Kayaking up the Don River (Toronto)

In this video I shared my Sunday June 6th experience of paddling up the Don River for the first time. Using my bike trailer, I towed my kayak down to Cherry Beach. From there I got in the kayak and paddled from the Outer Harbour through the eastern channel into the Inner Toronto Harbour. Following along the eastern shore, I passed the Shipping Channel and the Polson Pier before reaching the Keating Channel. I paddled under the new and old cherry street bridges and reached the mouth of the Don River. I was able to paddle as far north as the Prince Edward Viaduct bridge (Bloor/Danforth) before it became too shallow to paddle and I turned around and returned to Cherry Beach. My total paddling distance was 15.3km.
Strava for this adventure: / strava
My Kayak Bike Trailer: • My Kayak Bike Trailer
1992 Iowa Linear Recumbent: • 1992 Iowa Linear Recum...
Toronto Islands: • Toronto Islands - Cycl...
Lake Shore Blvd E: • Lake Shore Blvd (Toron...
Lake Shore Blvd E ActiveTO: • Lake Shore Blvd E #Act...
Lower Don Trail: • Lower Don Trail (Toron...
Bloor St E: • Bloor St East (Toronto...
My kayak is a 1999 Dagger Redline (whitewater). I filmed this video using a Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone.
I hope you enjoyed this video. Please COMMENT and subscribe!
Thanks for watching.

[@waynesimmonds9646]

Nice to see I'm not the only person exploring Toronto waterways. Urban paddling, never know what you'll see.

[@cjhoyle]

Yes, exactly! Thanks.

[@-_-Alx]

Thank you so much for the video and concise descriptions

[@cjhoyle]

No problem! Thanks for watching it.

[@ytbpre8424]

Can’t wait for the new park build and paddle it

[@cjhoyle]

Villiers Island you mean? I'm really looking forward to that too.

[@NeutralGenericUser]

That was really cool to watch! I love that you can tow your kayak on your bike, and carry all the food/water you need with you, kayak around, have lunch, and pack everything back on your bike and ride home. Entirely using your own power. Really cool!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, it's the ideal set-up for a person like me! Another benefit is that the lower body workout of the bike ride gets balanced out by the upper body workout of the kayaking.

[@NeutralGenericUser]

@@cjhoyle That's a really good point regarding the upper vs. lower body workout balance!

[@suchasreallife]

So many cool spots in the city to get out and explore in the city people done take advantage of from what I’ve seen commuting

[@cjhoyle]

I've lived in Toronto for more than 9 years and am still always finding new parts of it to explore!

[@BGRANT777X]

This was cool, I've always wanted to see the river from that perspective.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, it was a fun experience!

[@gladklassen]

Awesome video!!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@adventureswithjosie]

Looks like you had a very interesting paddle up the river! Neat to see the city from that perspective! Glad to see that you are enjoying your kayak!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! It's been getting a lot of use so far. I've taken it out every single weekend for 9 consecutive weeks!

[@adventureswithjosie]

@@cjhoyle That's awesome!

[@MrYu2ube]

What a contrast after paddling on a quiet river to then have those huge waves in the harbor! Thanks for sharing your adventure.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! It's nice that Toronto has it's fair share of sheltered spots where you can escape the waves on a windy day like that.

[@iconoclasticphilosophy5641]

The Don is my backyard. Thanks for visiting.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, I enjoy visiting your backyard.

[@trep53]

Awesome urban bike and kayak adventure. CJ you must be Toronto’s best citizen, you know the city very well and give the most appealing comments about even a “smelly” spot of this urban river! What was the comment you made “arriving at the beach in one piece” what did you mean by that?

[@NeutralGenericUser]

I think by that, he meant that he had reached the beach completely dry/without capsizing, despite the strong waves/wind.

[@trep53]

Well, CJ does some unique rides and paddles, my hats off to him for posting enjoyable content.👍

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! 'Arriving in one piece' is just a figure of speech, similar to saying that you arrived 'safe and sound'. In this case I guess I was meaning that I towed the kayak all the way down to the beach without anything breaking along the way.

[@trep53]

I’d say that is a very good figure of speech! I really enjoyed your Don River trip.

[@WheelsonaBike]

What a fantastic video! Truly! Fast paced, so much info packed and what a perspective from the water. I paddled on Humber River this weekend and it was very busy. You're lucky to have your own kayak and can go wherever you wish to! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!

[@cjhoyle]

Awe, thank you! I had a tough time trying to decide what format would best capture this type of adventure. Having my own kayak certainly is a luxury and I've been trying my best to take full advantage of it. I've heard there's a new kayak rental place opening at Cherry Beach which should open up more paddling options for non-kayak owners. Their website (coming soon) is www.torontosup.com

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

I do hope you will join us at the next Paddle The Don!

[@cjhoyle]

I very much hope I can! I'm pretty sure I'm on the mailing list (haven't actually received any emails since joining), but is there anything else I can do to keep in the loop and not miss my chance to register?

[@cocochanel9291]

you do a great job with these videos. Continued safe travels !

[@cjhoyle]

Thank you!

[@mikelandry3375]

Thanks for this interesting Kayaking video

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks for watching.

[@joricm]

Just discovering these other videos of yours, CJ! I’m really hoping the Donlands project makes it nicer to bikeraft on the Don and out to the lake and islands. I’ve only been able to bikeraft on the upper Don (ET Seton to Forks). I scouted the Lower Don and saw many obstructions, as you noted. And yes, I did, walk on the river a few times. 😂

[@cjhoyle]

Last summer I repeated this same trip up the Don, and there was a ton of construction equipment near the Lake Shore Blvd E bridge. There was only a tight gap to squeeze through with my kayak. I look forward to that construction being complete, but also the completion of Villers Island which should be fun to paddle around.

[@ting280]

Very cool. Great new perspective. Hopefully someday soon if possible you can mount the action cam to it so we can ride along with you.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! A 'narrated kayaking video' is definitely something I'm hoping to do soon.

[@briandineen7857]

Love the video. Be careful that your bike doesn't get stolen as mine did while I was rowing. They left my bike trailer and took my bike. They cut through my bike lock which was chained to a metal fence post. Crazy stuff

[@cjhoyle]

Thank you. I'm very sorry to hear that! Sadly, even high security bike locks are no match for the cutting wheel disk of the battery powered angle grinders the thieves carry these days. I'm always grateful to see my bike still sitting there when I return to it.

[@kevinborovsky3558]

Very cool video and adventure. Where is the Green Machine???

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! These days my Green Machine gets used almost exclusively during the winter.

[@AndrewsQuest]

Hey CJ, great video. very neat to see along the don river. Didn't it smell bad along the whole river tho? It's really a shame that Toronto built the don valley express way so close to the river. When I visited Chicago I thought about how cool the Don could be, oh well. I'm looking forward to your future kayaking videos, I saw you riding towards the lake on Sunday. Hopefully you didn't mind me saying hi.

[@cjhoyle]

The only point where I really noticed a smell was when passing that sewer pipe. Are you sure it was Sunday that you saw me or was it Saturday? Of course I didn't mind you saying hello :)

[@LiyuConberma]

I'm new to kayaking but its something I wanna do this summer. What I wanna know is that is there some ”no paddling” zone on the Ontario lake? Or can you start from Harborfront center to humber or don river?

[@cjhoyle]

There are a few areas of the waterfront where you aren't allowed to paddle. The largest one is the water on either side of the runways of the island airport where there are low flying planes. There are white buoys and no boats are allowed in that zone. There is nothing like that though between harbourfront and the Don River or the Humber River.

[@BaptistJoshua]

If the sky grows any ways dark, get out quickly. I know from personal experience, on a much smaller lake that the water will grow very choppy. My kayak did not come with a skirt and I was not totally sure I could make it back to land without taking on water.

[@cjhoyle]

A skirt is a good item to consider investing in. For a white-water kayak like mine which sits pretty low in the water, even small waves can splash over the sides and get to the inside.

[@adventureswithjosie]

How do you like using the Polar Bottle? I was looking online at the version with the lid, called Breakaway® Muck Insulated 24oz. I need a bottle with a lid for along some of the dusty and dirty roads where I ride. I was also looking at the CamelBak Podium Dirt Series Chill, but they don't have a 24oz.

[@cjhoyle]

They've been my go-to water bottles for nearly a decade now, although it appears they're no longer selling the exact model that I've been using for so long. Despite being the least expensive insulated water bottles that MEC sold, they carry a lifetime warranty and I've never had one fail on me.

[@adventureswithjosie]

@@cjhoyle They sound great! I'll check them them out some more online. I'd like to finally get some big reusable bottles for biking, as I've been using just Powerade or Gatorade bottles over the past couple years.

[@philippahowell2597]

so great. how long would you recommend to give to do this trip? awesome video!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! The total paddling distance is about 15km. My total elapsed time including my lunch break was about 5 hours, but I was taking my time and filming the video as I went.

[@normg2242]

I'm trying to understand why the log barriers are curved as if the water were flowing INTO the Don river...

[@cjhoyle]

Great question. The flow of the current is pretty minimal at that point since the Keating Channel is so wide. On that particular day there was a strong wind from the west. At the surface, the water was indeed moving upstream, though below the surface would be a different story. I've ridden my bike past there since then and observed the log barriers curved in the other direction.

[@ytbpre8424]

is there any restriction for paddlers on don valley river?

[@cjhoyle]

Nothing that I'm aware of, but please do your own research, because mine was a few years ago. Please also keep in mind that the Lake Share Blvd E bridge is currently being reconstructed. When I visited last summer, there was a lot of equipment in the river which made it hard to get past.