Nordheimer Ravine at St. Clair and Bathurst

The entrance near St. Clair West station is abrupt and unannounced. A path descends into Nordheimer Ravine, mature oaks close the canopy, and the street disappears behind the slope within a few steps. The ravine is the valley of Castle Frank Brook, a creek that once flowed openly here and now runs buried beneath the system. The water is out of sight, but the landform it cut is not, and the descent from street level makes the underlying topography legible in a way the grid above never does.

Context

Nordheimer Ravine holds the valley of Castle Frank Brook, part of a larger buried creek system on this side of the city. Lost Rivers, a community mapping project, documents the buried hydrology of the Nordheimer corridor. The creek no longer flows at the surface; the ravine it carved remains a public park.