Hike Toronto officially opened on July 1, 2023 at 10 AM. The first section of trails is at the Toronto Cemetery. Future locations include Mt. Nebo and Indian Rock Park.
The first event for the inaugural kick-off was a fairy path on the Periwinkle Trail which runs the eastern edge of the lower cemetery.
Recently, Perry Winkler’s Haunted Trail took over the Periwinkle Trail. Once the fairies left the Periwinkle Trail, the ghosts, and mischief makers moved in. Also in October, we sponsored and hosted Hike Toronto’s Haunted Hayride. Proceeds from that event helped the city maintain the cemetery. Then for Christmas, we paired with another local group, Focus in Toronto, for a holiday lights tour of the city using their Christmas parade Santa sleigh float, and the hay-wagon we used on our haunted hay-rides festooned with festive Christmas lights.
Next on our to-do list is the fall planting at our pollinator gardens. These are located just below the city reservoir in the meadow between the water department and the lower cemetery. The planting date is set for Friday November 8 at 10 AM and we will be planting several native species of pollinator attracting flowers which have to be in the ground over-winter to come up in the spring. The public is invited to come and help us plant and to work on landscaping ideas.
We are also soon going to host a night-sky observation event in our parking lot midway up Mt Nebo at the south end of town. Details to follow shortly.
Hike Toronto is a cooperative project between the city of Toronto and several dedicated citizens. The project is intended to bring visitors from outside of town and to provide an outdoor recreational alternative for those living in town.
In days of yore, it wasn’t uncommon for families to picnic in the local cemetery. In horse-and-carriage days it was often the only available nature scenery and it allowed them to stay connected to their lost loved ones. In those long-forgotten times, Toronto was also fortunate enough to have a local park in the gully of the hills between Fairview Heights and Walton Acres known as Camp Crum.
Unfortunately, when the state re-routed Rt 7 it cut citizens off from the trails that led to Camp Crum, and when the county re-routed Cemetery Rd for Cty Hwy 42, it created a deep ravine which made access to city property across from the cemetery inaccessible to all but a few city residents. Updates to the city’s water reserves also cut off access to Myers’ Knob. In these modern post-COVID times, a walk around the town is often the closest any of us gets to exploring nature the way our modern ancestors did. With this project, everything old is new again.
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PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
Hike Toronto is still in planning stages. When we open, all trails will be on public land and clearly marked. However, the land will often abut private property. These boundaries will also be clearly marked to help visitors avoid trespassing onto anyone’s property.When, in the future, land owners grant permission or easements for trails to cross their property, this will also be clearly marked. Currently, we have not gotten permissions from any private owners to access their lands.Should you visit the future sites of these trails now, you do so at your own risk and at risk of accidentally trespassing on private property. Trespassing onto private property is neither helpful to our cause nor is it in fact legal.