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The Don River is one of two rivers bounding the original settled area of Toronto along the shore of Lake Ontario, the other being the Humber River to the west. The Don is formed from two rivers, the East and West Branches, that meet about 7 km north of Lake Ontario while flowing southward into the lake. The area below the confluence is known as the lower Don, and the areas above as the upper Don. The Don is also joined at the confluence by a third major branch, Taylor Creek , and a smaller creek, Wilket Creek.

The eastern arm of the rivers starts near the Oak Ridges Moraine just to the west of Yonge Street, flowing south-eastward through ravine forests in Richmond Hill, Thornhill, east of Willowdale and Don Mills. A second branch of the eastern Don, known as German Mills Creek, parallels the main eastern branch and joins it at Steeles Avenue, the northern boundary of Toronto.

The western half starts near the area of Maple , flowing south-west through the suburban industrial belt of Concord ( Vaughan), a reservoir, and then through the York Mills and Leaside areas before joining the eastern half. It crosses Yonge Street at Hogg's Hollow. Taylor Creek runs almost due west from Scarborough.

The mouth of the Don was relocated some 500 m to the west by a land expansion of about 3 km² to make room for an industrial area. This also moved the confluence further from the lake, to 7 km from about 6 km before the expansion. Unlike the mouth of the Humber, which is located in a recreational area and is navigable, the mouth of the Don is located in a heavily industrialized area, and spanned by a number of low bridges which make navigation impassible. In late 2000, several plans were being drawn up to redevelop the area, including relocating the mouth closer to its original location, and developing a canal system around the area.

The Don had been heavily developed in the earlier portions of the 20th century, with several factories, two rail lines and then a freewayA freeway (also superhighway or expressway is a multi- lane highway ( road) designed for high-speed travel by large numbers of vehicles, and having no traffic lights, stop signs, nor other regulations requiring vehicles to stop. Freeways have high speed l, the Don Valley ParkwayThe Don Valley Parkway (often referred to as the "DVP") is a controlled-access highway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so named because it runs through the Don River Valley. Construction of the DVP was completed in the early 1960s at a time when Toronto had, being built in the river valley. The last of the industrial plants, Domtar Polyresins, closed in the 1980s and has since been reused as the Toronto PoliceFor the band, see The Police. For the Polish town, see Police, Poland. Police forces are government organisations ostensibly charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order. The word comes from the French, and less directly from the Greek pol Force K-9 training site. The only remaining industrial use on urban portions of the river is the North Toronto Sewage TreatmentSewage treatment is the process that removes the majority of the contaminants from sewage and produces an liquid effluent suitable for disposal to the natural environment and also produces a sludge. Historical sewage treatment As recently as 100 years ago plant, whose use is currently under review.

Much of Taylor Creek and the southern portion of the western branch are surrounded by parkland. In more recent years the retreat of the industrial plants and rail infrastructure has freed up room which is now being turned into bicycling trails, which now extend from the shore of Lake Ontario northward in several directions to provide some 30km of off-road paved trails. While Toronto is fairly flat in general, local cyclists have developed a number of technically challenging singletrackA singletrack is a small off-road trail used by cyclists. Singletrack riding can be quite challenging from a technical standpoint, because small errors in riding can cast you off the trail into unridable terrain. trails throughout the area, following the main trails.