In the depths of the Don Valley runs an abandoned railway track.

Over a nearby hill on the west side of the Rosedale Ravine Lands and Riverdale Farm, which sprawl parallel to the valley and its parkway, once lived 49-year-old Andrew Kinsman, who hasn’t been seen since June and one of at least two missing men from Toronto’s LGBTQ community.

On Thursday, a group of seven of his friends and strangers took to the largely-uncharted corridor of the valley to continue his search.

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They came up empty.

There are only two ways onto the section of the overgrown track they pushed through.

The first runs through an off-limits construction site along the active GO and Via rail lines. The second runs through a ripped-open slit in the fence and up a small hill from the bike paths of the valley.

It is secluded and high, running above the frequently trekked paths below.

Along it, the only sign of human activity is its old, crumbling graffiti.

The track is too densely forested for cyclists. When it runs over the river, it opens in foot-wide gaps to the water below.

The forest off of it is steep and without a path down to the valley trail. If someone were to find what’s left of the tracks and fall or twist an ankle, they’d be alone.

Greg Downer, an LGBTQ community organizer, found this part of the valley by accident when he noticed it was a dark spot on Google Earth’s street view.

“It’s completely independent in the middle of nowhere,” Downer said, a two-metre extendable pole in his hand to help clear away the brush. “I asked the folks who’d been doing other searches if this was an area that anyone was familiar with and like myself no one knew it existed because from down there nobody can see it.”

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Kinsman was last seen June 26 at 71 Winchester St., near Carlton and Parliament Sts., where he worked as the superintendant for the building. Police said a “dedicated team” is focused on finding Kinsman and another missing man Selim Esen, 44, who was last seen April 14.

“At least if we find (Kinsman) we can bring this to a conclusion,” Downer said. “I haven’t lost hope. That’s why I’m here. We need to be looking near wooded areas over water.”

Connie Crosby, who participates in Toronto’s People with AIDS Foundation bike rally every year, shared mutual friends with Kinsman, a frequent volunteer for the foundation.

“Everybody is very concerned about him and what’s happened to him and I felt quite compelled to come out and give a hand,” Crosby said.

She joined Downer with her friend Heather Williams, who wasn’t familiar with Kinsman’s story until she saw a Facebook post about his case.

They wore bug spray and pushed aside the brush with broomsticks.

“If it was me and it was my loved one I would certainly want to know that people were out there helping me know that someone isn’t in this particular area and just kind of moving that forward so that they have a little more confidence that everything has been done that could be done in terms of searching locally,” Williams said.

“I couldn’t really think of anything better to do with a few hours of my time today than to put them towards helping somebody who is looking for a lost loved one.”

By day’s end, they were unsuccessful. But they weren’t defeated.

Downer vows to continue his search down other sections of the old tracks that run off of the main Don Valley trail.

“Unfortunately we didn’t turn anything up today but more trails need to be searched,” he said.