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Despite living in the Toronto area for most of my life, I had never been to the Scarborough Bluffs before. Needless to say, without really scouting out the area, I was at a loss for the best locations to take the pictures. So a trek to Scarberia in the early morning for a little reconnaissance mission was in order.

The first stop was on top of the Bluffs. There is a place to park where Cecil Crescent dead ends (P1 on map). From here, it’s a short walk to the top edge of the bluffs. There is a fence that runs the length of the top of the bluffs, and though for legal reasons I can’t really recommend that you climb over the fence, but you’re not going to see much without doing so. There are several vantage points in this parkette, but probably the one that affords the best view is straight down from the road (S1 on map). Looking east toward the rising sun, you have breathtaking views of the horizon, Lake Ontario, the marina, and the formation of the bluffs themselves. This is also a popular spot, as when I arrived, there were already three others taking pictures. I didn’t linger here for too long, as I wanted to scout out some other locations

Scarborough Bluffs in Morning
Nikon D800 w/ 16-35 f/4 @ 30mm, ISO 100, 1/100sec at f/4

The Scarborough Bluffs
Nikon D800 w/ 24-70 f/2.8 @ 45mm, ISO 100, 1/3sec at f/11

By this point the sun had already risen. I took Brimley Road and ventured down to Bluffers Park Marina. I parked in the parking lot (P2 on map) and took the pedestrian/bike path onto a point area (S2 on map). By this time the sun had disappeared behind the clouds to create some dramatic skies.

Big Sky at Bluffers Park
Nikon D800 w/ 16-35 f/4 @ 16mm, ISO 100, 1/100sec at f/11

Water Like Glass at Bluffers Park
Nikon D800 w/ 16-35 f/4 @ 16mm, ISO 100, 30sec at f/11
Lee Filters Big Stopper, 0.6ND Hard Grad

Next stop was Bluffers Beach (P3 on map). By this time the sun was out in full force and really too late to take any good landscape pictures. Just so it wasn’t a total loss, I took a couple long exposure shots of the beach edge and the rocky outcrop for pedestrian traffic (S3 on Map). Incidentally, it is this rocky outcrop (S4 on map) that will be my first stop next time. From this location, you get a good view of the beach with the bluffs providing a dramatic backdrop on the left and the blue waters of Lake Ontario on the right, with the sun rising somewhere in the middle.

View of Rocks from Beach at Bluffers Park Beach
Nikon D800 w/ 16-35 f/4 @ 22mm, ISO 100, 15sec at f/11
Lee Filters Big Stopper

Recon mission successful. Oscar Charlie Out.