Scarborough Bluffs: 2021

 After living in Toronto for most of our lives, it took a pandemic and not being able to travel abroad to spur my husband Rich and I into visiting the beautiful Scarborough Bluffs, Bluffer’s Park and Marina.  Prior to this and for no particular reason, the furthest east we had been  along the Toronto waterfront was to the R.C. Harris Filtration Plant.  After walking ad infinitum around a 6-7km radius around our home at the beginning of the pandemic, we finally started to explore further afield.  Within a span of seven months in 2021, we ended up making 3 excursions east of the filtration plant, each time getting closer and closer to Scarborough Bluffs.  In a weird way, we were taking mini “vacations” within our own city.

For our first trip in April, we decided to park just east of the Toronto Hunt Club, a private golf course that monopolizes part of the shoreline of Lake Ontario so that the only way to get further east would be to walk on Kingston Road.  Instead we started on Crescentwood Road at the base of Warden Avenue and tried to stay as close to the water as possible.

Our initial glimpse of the water was at Crescentwood Park, although it was quite foggy in the morning.  By the time we passed again on our way back to the car, we had a clear view of Lake Ontario.  Continuing on, we weaved through quiet residential streets where houses sat on big lots that had eclectic and sometimes whimsical garden sculptures on them.  Passing through Harrison Properties, a 2.9 hectare, forested park overlooking Lake Ontario, we reached Rosetta McClain Gardens.

Rosetta McClain Gardens was named after Rosetta West who originally lived on the property with her husband Robert McClain.  In 1959, nineteen years after Rosetta’s death,  Robert donated the land to the city in order to create a large floral park in her honour.  Situated on top of, and currently considered part of the Scarborough Bluffs, the park consists of walking trails through multiple landscaped gardens including rose gardens (befitting of a patron named Rosetta), and a rock fountain surrounded by a pergola.  Given that it was April on our first visit, very few flowers were in bloom yet, but we saw the rose bushes and could image the potential for later in the season.  Due to the lack of flowers, in my mind, I kept hearing the 1967 tune sang by Lynn Anderson with the lyrics “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden”.  We did see a few daffodils and a small tree blooming with white flowers that Google Lens Search tells me are star magnolias, native to Japan.

Just east of the gardens, we arrived at Scarborough Heights Park where there is a free parking lot which we made note of for our next visit, an off-leash dog park and a large community garden on the west side of the park.  Next to the garden, off Fishleigh Drive, we found the steep path leading down to the Waterfront walking trails that would take us along the shoreline by the lake at the base of the park.

The trail was a mixture of loose gravel and small stones with large slabs of stone creating man-made “piers” that allowed you to walk out on top of Lake Ontario.  From there we could barely glimpse the Bluffs in the distance.  At this point we were not sure how far this trail would go and we had already walked over 4km to get here.  Needing to retrace the same distance as well as climb the steep hill that we initially came down, we decided that we would call it a day and get closer to the Bluffs on our next visit.  Back at the top of Scarborough Heights Park, we did venture near the southern edge to peek back down at the shoreline and the lake.  But the sign with the big red letters indicating “Danger Steep Slope” and the image of the figure rolling down the cliffs, (as well as common sense and Rich's unnecessary warning) prevented me from getting too close!

We returned to the Scarborough Bluffs area in mid May with a group of friends, but this time we parked our car at the Scarborough Heights Park so that we could explore the rest of the Waterfront trail.  Descending the steep hill once again and walking past the portions of the trail that we saw last time, we came across a long stretch of large slabs of flat rock, forming both a break-wall and a pathway that led us right to the base of the Bluffs.  Looking up at the majestic cliffs that formed an almost vertical drop, we could truly appreciate the danger signs located at the top of the park, and wondered why people would regularly attempt to climb down these slopes, getting stuck and requiring rescue from the fire department.

We walked along the stone break-wall and continued on the Waterfront trail as far as we could, until there was no way to safely continue.  We could see that the Bluffs went on further and at the other end, way off in the distance, there was a beach.  This would be as far east as we would get on this visit but there was obviously more to see!  Returning on the path, we continued a bit further west of our steep entry point.  After trudging through a bit of brush and climbing over a few boulders, we came across another rocky beach where some of the larger boulders were covered with graffiti.  

After the walk along the Scarborough Heights Park trails, we returned to Rosetta McClain Gardens for another look.  It was still too early in the season for roses but tulips were in full bloom.  There were pink, fuchsia and yellow “Double” tulips, which have more petals than the regular cup-shaped ones.  Off in a corner, there was also a bed of daffodils that were a pretty mixture of yellow and white. We spotted many interesting shrubs and trees including one with curved trunks that formed a perfect seating area, and the Weeping Cherry tree, a combination of two of my favourite trees—the Weeping Willow and the Cherry Blossom.

We came across the brick walls and a metal gate that are the remnants of the old McClain homestead.  There is a map of the Rosetta McClain Gardens that show many more paths that we have not yet explored.  We still need to come back here in late June/early July so that we can actually see roses.

Rich and I returned a third time to the Scarborough Bluffs area on a sunny, unusually warm day in mid October.  This time we started at Bluffers Park, even further east than the previous two trips.  To our dismay, when we headed for the Bluffers Park Lookout Point where there is also a heritage plaque, we found that a major portion of the park (the South Headland) was closed for construction in order to firm up “shoreline erosion and sediment control structures”.  Luckily, there were still many other beautiful sections of the park that we could access, but it seems like we will need to return for yet another visit once all the construction is done.  The Toronto Conservation Authority website indicates that the fences may come down by end of June 2022.  This would align with when we want to re-visit Rosetta McClain gardens and hopefully finally see the roses in full bloom.

We headed first toward the small, unnamed western beach just north of the lookout point.  To get there, we walked through some bushland, crossed a bridge and passed a marshy area covered with lily pads, spotting the peaks of the bluffs in the distance.  At one point we saw a sign warning “DO NOT CLIMB THE CLIFFS” and once again, I thought “No kidding!”. Finally reaching the beach, we were right at the base of the cliffs.  As this was a Wednesday morning, there was no one else in sight as we had the whole beach to ourselves.  

Next we headed to the Bluffers Park Marina where there are several yacht clubs as well as a private tight-knit community of 24 house boats lining the pier off of Bluffers Park Road.  Many of the house boats have 3 storeys with both upper and lower outdoor decks facing the water.  We checked out a few that were on the market and they were nicely furnished year-round homes with modern kitchens and bathrooms, 1-2 bedrooms, selling for between $420,000-$840,000.  This might be an interesting alternative to the Muskoka cottage, if you don’t mind that your home bobs up and down.

Continuing on, we finally reached the Bluffers Park Beach.  This one is a much larger beach than the first one we saw earlier in the day, as the sands stretched as far as the eye can see.  From this beach, we caught more views of the Scarborough Bluff cliffs, but with different trees that showed some signs of their autumn leaves changing colours.  It was too cold for swimming at this point, but apparently in the summer, you would find many people in the water.  We only saw a few people strolling along the sandy shore, and a man sitting on a lawn chair at the edge 

of the water, staring out at the Lake while his female companion lay on the sand soaking up some rays.  It made for a very serene scene.

Although we were quite tired at this point, we decided to explore the last long stretch of land that extended out from the west end of Bluffer’s Park Beach.  From there, we spotted boats docked at the Cathedral Park Yacht Club, could barely see the top of house boats way off in the distance, and enjoyed nice scenic views of the shoreline.  By the time we walked back to the car, we had covered over 8km and earned the pumpkin-flavoured ice cream that we stopped at Ed’s Real Scoop for before heading home.

After 3 consecutive trips to the Scarborough Bluffs area between the spring to fall of 2021, we are now close to saying that we have thoroughly explored this area.  The Bluffs have been truly a magnificent sight that we have admired from all angles and vantage points. It’s too bad that it has taken us so long to appreciate the beauty found in our own “backyard”.