Love Park officially opened on June 23rd, 2023, bringing an urban refuge for surrounding residents, workers and visitors to the busy waterfront. The creates a new green oasis to the busy waterfront, reclaiming the former Gardiner Expressway off-ramp at York St and Harbour St. This Virtual Cache was placed to invite you to visit this new gathering space.
Here are some interesting facts about the park.
- Size: 7,910 m2 (2 acres)
- Location: 96 Queen Quay West
- 42 trees total
- 4 preserved mature trees: catalpa, Siberian elm and silver maple
- 38 new trees including ginkgo, dawn redwood, linden, Dutch Elm, Disease resistant American elm, tulip tree, London plane tree, weeping willow, and silver maple
- Pond
- Pond edge: 160 m2 perimeter covered in Mexican smalti red glass mosaic tile, fabricated in Montreal. This doubles as seating.
- Pond water: treated with UV and ozone, a chemically free way to keep the water clean, with infrastructure located in the mechanical building. The depth varies between 20 - 60 cm.
- Trellis: the steel trellis will be covered in purple flowering wisteria, creating an airy and flowery feature to the park. The foundation integrates a soil cell system to promote growth of large vines.
- There are nine bronze-cast animals placed around the park. Can you find them all?
- Seating and furniture: There are café-style tables and movable chairs, benches around the pathways and the seating pond wall edge.
- The mounds in the park help create a buffer against the busy adjacent streets. Not too high, they maintain a safe and continuous sight lines through the park.
- The park is designed as a sponge to retain and infiltrate 90% of all rainfall falling on the site, which will be used by the park's trees or returned to the groundwater table. An engineered soil layer detains a 100-year storm event on the site.
- Catalpa Island: in the pond separated by water, it will be interesting how nature will take root in this space.
- There is an Adventure Lab in Love Park. This is optional and not required to log this virtual cache.
Logging Requirements:
To log this virtual cache, post a photo from the posted coordinates or waypoint location with a thumbs up or a personal item (examples: GPS, trackable item, etc.) and include the red pond wall or a bronze animal sculpture in the background. You do not have to show your face in the photo. This picture must be taken from within Love Park, not from one of the nearby towers or beyond. Post the photo with your "Found it" log. Any logs without a qualifying photo will be deleted. There is no need to message me to log this find.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.