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Enter todayPublished on July 15, 2026
Toronto may not be the concrete jungle you think it is.
While nature can sometimes feel far away for residents of the big city, Toronto is home to one of the world’s largest urban ravine systems. Winding trails, forests and waterways offer a surprising escape into nature without leaving the urban core. The ravines may even be the key characteristic of the city.
Our headquarters at Evergreen Brick Works is a gateway to the ravine system and a natural starting point to experience the incredible surrounding green public spaces.
Whether you’re visiting the city for the first time or returning to a favourite trail, here are eight things to see and do in Toronto’s ravines.
From Darwin the IKEA Monkey, in his tiny shearling coat, to Bonnie and Clyde, the capybaras who escaped High Park Zoo, to Conrad the Raccoon, whose memorial captured the city’s attention, Toronto has a colourful history of unforgettable wildlife encounters.
But beyond the headlines, Toronto’s ravines are home to a thriving community of wildlife that quietly shares the city with us. From birds and butterflies to foxes and beavers, these natural corridors offer plenty of opportunities to spot different species in their urban habitat.
Beyond some of the city’s most striking examples of graffiti—on bridges, underpasses and other infrastructure—Toronto’s ravines also host dynamic public art projects that help connect the urban and natural parts of the city.
Those looking to combine a nature walk with outdoor art in Toronto can visit Duane Linklater’s installation of cast concrete gargoyles on the Lower Don Trail, Beth Stuart’s large-scale mural on the underside of the Dundas Street East bridge and more projects curated by Evergreen’s public art team.
Artist: George Agnew, Government of Ontario Art Collection
Toronto’s ravines hold thousands of years of history, including the stories, knowledge and connections of the Indigenous peoples who have cared for these lands.
Today, visitors can learn more through interpretive features along trails like The Shared Path on the Humber River Recreation Trail, which follows the historic Toronto Carrying Place Trail, an ancient Indigenous travel route. As you explore the ravines, look for signs and installations that reveal the deep histories of these landscapes.
Toronto’s ravines are some of the best places to discover native plants in the city. From spring wildflowers and ferns to towering forests of maple and oak trees, these natural areas showcasethe biodiversity that makes the ravine system unique.
Some of the botanical surprises include Sassafras, a Carolinian tree species known for having three distinct leaf shapes on the same branch; Jack-in-the-Pulpit, a woodland wildflower with an unusual hooded flower that resembles a tiny tropical plant; and Interrupted Fern, named because its fertile, dark brown spore-bearing leaflets “interrupt” the middle of the green frond.
Long before they were lush green corridors filled with folks, flora and fauna, the entire valley system was shaped by ice and water. And there are plenty of spaces to spot this ancient history.
The North Slope at the Don Valley Brick Works Park offers a direct visual timeline of advancing and retreating glaciers and the resulting climatic changes; the steep slopes of places like Moore Park Ravine reveal the legacy of the ancient Lake Iroquois shoreline; and the rushing rivers of Rouge National Urban Park ravines have sliced down into 450-million-year-old bedrock, leaving behind flat shelves of shale where you can search for ancient fossils.
If you’re hiking through the ravines, you can also just look for out-of-place rocks (sometimes called glacial erratics). Because glaciers act like slow-moving conveyor belts, they pick up chunks of distinct rock and drop them in regions composed of entirely different rocks!
No two visits to Toronto’s ravines are ever the same. Spring brings carpets of wildflowers and the return of migratory birds, summer fills the trails with lush green canopies, autumn transforms the landscape with incredible fall colours and winter reveals frozen waterways and snow-covered forests.
Want to see the changing seasons from above? Areas around the valleys offer stunning views, whether you’re looking for the perfect photo or a quiet place to reflect. Some of our favouritesinclude the Governors Bridge Lookout at Don Valley Brick Works Park, Chester Hill Lookout and the trails around Crothers Woods.
According to the World Health Organization, environmental noise is ranked as the second largest environmental cause of health problems, right behind air pollution. What’s that racket? In Toronto, you’re probably hearing traffic, construction, leaf blowers, lawn mowers, fire trucks, nightlife and on and on!
But if you’ve spent time in the ravines, you know they can feel like a world away from the city streets just above. How is that possible?
A few reasons explain this magic. First, you literally sink below the noise, as the steep valley walls act as a physical shield that blocks out street-level sounds. Once you’re down there, the soft forest floor swallows up the urban echo instead of bouncing it around the way hard concrete does. Finally, nature masks whatever noise manages to slip through, replacing it with rustling leaves or trickling streams.
Toronto’s ravines aren’t just a place to slow down, they’re also places to get moving. With hundreds of kilometres of trails across the city, they offer plenty of space for walking, hiking and cycling.
Looking for a bit more adventure? Several natural-surface trails in the ravines provide some extraordinary opportunities for mountain biking. Crothers Woods is perhaps the most popular, offering 10 km of mountain bike trails that include steep sections and intermediate-level terrain.
Bike Ventures Camp at Evergreen Brick Works connects campers ages 8–14 of all mountain biking experience levels to the trails in the Toronto Don Valley.
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But wait, what about Evergreen Brick Works, the gateway to the incredible ravines? We haven’t forgotten. The Brick Works offers just about everything on the list, alongside community events, farmers markets, the Children’s Garden and so much more.
Evergreen is also continuing its work to steward and animate the ravine system to ensure future generations have the opportunity to connect with nature and each other.
