Hiking Toronto for Dog Lovers

The Bob Hunter Memorial Park is part of the Rouge Urban National Park. It opened in 2006 and is named in honour of Robert Hunter, one of Greenpeace's founders. The 500 acres of land that makes up the park is owned by the province of Ontario. The park is located just north of the Toronto Zoo at Reesor Road and 14th Ave in Markham. Four trails are accessible from the main parking area on 14th Ave in Markham. See a previous blog about the Reesorway and Tanglewood trails . This blog documents the Monarch Trail. Monarch Trail The Monarch trail takes you through reclaimed wetlands, a cedar forest and white pine stand next to the Little Rouge River. The trail is 5.5 km in length and is easy to follow, despite the lack of signs. If you use MapMyWalk, follow our trail:  https://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/5246779414 . Parking  There is a large parking lot, toilets, seating area, and signage at the park's main entrance: 7277 14th Ave, Markham. Trailhead  Start the hike on the trail b...

The Bob Hunter Memorial Park is part of the Rouge National Urban Park.  It is located just north of Toronto at 14th Ave and Reesor Road in Markham. Parking Park at the trailhead located at  7277 14th Ave, Markham, ON . At this parking location, there is a washroom, signage, and a resting area. History From Wikipedia , I learned that  Bob Hunter Memorial Park is a greenspace preserve in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It is named in honour of Robert Hunter, one of the founders of Greenpeace. The park was officially opened in August 2006. There are four trails: Tanglewood, Reesor Way, Tallgrass Trek and Monarch.  We hiked the Reesor Way / Tanglewood Trail, a 3.3 km loop that passes through a young forest to a more mature forest next to the Little Rouge River.  Suggested Hike I used UnderArmor MapMyWalk to record the route we took. If you use the app, follow our route . Young Forest If you walk the route counter-clockwise, the first section you'll hike through is a young...

Earl Bales is a large park with Sheppard Ave West to the north and Bathurst Street to the west.  There are many hiking trails in this park that we enjoy exploring, but only in the winter can the general public walk the golf course. The Don Valley Golf Course is south of Earl Bales and allows hikers and dogs to visit the property during the winter months. We've blogged about this trail before. See  Earl Bales Park . For this hike, we start at the community centre off of Bathurst Street, visit the dog park, walk past the ski hill, along the Don River to the golf course. We've previously turned back at the 401, but this time we continued to Wilson Ave for a 9 km hike. Parking There is no shortage of parking spots in the winter. The parking near the Community Centre is located at 4169 Bathurst Street . Dog Park We followed the signs down to the dog park. The trail is between the community centre and the Barry Zukerman Amphitheatre. As usual, we met new friends at the off-leash dog...