Hidden Rivers 2026 Is Here.
Many are saying that you GOTTA explore your city.
Four years ago, I began cycling around Toronto, slowly realizing that our city is an ecological wonder. Since then, we’ve gone from this…
…to this
It’s been an enormous privilege to introduce thousands of you to this side of our city, to become more rooted in Toronto together, and most importantly, to create relationships that endure far beyond the tours themselves. (I am aware of at least three couples, one 100+ person group chat, and one wedding!)
And now, we run it back. Tours, courses, and events. Welcome to Hidden Rivers 2026.
Walking Tours: Open For Business
We begin the summer with a whirlwind of tours around the city. Tour dates are now live for all of July. All tours are pay-what-you-can with a $2 booking fee.
Highlights include spending three hours dissecting a single intersection in The Signal & The Noise, walking Toronto’s original waterfront in Where is Toronto’s Waterfront?, basking among trees in The City Beneath Toronto, and figuring out how the city re-engineered a river in The Death and Life of the Don. These tours will leave you seeing Toronto like you’ve never seen it before.
A Hidden Rivers History Course
I am thrilled to announce the return of Toronto’s 12,000 Year History, a five-week interdisciplinary seminar on the history of Toronto. We will read and walk our history in equal measure, alternating between city excursions, discussions of foundational texts, and conversations with experts. It is a space to rigorously study Toronto’s past while meeting, and becoming, the people shaping its future.
Here’s what people had to say about it last summer:
“It’s hard to overstate how much I got out of the course. I’ve also cultivated relationships with my incredible classmates that have transformed my experience in the city. I feel more connected to Toronto now than I’ve ever been.”
“Take this course if you want your understanding of Toronto to be infinitely expanded, and you seek the tools to be a savvy urban explorer wherever you go - all in the company of fun new friends and a truly incomparable teacher.”
“We walked into this course as newcomers expecting a history lesson, but we walked away with a sense of belonging. It pushed us off the beaten path to explore corners of the city we’d never have found alone, turning classmates into friends and changing how we see Toronto. Learning a city’s past is the best way to build a future in it.”
“This is the intro to Toronto I wish I had gotten when I first moved to the city! I left the course with a new community, feeling more rooted in my neighbourhood, and a deep respect for just how alive our city is.”
We will be running two cohorts of the course this summer. One group will meet on Wednesdays at 6:30pm, the other on Thursdays at 6:30pm, beginning July 15/16 in a classroom at the University of Toronto. Both groups will then convene Sundays 10am-1pm. for excursions around the city.
Everything you need to know can be found at this link. Applications are open now and take place on a rolling basis; the application will close if both sessions fill to capacity before the deadline.
The Great Conversation
I am teaming up with an absolute all star group of collaborators to host The Great Conversation, a lecture about the history of technology on May 27th.
We are all part of something bigger than ourselves. Our daily lives are made possible by arcane scribblings and practices passed down from generation to generation. This lecture is about what we risk losing if we neglect this face-to-face transmission of knowledge.
If you enjoy my tours, I can guarantee you will enjoy this.
Final Notes
I will have some additional availability this summer for private walking tours. My calendar begins June 27 and concludes August 21. If you would like to book a private tour for your company, family, class, or organization, please send me an email.
In the meantime, I highly recommend you check out Doors Open May 23rd & 24th. Hundreds of buildings in the city are open for visiting! What a privilege! Please say hi if we bump into each other.
As I said in my email at the start of the year, Hidden Rivers’ goal in 2026 is to help you feel that you are not simply an observer of this city, you are part of its essential fabric. You are not a passive recipient of Toronto’s story, you are among its many authors.
I cannot wait to write the story of our city alongside you this summer.
Yours in exploration,
Matthew Jordan
