Like Joni Mitchell, many of us wish we had a river to skate away on.

While Toronto’s rivers don’t freeze up well, it still has a few places where people can skate on natural surfaces — though the warm winters and city regulations have conspired to make those opportunities few and far between.

Last week was the first in two years that it was safe to skate on Lake Ontario, and I accompanied a few dozen brave souls out onto the frozen channels between the Toronto Islands to play shinny, horse around and just skate for the pleasure of it.

“I like rinks, but I’m more interested in the open-ice experience,” said longtime island resident Michael Davey. “It’s the freedom of being able to go in any direction you want with the wind at your back.”

Along with a dozen other people from this tight-knit community, Davey helps monitor the ice, keeping it safe for the kids.

Each day in early winter, they study the forming ice and drill holes to measure thickness before venturing out with special Scandinavian self-rescue equipment in case they fall through.

Once the ice is certified, it’s open season. Some set up shinny rinks, while others skate the whole three miles from Hanlan’s point to Ward’s Island ferry dock.

But Davey says the lake doesn’t freeze up like it used to, when locals could skate all the way across the harbour to the city. It’s been six years since anyone has done that, and four years since they’ve even ventured out onto the open ice.

Even the stretches between the islands that used to freeze over reliably for months are having shorter seasons.

This year, if they’re lucky, there might be a week or two of solid ice before it becomes too dangerous to skate.

Of course, all this has to be done on the sly, as the city doesn’t officially allow skating on open water.

“Because the ice is not officially monitored, it cannot be endorsed by the city,” said James Dunn, spokesperson with the city’s parks, forestry and recreation division.

“There is very little enforcement,” Dunn admitted.

Toronto police, however, can’t put their finger on a law banning the practice.

“As far as we’re aware, there is nothing we’ve ever enforced, nor is it enforceable,” said police spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond.

The police Marine Unit recently purchased an ice boat that skims across the surface like a hovercraft. In their new boat, police patrol the ice around the islands, discouraging people from skating, Davey said.

This has led to some stand-offs between residents, who won’t give up the long-held tradition, and police, who see it as unsafe.

“Once, they even tried to make us wear life jackets,” Davey said.

Each freeze-up would bring another confrontation until several years ago, when local MP Olivia Chow tromped out onto the ice to mediate.

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“Now they only come when they get calls from the condo dwellers, who see us from their windows,” said Davey.

The island isn’t the only place Torontonians skate the natural way.

City Councillor Paula Fletcher, who hails from Sault Ste. Marie, says despite the fact that it isn’t condoned, people who live near Grenadier Pond in High Park and Rouge Marsh in Pickering venture forth when the weather gets cold enough, using local knowledge and judgment to keep safe.

“There’s always someone down at the ice who knows if it is good ice or bad ice,” she said. “It’s part of the art of winter.”

Fletcher led a failed battle to regulate natural skating surfaces in 2010, arguing the police marine unit, which used to monitor Grenadier Pond, should be recruited to do it.

“It’s a legal hot potato,” she said. “It’s all about liability — I get that. But it’s also about livability.”

Should the worst come to pass and someone goes through the ice, people need not worry.

Despite a story earlier this winter about an ice fisherman who was charged more than $5,000 for a rescue when he went through the ice on Lake Scugog, Toronto EMS spokesperson Kim McKinnon confirmed there would be no special charge should a rescue occur. The victim would only be liable for the regular $45 ambulance fee, she said.

Few people from the city make the trek across to the island to skate, but that’s not because they’re not welcome.

“It’s a bit of a secret,” Davey said, “because you never know when it’s safe.”

Island resident Alec Farquhar sends out a weekly ice report email in an effort to convince people to come skate. But with the seasons getting shorter and shorter, many people miss their opportunity.

“It really can come and go and you’ve got to be ready for it,” Davey said.