Walking Waterfronts on Lake Ontario

So I am inching closer to Toronto. I am now within the official boundaries of the GTA!  I was planning on going into Toronto via the Go Transit system. My destination would be Union Station and the waterfront (smack dab downtown basically). I see no reason to ease into it. But my plans quickly changed.  There seems to still be about a thousand protesters roaming the streets in Toronto. Let us call it a G20 police hang over. And knowing my tendency for adventure I could easily be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get rounded up with the protesters. That would be an interesting adventure.

So, the plan was to start with the perimeter communities. So we explored Oakville and Burlington, Ontario. I had very little good information to start with. It seems you have to go to local tourism offices to get good road maps with parks and trails in Ontario. The problem is that, sometimes, it is  impossible to find the tourism offices as there is little signage in many cases.  The cherry on the Sunday is that they may not even be open as many have very odd hours. Who would of thunk it eh?

The tourism office in Oakville was in the Town Hall. I was serviced by wall shelving tucked in a corner of  Town Hall Offices. No attendant except a front desk administrator who was dealing with government stuff and, at the same time,  getting heck from her not-so-nice boss.  I left her alone. I had a good selection of brochures to raid but I could not find a street map.  So I asked her,  after her reaming out, and she passed one over to me and quickly went back to what she was doing.

I was off.  With the information I collected I circled my targets. It works out all the prime parks run along the waterfront. That makes me smile because that means there will be lots of views of Lake Ontario. Along the waterfront I walked plenty of kilometres, mostly on the Waterfront Trail, visiting Lakeside Park, Coronation Park, Gairloch Gardens and Bronte Harbour Waterfront Park. I also took a quick trip to Shell Park. Most of the other parks were baseball, soccer fields.

The parks gave me everything I needed for my fill of  Lake Ontario views.  There were boulder lookouts, long piers, beacons, marinas, boats, flower gardens, viewing benches, sandy and pebbled beaches and lots of activity. In Oakville the Coronation and Lakeside Parks provided wide open views of Lake Ontario.  There were people sitting, walking and just thinking quietly while sunning.

Bronte Harbour Waterfront Park

The Bronte Harbour Waterfront Park was a small waterfront park with two beacons, a  boulder breakwater barrier, marina, long pier and viewing benches. It was breezy. It was a nice spot. It was a photo moment. (Main BLOG Photo) Driving around from park to park I noticed many older buildings in the downtown Oakville.  So I had to stop because of my new fascination with buildings from the 1800s. So I hoofed it around the downtown streets seeing what history I could uncover.

After Oakville I visited Burlington, Ontario. It is located just down the road along Lakeshore Drive on the waterfront – not 10 minutes away. In Burlington I  found the tourism office easily.  This one was well staffed, friendly and very organized. But when asked about parks I was steered out of town to the Conversation Areas (paying parks).  So I looked at the map quickly and started pointing at community parks and asked, “How about this one?” She would reply, “Oh, ya that one is good too?”

Spencer Smith Park

I am in Burlington to research Burlington not some remote park where I have to pay to enjoy green space. Something is wrong with that.

In Burlington I visited Burloak Park, Lasalle Park, Spencer Smith Park and the Beachway. All available to the public and popular by the locals. Spencer Smith Park was basically the park which covers the entire waterfront of Burlington. Sweet sights. The pathway is wide with benches, lookouts and grass lawns.  There is a splash park, pool and playground too for the kiddies. It is the place to wander when in downtown Burlington. I could even see Hamilton from the park.

What was really a surprise was that the Beachway was never even brought up when I was at the tourism office. I would of missed it too if I did not see the beach while walking in Spenser Smith Park.  Surprising  since it was a massive long sandy beach with allot of people on it. The beach was on the Waterfront Trail and it was on the way to Hamilton Beach and to the community of Hamilton. Lots of reason to mention it.

Overall I enjoyed the day. Traveling between Oakville and Burlington on Lakeshore Drive was all about parks, trails, waterfront  views, marinas and some big homes. A nice drive sure helps with researching.