Toronto has the usual touristy stops for visitors, from the CN Tower to the Distillery District and the Toronto Islands. But tucked into the Don Valley, behind an unassuming trailhead near a grocery store parking lot, there’s a forested escape that feels surprisingly far from the city. Very zen.
Crothers Woods is one of those places that many locals might have heard about but still haven’t properly explored. For tourists, it offers a completely different view of Toronto: swap the streetcars and busy streets for pockets of woodland, winding trails and classic ravine foliage.
The mature maple-beech-oak forest has roughly 9 km of natural-surface trails, making it a great spot for hikers and mountain bikers, yet it still feels like a hidden gem, partly because the main trailhead is so low-key. Instead of arriving at a grand park entrance, you can access the trail network from the Thomas Hauser Memorial Trailhead near the Loblaws on Redway Road, where the city suddenly seems to give way to forest.
One of the best parts of visiting Crothers Woods is that the area is more than just one trail. Cottonwood Flats and Sun Valley Trail are two connected areas that add more texture to the visit. So, depending on the route you take, the scenery can shift from shaded woodland to open meadow-like views, with the most scenic lookouts where the Don Valley opens up below.
Cottonwood Flats is a shorter, beginner-friendly granular trail that’s known for attracting birds, including ground-nesting songbirds, while the 1.3 km Sun Valley Trail is also a good beginner trail (although it has a 100-metre steep section).
If you’re a nature lover, the area is home to many mature trees, including some that are over a century old! And if you want to keep exploring, Crothers Woods also connects to the broader Don Valley trail system, so you can make it a full day by checking out other east-end green spaces and trails.
