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Writer's pictureMila Dechef-Tweddle

A forest for your eyes!

Updated: Feb 13, 2021



I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this trail destination. It was early on, before the idea of the whole bucket list challenge had fully set in. But we had been enjoying our forest walks the past couple of weeks so I was eager to find a fun new trail to check out. I landed on Thornton Bales after some quick Googling. All I knew was that it was nicknamed “99 steps” after a set of wooden steps that take you down (or up) a steep slope into a ravine. The steps are apparently very photogenic and so it shows up on lots of “best hikes in the GTA” lists. And I’ll admit my curiosity was piqued. I wanted to see the famed steps. The steps are… well, they are steps. They are definitely photogenic. But there isn’t much more to them than that, really. And honestly, this place is so much more than just a set of photo-worthy steps. (Also, as an aside, there are actually only 80-odd steps, not 99. I did a bit of internet sleuthing and found out there used to be a set of rustic “steps” made of logs from fallen trees. At some point the steps were replaced with actual steps and I guess maybe along the way they ended up with fewer steps?).


We accessed the trail from the trailhead on 19th Side Road, which leads right to the 99 steps. But the Thornton Bales trails also intersect with the trail system in the adjoining University of Toronto Koffler Scientific Reserve at Joker’s Hill so you can also access the conservation area using the Joker’s Hill trailheads located just off of Bathurst Street and make your way across to the Thornton Bales trail.


This trail destination is so beautiful. It was one of our earliest but has continued to stand out as one of our favourites. The trail takes you right down into a ravine and then winds through a lovely, wild and rugged forest. The place was so green and lush and the wildness of it was part of the charm. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it seemed less manicured than other places. According to the Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority, the change in vertical elevation from the top of the steps to the bottom is a larger change in elevation than the drop over Niagara Falls. The descent does feel a touch dramatic but you wouldn’t really know it’s quite that significant because it isn’t terribly steep; more of a long gentle slope downwards.



It was generally a really peaceful, enjoyable experience. Although the trail system was a bit tricky to navigate, mostly because there isn’t a very good map available and certainly not one that shows all the smaller side trails. I did my best to try to re-create our path by comparing maps from a bunch of different sources, including google maps. But I’m still not 100% sure that I’ve managed to accurately recreated our path. There is normally a loop trail that connects up with the U of T Koffler Scientific Reserve at Joker Hill trails called the Koffler-Bales side trail. It doesn’t show up on any of the maps I was able to find, but the LSRCA website mentions it. I think we ended up on this loop but when it came time to loop back we got a bit turned around because one section was closed off due to some research being run by the Koffler Scientific Reserve. There were some no entry signs at the junction to the section that would lead us back to the main Thornton Bales trail, but no signage explaining that it was temporarily closed for research and certainly no signage letting hikers know to double back the way that they came. So at first we just thought we hadn’t hit the junction yet and kept walking until we realized we were heading the wrong direction and were partway back to the Joker Hill trailheads. We retraced our steps and thought maybe we had missed it earlier so tracked back a bit further than the junction. We actually went back and forth a few times, using Google Maps to try and figure out where we went wrong. Eventually we concluded that we were at what appeared to be the correct junction but that it was closed for some reason and just went back the way we came. The kids got a bit frustrated and started to worry that we were lost (even though we explained that we can always go back the way we came and everything would be fine!). But it all worked out in the end and we got some extra steps in, so it wasn’t totally wasted!


So if you visit, be forewarned that the trail may not loop back and you’ll need to retrace your steps to get back to the trailhead. Also be careful that you don’t accidentally end up following the trails back to the Joker Hill trailhead like we did. The wayfinding/trail markers look totally different on the Joker Hill trails, so if you are paying attention it’s fairly easy to notice that you crossed over into the other trail system. Just make sure you keep an eye on those blue blazes!


Still, I'd definitely come back here. It's a really beautiful spot and I bet it would be spectacular in the fall.


What you need to know to plan your visit!


Hike Length: This hike was roughly 4 km but I hadn’t started tracking our hikes yet. It was also really hard to find a good trail map so I couldn’t retroactively retrace our path very easily either. So this is a very rough estimate of our hike based on a triangulation of the LSRCA map, Google maps, the Joker Hill trail map, a map I found on AllTrails.com, and a map I found in this York Region Trail Atlas. I had to do some serious Google sleuthing to figure this one out! The AllTrails map was the most useful of the bunch, though, since it shows all the various smaller side trails that aren’t shown on other maps. On the maps page you can find my best guess at what our path looked like. Trail Style: Packed earth / natural surface

Wayfinding: Wayfinding here was fairly tricky. There are blue blazes on the trees that you can follow, but in some areas it was hard to really see where the trail continued because the pathway itself was not as distinct or groomed and the blue blazes weren’t that close together (this may be because we ended up on some smaller side trails). Also, none of the maps we could find had enough detail to show all the side trails so we were muddling through with very little guidance, occasionally checking google maps to get an idea of our general location and direction. There were also a couple of tricky areas where the Thornton Bale trail connects with the trail system at Joker Hill. There was signage at the major junctions, but we got turned around a bit. In particular, we had trouble looping back because the section of trail that would typically bring us back in a closed loop was actually closed for research (I’ve marked it off on the maps). They had a no entry sign at the junction but it would have been helpful to include additional signage explaining that this section of the loop is closed for research and redirecting folks back the way they came. It took us a bit of puzzling to conclude that it was the junction we were looking for but that it must be closed.

Sun Exposure: You’re covered. The whole trail is under full tree cover.

Bug-o-meter: Bug free! It was a warm summer day but surprisingly there weren’t any bugs around.

Key Features & Little Surprises: The 99 (*89) steps for a photo op.

Hot tip: Try to avoid peak times to make finding parking easier. If you are looking for a longer hike, try starting at the Joker Hill trailhead and making your way over to the 99 steps and then back. Or do tack on the full Blue or Red loop at Joker Hill to your hike.

Parking & Logistics: Parking and access are free, but the parking lot on 19th Side Road is teeny tiny (only 8-ish spots) and street parking is illegal on 19th Side Road. We were lucky to snag a spot because someone left just as we arrived. There is also an access point off of Bathurst, through Joker Hill, but I’m not sure what the Parking situation is like on that end.

Driving Time: < 1h

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