Rouge National Urban Park is the only national park in Canada you can reach on a city bus, and this is the guided walk through it in autumn: eleven kilometres from the Glasgow Day Use Area south to Black Walnut, through Carolinian forest at its most colourful, led by a conservationist who knows the valley.
Pick your date below. The bus leaves from 34 Asquith Avenue, just north of Yonge and Bloor.
Dates not open yet
We put seats on sale one season at a time, and this one is not up yet. Nothing is hidden and there is no list to pay to join. Leave your email and you hear the day the dates open.
Cancel 14 or more days before you go and you get 90% back.
A Parkbus guide is with the group for the whole day. You are not expected to know the trail, the route or the plan, and nobody gets left behind.
Flat and short, on even ground, with no climbing and no rush. This is a walk rather than a hike, and you set the pace.
The Carolinian Zone is a southern ecosystem that barely reaches Canada at all, and the Rouge is one of the places it does. It is among the most diverse ecosystems in the country, which is a strange thing to be able to say about somewhere you can get to on a city bus.
In autumn it turns. The walk runs eleven kilometres north to south through it, from the Glasgow Day Use Area down to Black Walnut, and it is rated easy the whole way.
This is an ActiveDays trip, so the group matters: walk with everybody or find your own pace, and stop for lunch trailside about halfway down.
A protected valley, at the two weeks it looks best.
North to south through the valley, with the bus waiting at the far end.
We pick you up
About 100 metres north of the Yonge and Bloor subway entrance, on the Yonge Street side. There may be more than one coach, so check you are in the right queue.
The walk starts at Glasgow and runs south through the valley to Black Walnut, where the bus is waiting. Lunch is trailside at group seating about halfway along.
Good to know:
Note: There are no washrooms on the route until you reach Black Walnut at the end of the day. Use one before you get on the bus.
We drop you back
The bus returns to the same place it left from, so you go home the way you came.
This is our estimated return time, not a guarantee. Traffic can change it and some trips do run late, so please leave yourself some room afterwards rather than booking something tight against it.
Eleven kilometres, a packed lunch, and closed shoes.
There are none on the route between Glasgow and Black Walnut. Use one before the bus leaves Toronto.
Lyme disease is on the rise in North America and the Rouge has ticks. The odds of being bitten by an infected one are low, but cover up, stay on the trail, and check yourself when you get home. Parks Canada publishes guidance on the tick situation in the Rouge.
Bring a bag and carry your rubbish out with you. Campfires, alcohol, barbecues and fireworks are not allowed in Rouge National Urban Park.
Nor is harvesting anything, plant or animal: the park protects endangered species. Never feed or approach wildlife. Bring back memories only.
This one runs in the autumn. Dates appear here when they open in the booking system.
Placeholder dates · the real ones come from our booking system
We're Canada's outdoor bus service. Since 2010 we've taken more than 300,000 people to parks and trails without a car. You bring a lunch. We handle everything with wheels.
Rouge National Urban Park is Parks Canada, and it is inside Toronto.
Point to point from Glasgow to Black Walnut, with lunch trailside about halfway.
Dave Pearce of the Wildlands League, on the Carolinian forest and why this valley is protected.
Run with the Greenbelt Foundation, which protects the farmland, forest and watershed wrapped around the city.
★★★★★ 4.6/5.0 on Google
“I just recently went on my first guided tour with a friend of mine from work. And man, was it amazing! Speaking from someone who doesn’t drive. This is a must!!”Linda Ann · Facebook · Jun 2024
I have always had excellent experiences with Parkbus. I have been to many of their destinations, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. The ambassadors have been knowledgeable and friendly. The drivers drive safely, and with the passengers’ comfort in mind.Sharlene Haye · Google
Came with my friend in April, our guide Mike did a great job! Nice tour, small group, everything was great! Will go again!Natalia N. · Tripadvisor · Jul 2025
Parkbus is an official partner of VIA Rail and Parks Canada, helping keep car-free trips to Canada's parks and wild places genuinely affordable.
Cancel more than 14 days before departure and you get a 90% refund, with 10% withheld for payment processing. Inside 14 days refunds are not available, except for a medical emergency in the 48 hours before departure, which needs a signed doctor’s note within 14 days of the missed trip and returns 50%. Tickets are transferable: you can change the passenger name up to 48 hours before departure.
If Parkbus cancels a trip, you get a full refund. We decide no later than 48 hours before departure and only on confirmed conditions: the park closed or the park authority asking us to stand down, an evacuation order or alert, an area restriction order, the highway closed, or the trip judged unsafe to run. A forecast is not one of those things, and trips run rain or shine.
Dave leads this one. He is a conservationist with the Wildlands League and he knows the Rouge inside out.
The walk is as much about what is around you as about covering the distance. Dave talks through the Carolinian Zone, which is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the country and only just reaches this far north, and what makes this particular valley worth having protected.
Eleven kilometres of Carolinian forest at the best fortnight of the year for it.
Not quite the right fit? These all leave from the same spot downtown.
