July 2025 Ride The Meadoway

With last year’s “Ride The Meadoway” being one of my favourite rides in Scarborough, I was thrilled to find out it was happening again this year! This year’s occasion also gave an excuse to check out the newest Meadoway segment from Military Trail to Morningside, as well as the Marcos to Midland segment under construction. This morning, I joined about 60 people who started at Wexford Hydro Park while a few others joined in afterwards.

To get there, I took the East Don Trail which is currently undergoing ground remediation now that the tunnel had been installed at the end of May.

The inside of the tunnel has wooden planks, while you still need to lift your bike to get onto the next bridge. The East Don Trail project website was updated on July 14, 2025 suggesting the remaining work is expected to be completed by early Winter 2025.

A crowd had already gathered by the time I got to Wexford Hydro Park.

Marvin Macaraig (2nd from right) of Scarborough Cycles – which is in its tenth programming season – getting people organized for a few pre-ride speeches. Misha (left) was promoting a petition in support of the West Scarborough Rail Trail which you can sign here.

A couple of folks from Bike Share Toronto were present which loaned bikes to some of the participants.

Nithursan of Toronto East Cyclists – which has been around for fifteen years – took a bunch of photos during the ride using his professional camera.

Ben is the Program Manager of Cycle Toronto which also sponsored the event. He gave a brief safety talk before starting the ride.

Lining up to start. I did a short recording and counted 60 cyclists including myself which is similar to last year’s ride.

Waiting for the signal to cross Warden.

Crossing Kennedy Road.

Crossing the Stouffville GO (and former Scarborough RT) rail corridor.

The tracks from the Scarborough RT (left) have been removed to make way for a busway which may not open until 2027.

The Meadoway is currently under construction from Marcos to Midland which is expected to be done by the end of this year. The plan is to have a new crossing over the rail corridor to remove the need for the double switchback which I was told could take a while due to ongoing discussions with Metrolinx.

Turning back onto the trail at Marcos.

We stopped at Thompson Memorial Park for some samosas (courtesy of TRCA), water, and bathroom break. Cycle Toronto and The Meadoway had tents as well.

Krissan of Scarborough Environmental Association (right) and Tish of TRCA (centre) gave some more speeches. Krissan's group is hosting a bike repair clinic tomorrow at the same park, so he joked to bring your bike over if you have a problem today.

A group shot. Unfortunately, I didn’t get everyone, but hope Nithursan was able to with his camera.

Time to leave Thompson Memorial Park.

At Markham Road.

Turning onto Scarborough Golf Club Road.

Going up the insane switchback by Highland Creek!

A panorama showing the group at the Neilson Fields roundabout.

Since the crowd was gathered there for another fifteen minutes, I used the time to explore the newest trail segment from Military Trail to Morningside.

It’s a short but decent trail with some rolling hills and a couple of places where you can sit.

The trail ends at Morningside south of Highway 401. Until the TRCA can complete the Morningside to Conlins stretch, you are better off taking Military Trail past UTSC and then Ellesmere to get to Conlins.

This wayfinding sign after turning back is inconsistent with others used in the city, but it’s simple and to the point.

I returned to the roundabout just in time to leave.

One last shot at Ellesmere and Scarborough Golf Club before I split to head back to Downtown.

Thanks Scarborough Cycles for hosting this event, TRCA for the samosas, and to the over 60 of you who rode today! Hope by this time next year, the East Don Trail will be fully done to allow for a safe ride from Downtown to Scarborough!