A Passage Through Earl Bales
This fall I will be starting school at a new location around Yonge/Shepard, and I am eager to take my bike to school. The only problem is that I live at Bathurst/Wilson, and taking Shepard west and then Bathurst south or Yonge south and then Wilson west is very time-consuming and downright impractical. The area between these boundaries is mostly Earl Bales park, and a way to bike through it to get between Yonge/Shepard and Bathurst/Wilson would ultimately save me days of time spent commuting. Does anyone know if this is possible? I know parts of Earl Bales merge with some people's backyards; is your route legal? Thanks in advance!
-Loppy
There is an entrance to Earl Bales park off of Westgate Blvd. This takes you down to the river valley... but from there there is no quick route up the east side of the bank. A large part of the park is fenced off, because of the golf course. There are no bridges across the river that I know of that's in the park. Eventually you have to take a switchback up to Sheppard and cross the river there.
There are also some narrow bridges across some flood control dams, this will slow you down.
Going into Earl Bales is more scenic (but slightly smelly when the river is stagnant). But it won't be faster than taking Bathurst to Sheppard.
Bathurst can be backed up and busy during rush hour, so I used to use yeoman's rd, clanton park and fayewood to get around it.
City of Toronto map suggests that you can pop through Earl Bales via a couple of entrances on the south side, and come out on Wentworth north of Sheppard and east of the valley: http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/map/pdf/map02.pdf
You may even be able to get through to York Cemetery for a....peaceful....ride.
But since you said you're starting school in fall, be aware that paths in parks quickly deteriorate with the coming of cold weather. Even when the sidewalks and streets are clear, paths with poor dranage or shade can be covered with an impossible-to-ride layer of ice. Foot traffic packs down even minor snowfalls, which freezes into very lumpy ice, and doesn't melt until spring. This is why the Martin Goodman trail was often impassable in past winters even though there was hardly any snow on lawns, never mind streets.
Plus, Earl Bales is the home of one of the City's ski runs; the steep valley won't make for easy cycling.
I think I understand why you call Sheppard/Bathurst or Yonge/Wilson "impractical", but "time-consuming?" No; except for really straight-line trails, it's usually much faster to ride grid roads than park trails. Principal reasons: pedestrians and dangerous/blind hills and curves on trails slow you down, and park trails are rarely direct.
The cycling map shows some suggested routes. If there aren't too many stop signs on the routes, they may be your best bet. Alas, the suggested routes recommend Bathurst right through the big valley north of Sheppard. You'd have to find hills to be an enjoyable challenge to do this every day.