited for Market & Co? Let us know in the comments!
Torontonians love their city for many reasons: the diverse food scene, the towering, luxurious skyscrapers, the eccentric nightlife and so on. But sometimes, it’s good to take a break and escape the bustle for a while. Going on a hike can serve as that perfect pause from a busy work week, yet finding a lush green forest amidst Toronto’s concrete jungle may seem better said than done.
Whether you are going hiking for exercise, to simply enjoy the outdoors or just to walk your dog, there are great trails hidden right outside Toronto’s city limits. Here are 10 incredible hiking trails in the Greater Toronto Area you have to check out this summer.
Scarborough Bluffs
Greater Toronto Area, ON
Not only do the Scarborough Bluffs offer spectacular views of Lake Ontario and the rigid escarpment, but the trails offer a great opportunity to explore the nature hidden within Toronto. Ending your hike on the pristine, sandy beaches located at the bottom of the Bluffs is an added bonus.
High Park
Toronto, ON
High Park is Toronto’s largest and most popular public park and is a one-stop shop for nature lovers who don’t want to leave the city. Nestled in Toronto’s west end, High Park has a diverse range of hiking trails, dog parks, a beautiful waterfront, manicured gardens and even a zoo.
High Park (Image: Instagram/@jessicamaral)
Dundas Peak
Hamilton, ON
For some it may be a bit of a trek to Hamilton, but these hiking views are worth it. The trails around Dundas Peak open through the dense forest to some of Hamilton’s most stunning waterfalls. In addition to the waterfalls, there are also breathtaking views of the gorge below.
Elora Gorge
Elora, ON
Deemed one of the most spectacular views in Ontario, the Elora Gorge is a natural, hidden beauty tucked away in the historical town of Elora. The gorge presents hikers with awe-inspiring views of the Grand River waters and the trails are moderately easy so everyone of any age or experience level can enjoy it. And if you want to plan a day trip to the beach, make sure to Elora Quarry, too!
Rouge National Urban Park
Greater Toronto Area, ON
Rouge National Urban Park is a rich assembly of natural, cultural and agricultural landscapes. Once fully established, Rouge National Urban Park will be one of the largest and best protected urban parks of its kind in the world, spanning approximately 80 square kilometres. Right now, it currently features lots of short trails through an area that stretches from Lake Ontario all the way into Markham.
Rouge National Urban Park (Image: Instagram/@leibaut)
Humber Arboretum and West Humber River Valley
Toronto, ON
The Humber Arboretum is a little gem hidden right behind Humber College’s north campus. The green space features six kilometres of trails that wind around the Humber River. The space also has an abundance of flora and fauna and is free to enter.
East Don Parkland
Greater Toronto Area, ON
The East Don Parkland is part of a long chain of parks and hiking trails that follow the East Don River. The trails snake through the ravines and green spaces and serve as a beautiful opportunity for hiking or biking.
Rattlesnake Point
Milton, ON
If you’re one for adventure, look no further than Rattlesnake Point. Located just outside of Toronto in Milton, this forest boats hikes along the cliff line and the exploration of many of its caves. Rock climbing is also permitted in designated areas.
Rattlesnake Point (Image: Instagram/@taylorjonker)
Joker’s Hill and Thornton Bales Conservation Area
Newmarket, ON
Nicknamed “The 99 Steps,” this conservation area is best suited for people who are up for a challenge. The infamous Joker’s Hill trail consists of 99 natural log steps along a steep hill that offer an intense workout.
Crothers Woods
Toronto, ON
Crothers Woods is a 52-hectare woodland located in the Don River valley. Many trees in Crothers Woods are more than a century old, with parts of the forest remaining in much of the same condition prior to European settlement. Crothers Woods is most popular with nature enthusiasts, featuring approximately 10 kilometres of trails.
Featured Image: Scarborough Bluffs via Instagram/@sakithranaweera
Did we miss any of the best hiking trails near Toronto? Share them in the comment section.
Posts you might be Interested in:
The Best Romantic Getaways in Ontario
The Most Stunning National Parks you need to Visit on Canada’s Birthday
The 13 Best Cheap Eats in Toronto for $5 or Less
Bucket List Trips: 9 Reasons Why Your Next Vacation Should be in Jamaica
10 Destinations you need to Visit for a Truly Canadian Experience