Culham Trail Fall Colours Credit River Mississauaga Ontario Canada - Great Drive, Great Walk, Cyclepath

The Fall Colours along Mississauga Road from Port Credit to Streetville are close to peak colour today, with leaves shades of gold, red, orange almost fully covering the trees. The change is more complete in the Streetsville area. Here are a few pictures I took this afternoon along the Culham Trail as it passes near Eglinton Avenue.

Highway 403 Mississauga Road Overpass

On my drive up Mississauga Road from Port Credit, I pulled onto the shoulder of the Hwy 403 overpass to take this picture of the changing leaves in the Credit River Valley. The Culham Trail (walking, cycling) runs along the river from Dundas to the Brampton border (map at bottom).

Hewitt Meadows Park Mississauga Ontario

As Mississauga Road approaches Eglinton Av, stay in the right hand lane, and turn east onto the bridge. If you are coming south down Mississauga Road, turn left at the Eglinton lights and get into the right hand lane as soon as possible. As you cross the Eglinton Avenue bridge over the Credit River, keep to the right hand lane, and be prepared to turn right at the first street, which is signed Hewitt Lane.

Hewitt Lane into Hewitt Meadows Park at Eglinton Avenue

 Hewitt Lane is dirt, fairly rough and narrow, so go slowly or drive a big truck. There is a small parking lot at the bottom of the lane, which ends at the Credit River. 

 

 Culham Trail Sign - Credit River at Eglinton

The trail is marked with signs near the parking lot, and is easy to follow. Under the Eglinton Avenue bridge, which is directly overhead at the parking lot, there is another footpath that leads up the hill on the northeast side of the bridge. I did climb the hill here, and crossed Eglinton to get back to Hewlett Lane.

Culham Trail Along Credit River

Before walking down Hewlett Lane, I walked to the middle of the Eglinton Av bridge to take this photo of the south Credit River Valley. As you can see, power lines mar the view. The lane in the picture is the Culham Trail.

Credit River South of Eglinton Bridge

From the parking lot, another footpath leads due west to the banks of the Credit River. This year, perhaps due to the lateness in the season, there were no salmon in the river.

Credit River  Fall Colours

The rough path (not the Culham Trail; that's paved and to the east of here) runs along the water line, and following rains, can be quite slippery.

Oak Trees Mississauga Fall Colours

On the top of the Eglinton bridge embankment, there is a line of young oak trees, seen here with fall colours of yellow. I wish I'd had more time to walk the trail, but these pictures, and the short walk I did have were an impromptu stop on my way to the bank.

Port Credit River At Memorial Park Mississauga

As I drove back down Mississauga Road to Port Credit, I took a detour on Queen Street to park along the Credit River across from Memorial Park.

Yesterday, I posted some pictures of fall colours on Lakeshore Road just west of here.
See also Streetsville Ontario page for more pics.

Do try to take a drive or bike along Mississauga Road while the weather is cooperating! The drive is perfectly lovely, the speed limit 50 kph, and the colours are gorgeous! There are  few places to pull over, and virtually no places to park. You might try pulling into a side street and walking back to take a picture. But most of all, just enjoy this beautiful show! The leaves will be gone before we know it.

Googlemap Mississauga Road. Zoom out to see route.


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Mississauga Canada Day Fireworks in Port Credit

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June 30 2010 See Paint the Town Red for Fireworks, Parade July 1 2010 AND Canada Day Events - Three fireworks locations: Port Credit, Streetsville, Civic Centre.

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Update June 29, 2009

July 1, 2009 Canada Day Fireworks return to Port Credit to mark the end to the day's celebrations! See Paint the Town Red link below for details. Click on the image to see larger size, then hit back button to return to this page :-)

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June 2008: Original Post:


For pictures taken on Canada Day 2009 see Canada Day party in Port Credit.

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From 2008 Canada Day:
This Canada Day (Tuesday, July 1, 2008) in Mississauga means fireworks and a huge concert at Port Credit Memorial Park (see Waterfront festival blog post for map -- it's the same location).

Here's a picture I took from Memorial Park, looking across the Credit River, south to the Port Credit lighthouse:

And I posted more pictures on July 1 here!

The Canada Day celebrations are billed as Paint the Town Red, and the fun starts at noon a few blocks east of the park on Lakeshore and Wenonah, with Mayor McCallion making the first cut of a giant cake. Fireworks usually start at dusk, and will be at the park. (See update for times, etc on the more pictures link)

See the Paint the Town Red site for all the details, and full concert listings. It's gonna be HUGE!

Now these sort of fun things go on all summer long down here in Port Credit. And I promise to stop going on and on about them all if you'll just pop over to the Port Credit BIA site, and either bookmark it or sign up for their email updates. Incidentally, the BIA offices are actually IN the lighthouse in the photo!

But wait: There are more fireworks in Mississauga on Canada Day!

• In Streetsville, Canada Day is also the Village in the City's 150 Birthday! with fireworks scheduled for 10 p.m. See Canada Day in Streetsville for all the details.
• In Mississauga City Centre area at City Hall west of Square One. Events from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. See Canada Day Mississauga for list of entertainers and kid's activities.

Cherry Trees in Bloom Mississauga Road, Robin Commentary

UPDATE April 27, 2010 : Yesterday, the white trees were in full bloom, and the pink (cherry) were about to pop. The cherry trees are blooming early this year, as are the rhododendrons and azaleas in Port Credit.
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Each year, right around the May 2-4 weekend (May 24th), the cherry trees lining Mississauga Road, just north of Eglinton, burst forth in a dazzling display, so I drove up to try to get a picture.

The third weekend in May, in Canada, is a long weekend that traditionally kicks off the summer season. The holiday Monday is in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, so it's also known as the Victoria Day weekend. It gets its slang name -- the May Two-Four weekend -- from the 2-dozen case size of beer (a 24-pack) that Canadians, especially the younger ones, buy in copious amounts to celebrate Victoria's birthday.

Now, the best way to get the full effect of the cherry trees in bloom (there are also trees that have white blossoms at this same time, but I don't know their name), is to drive along Mississauga Road north from Eglinton into Streetsville, as shown in the photo, then turn around and retrace your route. In early evening, especially, the colors are amazing!

I cannot begin to do them justice here. I parked my car on a side street just south of Eglinton, then walked across. But with steady traffic along Mississauga Road, I could not get a picture from the centre of the road, which is the view you get in a car, and the best way to see them.

Here's a close look at one of the trees. They line the road for several blocks, almost to the railway tracks, and every year I try to get a picture that does them justice. And every year, I miss the mark.

As I walked up to get the close up of the blossoms, I noticed that tent caterpillars had set up camp on one of the lower branches. I hope they are an isolated tribe, and don't spread.

Funny Story: When I parked on a narrow side street, an older gentleman came out from one of the houses, and began spraying window cleaner on his car windows. As I approached, he pointed to the white polka dots covering most of his car.

I said, " Oh -- robins!"
He said, "Yes - and I didn't even park under a tree."

Then he continued talking, spray cleaner in one hand, paper towels in the other gesturing expansively to take in the lovely sunny spring morning on this peaceful, dead-end, side street, where birds were singing, flowers blooming, and we could almost ignore the traffic noise along Mississauga Road.

"I love it here," he said. "It's so peaceful, like being in the country. My back yard (facing Eglinton) is noisy, but I love my front yard. I sit out here and have coffee with my son in the evenings. It's not like being in the city at all."

I agreed it was a very lovely location, explained I was taking pictures and would be back to move my car in a few minutes, and left him happily spraying window cleaner and wiping off robin poop.

As I walked along his side yard, I noticed this sign, below: A proposal for not just ONE mid-rise condo, but TWO! And several existing properties on the north side of this street -- including his -- were ones that the new apartments would replace.

I thought I'd ask the robin-attacked car owner who had waxed rhapsodic about the cottage atmosphere of his home why on earth he'd agreed to sell to a property developer if he loved it so much. But when I got back, he was long gone. That robin had already made a number of comments of its own, in the only way it knew how.

This location is just north of the Church of the Croatian Martyrs and park, and on a GO bus route and only a few blocks from the Streetsville GO train, and a short bus ride from UTM - University of Toronto Mississauga. It's also just over a section of the Culham Trail (See pictures at Canada Streetsville page on my site). It's not hard to see why it's a desirable location for condos. But there's a part of me that agrees with that robin.