July 10, 2018
Mississauga, ON to Toronto, ON
Day 5
Weather: Hot, tail wind
We left our Warmshowers host around 7:45 a.m. and got on the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail heading towards Toronto. We only had 25 miles to go today and Cameron was excited to get there.
The first lighthouse we stopped at was Port Credit which is a replica built in 1991.
Port Credit Lighthouse
The first lighthouse at Port Credit was privately built in 1863 and was built on the pier on the Credit River.
In the 1883 the Canadian Government funded a new light. The lighthouse stood 37 feet tall and was square wooden tower.
In 1904 the lighthouse remodeled and placed upon a new foundation that raised the height to 39 feet.
By the next decade traffic at the port reduced and silt built up in the harbor and a decision was made to decommission the lighthouse in 1918.
The lighthouse remained until it burned down in 1936.
In 1991 the local Lions Club raised funds to build a replica which was dedicated on October 27, 1991.
Today most of the trail was through parks and on some residential streets. We got lost once or twice and met Kyle who commuted each day to Toronto. We followed him for a while until we got on the right track. Thanks Kyle.
There was one short piece on Lakeshore Road that had a protected bike lane. Once we passed into the city limits of Toronto, the trail had blue and green markings painted on the asphalt which made it easier to follow the main trail and avoiding mistakenly taking all the branches that lead nowhere.
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Later in the morning we found a park with view of the Toronto skyline so stopped for photos and also ate.
Closer to the city we passed two lighthouses alongside the bike trail.
Toronto East Entrance Inner and Outer Lighthouse, both are in private yacht clubs so not accessible to the public.
Toronto East Entrance Inner and Outer Lighthouses
Prior to the 1850’s the Toronto Islands were a peninsula with a opening at the west end. A storm in 1853 opened a gap east of Wards Island and the channel was widened and made permanent by a more severe storm on April 13, 1858.
Toronto Harbor now had two entrances: the West Gap and the new East Gap.
The first light to mark this new entrance was a temporary light established in 1895 at the outer end of a pier. A proper light on a skeletal tower replaced the temporary light in 1898 while the temporary light was moved to the inner end of the pier.
In 1915, a rear light was established north of the pier to form a range.
In 1973 the inner and outer pier lighthouses were removed during widening of the channel.
In 1981, the two lighthouses were moved to their present site in Humber Bay. The outer lighthouse at the Mimico Cruising Club and the inner lighthouse at the Etobicoke Yacht Club.
Upon reaching Toronto, our first visit was the Ricoh Colosseum, home of the ice hockey team the Marlies. As the Toronto Indy race was being set up we had to make some detours but finally got there. Not really much to look at as the building and team store were closed.
The last lighthouse today was the Toronto Queens Wharf Lighthouse which is landlocked between two main roads, but right off the Martin Goodman Trail that we were following along the waterfront.
Toronto Queens Wharf Lighthouse
There has been much infill since the establishment of Toronto Harbor. In 1830 a pier was established near Fort York extending into the harbor. After Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, it became known as Queen’s Wharf.
In 1838 a square, wooden tower, which stood sixteen feet tall, was placed on Queen’s Wharf. A taller lighthouse now known as Queens Wharf Lighthouse was erected in 1861 on the western part of the wharf. The two lighthouses together formed a range to guide ships into the harbor.
In 1911, a new deep-water location was needed for the harbor entrance so new parallel piers were built and in 1912 a new concrete lighthouse was built on the south pier while a skeletal tower was built on the inner end of the south pier to form a range.
No longer needed the two original range lights were decommissioned.
During this period of time the area around the old wharf was filled by the railroad companies and only a small part of the old Queens Wharf extended into the lake.
On September 1, 1918, the abandoned front range light on Queen’s Wharf was destroyed by fire.
in 1929, the ownership of the 1861 Queens Wharf Lighthouse was transferred to the City of Toronto and the lighthouse was moved to its present site not far from Fort York.
From the lighthouse, it was a short cycling distance inland to to our hostel Clarence House on Clarence Square. After checking in we were hungry so walked next door to the the Wayne Gretzky restaurant.
After lunch we walked down Wellington Street to the Hockey Hall of Fame, on the way stopping at a bank to exchange the rest of our money and getting a much better rate than offered at the border.
The rest of the day was spent at the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Maple Leafs arena and team store. Cameron was able to pick up a well priced hockey jersey and t-shirt so went home happy.
Today's ride: 24 miles (39 km)
Total: 185 miles (298 km)
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