Haydain Neale, 1970–2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Peeve Patrol
Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
This year, the winter season has been less than kind to Étienne Brûlé Park. The park, which took a beating in February during a flash thaw, took another one on Saturday when torrential downpours caused parts of the Humber River to spill its banks. On Sunday, we went down to the park to survey the damage, and we have to say that parts of Étienne Brûlé feel more like a treacherous obstacle course than a park. Since February, the city has tried to clear some of the paths, but huge chunks of ice still block most of the walkways near the Old Mill entrance. The parking lot, which sits at the base of the bridge at the end of Old Mill Road, is still entirely obscured by pools of water and dirty, and increasingly dangerous, sheets of ice. We managed to climb over or around most of the obstacles, but recent rains and the warmer weather have weakened a lot of the ice sheets, and we fell through several of them.
The ice, mud, and gigantic puddles haven’t stopped Torontonians from enjoying the park though. While we were there we saw several couples taking a stroll, families walking the dog, and dozens of people doing the same thing we were: exploring and enjoying the bizarre landscape.
All photos by Stephen Michalowicz/Torontoist.
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intriguing shots Stephen. the tennis courts look a hell of a lot worse than when I shot it after the initial icedam break earlier in February. walking the ice was fairly dangerous then - i nearly busted my ankle when one slab collapsed under my weight. can't imagine what it would be like to walk on them now with the big mucky melt.
will be interesting to revisit the park later in the spring -- and to see how long it takes city works crews to come in with the big machines to clear the parking lot.
interestingly - if you enter the king's mill side of the park, you can still see how far the ice pushed into the nearby woods... right up and under the bloor street bridge. quite amazing really.
I can imagine. Some of the more sizable ice chunks were still embedded under the court's fence when I went by. They must have been massive when you took your pictures.
I fell through quite a few of the ice sheets myself; it was hard to tell which ones would support my weight or not. By the time I left the park my shoes were entirely coated in mud and I spent a good part of the evening cleaning them off.