Outdoor Winter Skating Trails

Outdoor skating rinks are usually rectangles. That's the shape of a hockey rink, and it's also an easy shape to build and maintain.

But some outdoor rink shapes are more creative. Skating trails take you on a skating journey. Some are short, some are long, but I think skating trails are always more charming than plain rectangles.

Here's a list of Toronto skating trails that I have visited:

Brickworks Skating Trail (Great Skate #3)
This was one of my first Great Skates. Built under the beams of an old brick factory, the rink is open to the sky, but sheltered from the wind. The rink winds around "islands" of trees. Music, good seating, skate rentals and hot chocolate make this a good place to take new skaters, young skaters and visitors to Toronto.

 Love Crescent Parkette (Great Skate #34)
This is a community rink built by people who live near the park, not Toronto Parks & Recreation. When I visited in 2015, the trail circled trees in the park. Because it is a natural ice rink, its existence depends on the weather.

Colonel Sam Smith Skating Trail (Great Skate #17)
I haven't been back to this rink since 2013, and it's on my "rinks I want to re-visit" list. The trail is a long figure-eight that loops through the park near Humber College in Etobicoke.

Riverdale Park East Rink (Great Skate #46)
This is one of Toronto's newest outdoor skating trails. It's great for small or new skaters.

Greenwood Park Rink (Great Skate #21)
The renovated Greenwood Park rink offers the best of both worlds: a skating trail next to a covered shinny rink. There is an indoor change room but no hot chocolate.

The Barbara Ann Scott Ice Trail at College Park (Great Skate #48)
This renovated rink reopened in November 2019, adding giant frogs to the list of things that you might find at a skating rink.

Skaters on the skating rink trail at Greenwood Park in Toronto in December 2013
Greenwood Park skating trail (December 2013)


I have also visited some skating trails outside Toronto:

Gage Park Skating Trail in Brampton (Great Skate #33)
A great rink for family skating. Building this rink is one of the smartest things that Brampton city councillors ever did.

Rideau Canal Skateway (Great Skate #45)
This is the ultimate Canadian skating trail.

Arrowhead Provincial Park near Huntsville (Great Skate #30)
This was one of my best outdoor skating adventures. You can watch my video of skating at Arrowhead here:


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