Riverwalk

Took a hike through the local ravines and wound up at The Evergreen Brickworks.

Always amazed that this ravine system exists only steps from the tall skyscrapers and condos of downtown Toronto.

The Evergreen Brickworks, formerly the Don Valley Brickworks, sit on a flood plain at the confluence of Mud Creek and the Don River (shown here).

Thousands of years ago this was the mouth of a glacial river, which explains the presence of so much clay.

So The Don Valley Brickworks was the source for virtually all the bricks used for 20th Century Toronto's buildings.

Anyway, The Evergreen Brickworks is now home to different conservation efforts (restoring The Don River, children's education programmes, blah blah blah) and various artisans.

One of the most interesting pieces of artwork is a model of all the rivers flowing through Toronto. This model shows the five major rivers.

For those not in-the-know, I've labelled the three major ones, below.

And it shows all the tributaries that feed into the main rivers. Water actually flows through tubes and empties into "Lake Ontario", across the bottom.

To give you the scale, the tributaries start about 30 feet up the side of the building.

You can watch it for hours.

At least you can if you're retired.