The World Around Us

The Humble River Hike

Country: Canada by Marlowe

04-08-2013

Humber River Trail Map

Humber River Trail Map. 38 kilometers. Start: Steeles Ave. and Islington Ave. Finish: Yonge St. and Lakeshore Blvd.

It’s been two years since Renaldo Jo and I completed two 100-km walks in one summer. Renaldo is going to be doing an imposing 580-kilometres in the Caminho de Santiago in Spain. I will be testing my walking speed during the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon on October 20th. We need to find a route to train.

We chose for our route an extension of the Humber River Trail from Steeles and Islington to Lake Ontario to 1 Yonge Street (our usual endpoint). The distance is about 38 kilometres. Joining us for part of the way was Matt, a friend of Renaldo’s. It was interesting but humbling experience.

Fauna

White Tail Deer

A White Tail Deer doe, like the one we saw before it darted off.

The trail is beautiful and turned out to be far more entertaining than we thought. Starting out at 930am, on the 3rd of August, we soon encountered a White Tail Deer on an earth path. Sadly, it got startled before we could take a picture. The image on the right is a good likeness of our doe from Wikimedia .

We also entountered on the trail, Canadian Geese (a little too close for their comfort), a crane, a garter snake and lots of ducks, squirrels and the usual crew of Toronto critters.

A lucky find

Lambdon House

Lambton House now, looking out of place before an apartment complex.

About halfway through the walk, nature called for one of us and we left the trail in search of a Tim Horton’s. Instead, we found Lambton House . While the other relieved himself, we spoke to the curator of the site, dressed in 19th-century appropriate garb, about the house itself.

Lambton House was built in 1847 and served as a hotel for what was then the village of Lambdon Mills. Dundas Street was then Dundas Highway, and was the main supply route for the town in the 19th century. It was restored in the 1990s and is now protected by the Ontario Heritage Act. Best part is that it still operates its bar on the first Friday of every month! Anyone care to go?

Final steps

scotiabank-marathon Sights aside, we dropped Matt off at Old Mill Station and headed down towards Lakeshore. With a quick detour to get around the Caribana Festival , we arrived at Yonge and Lakeshore 6 hours and three minutes after we left. The “humble” part was how hard it was to do just 38 km. Seems I’ll need to train harder if I’m going to complete 42 km in the same amount of time (which is the time limit they’ve set). If you’d like to sponsor me on my marathon, proceeds will be going to Cuso International . Cuso helps grassroots organizations in developing countries raise people out of poverty by sharing volunteers’ skills in overseas projects. To pledge, you can visit my page on their site.

Wish me luck, a marathon is a whole other ball of wax!