Scarborough Bluffs

The Bluffs run about fifteen kilometres along Lake Ontario and reach ninety metres, and geologists value them because the exposed layers record the last ice age in sequence: sediments from a lake that stood here before the glaciers, then glacial deposits, laid down over the last hundred thousand years or so. Elizabeth Simcoe named them in 1793 for the Scarborough cliffs in Yorkshire. They erode quickly, and homes along the top edge have been lost or moved as the cliff retreats. Bluffer's Park at the base has beaches and a marina; the edge above has viewpoints and unstable, frequently fenced sections.

History

The French called the cliffs Les Grands Ecores, the tall points on the shore, and Alexander Aitken's 1788 plan of Toronto called them the High Lands; in 1793 Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, named them the Scarborough Highlands after Scarborough in North Yorkshire, and the name passed to the whole township in 1796. The bluffs once ran further west towards Toronto Harbour, but stretches were levelled with explosives for industry and housing, and erosion keeps shrinking the rest decade by decade (Wikipedia, Scarborough Bluffs).

What you'll find

• The layered cliffs - a hundred thousand years of sediment in exposed strata.
• The Bluffer's Park beach - sand and marina at the foot of the cliffs.
• The clifftop viewpoints - parks along the edge looking down the shore.
• The erosion - retreating edge with fencing and lost properties above.

When to go

April to October; summer weekends fill the beach car park by late morning and it can close. Autumn colour along the top is good. Winter ice makes edge paths dangerous.

Practical notes

The cliff edge is genuinely unstable. Access between top and bottom requires a long detour by road. Summer parking is charged and fills early.

Nearby

Rouge park lies east; downtown Toronto is west.

Key facts