Great Country Walks Around Toronto within Reach by Public Transit

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

This 10th edition of a booklet that apparently first appeared in 1984
contains 14 walks in Toronto, each illustrated with a sketch map.
Details of how to get there by public transport or where to park if you
go by car are included. Historical information is added for several of
the walks.

The guidebook will be useful for Torontonians seeking close-to-home,
easily accessible walks, though the information is not always accurate.
The map of Toronto Islands is confusing, since boardwalk and paved road
are superimposed and bridges from island to island are not marked, while
that of Tommy Thompson Park ignores the endikement to the east that
offers an alternative route back. Some of the marked washrooms
(especially in High Park) are closed in the winter, and often nowadays
in the summer too.

Errors also occur in the background information. To claim Theodore
Roosevelt as one of Ernest Thompson Seton’s “greatest admirers” is
to ignore the fact that, initially, Roosevelt was severely critical of
Seton’s animal stories. The English Humber River is nowhere near
Devonshire. Herring gulls certainly do not belong with “uncommon
species,” and even great black-backed gulls are becoming relatively
common. Given all this misinformation, one would like to know Katz’s
authority for placing the Simcoes’ Castle Frank in the Cedarvale
ravine rather than overlooking the Don Valley.

This is a guide, therefore, to be consulted with caution.