ESCAPE TO ELORA
This weekly series explores day trips within 200 kilometres of Toronto. In this instalment, Jonathan Forani visits Elora for a day of adventure
ELORA, ONT.— I kick my legs as I float down the Grand River with flippers fastened to my feet and webbed gloves snug around my wrists. I feel like a duck.
I’m in a one-man inflatable cata-raft (catamaran raft) called a “RiverBug,” with my feet dangling below the surface like propellers as I drift with the whitewater to Elora, Ont., a village northwest of Guelph full of cute little shops and historical buildings at the top of a picturesque gorge.
I visited the area many times as a kid in the ’90s, but never like this. I’m not here to shop for tchotchkes. This is a day trip full of outdoor adventures.
In my wetsuit, I can barely feel the frigid water. All I feel is my gut drop as I approach a series of waterfalls.
This RiverBug ride — the first of its kind in Canada — is the newest offering for the 2017 summer season in Centre Wellington township that already offers plenty of escapism for the adventurous, from rappelling and zip lining, to small-cliff jumping and more. Bring a bike if you can. This adventure is even better with wheels.
Bug out
Though much of the ride down the river is calm, the rapids and small waterfalls are intense. As my guide Ken Thompson and I approach the first set of four drops, we dismount the RiverBugs to inspect the best route down.
He tells me to look for the part of the water that makes a V, where the way over is most calm.
He goes first and I watch him disappear over the first edge. I can’t see him and I’m unsure if he’s tumbled upside down, pulled under by a snaky current. After a long minute, his head bobs up just past the falls and he signals that it’s my turn to make the descent. As I approach the first drop Thompson motions for me to turn my raft around — to go blind down the falls. The RiverBugs are constructed with strong seatbacks that make going over backward instead of feet-first the better way to brace the fall.
The first drop is a cinch, but the second lurches me forward and back and I almost lose control. I frantically reroute the direction of my RiverBug, kicking the flippers and tossing up water with my gloves. I bumble over the third drop, then the fourth, and suddenly I’m next to Thompson at the base.
There’s water up my nose and my stomach is aflutter, but I’m fired up. I feel like I could take on a beast. But there are none here in quaint Elora. The RiverBug jaunt is a brief thrill in an otherwise calming atmosphere. The rest of my ride along the Grand River is peaceful, a welcome leisure cruise. The sun peeks through treetops. Teenagers sneak into secret caves under bridges.
The town seems quiet, but I know beyond the dolomite walls of the river is a bustling tourism industry ready for a loud summer of adventure.
Thompson, owner of Elora Raft Rides, is one of the area’s original outdoor explorers. He’s lived here since 1969, a “landed-on-the-moon type” resident, he jokes.
“It was a little farming community then and it had almost no tourists,” he says with the wry grin that many locals don when discussing tourism.
“Elora has changed big time.” Quarry glory The main attraction for many visitors is the Elora Quarry, the kind of place locals wish they could keep secret. When the light or Instagram filter hits the emerald green water just right, it looks like a tropical oasis that’s a few flights away.
It’s no secret. Over the last two summers, the number of visitors has skyrocketed, according to the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA). The Huck Finn-esque wa- tering hole saw more than 85,000 visitors in a three-month period last year — almost twice the count from 2015.
“Most recently, overcrowding of this popular summer swimming location has begun to put significant pressure on the local environment around the park,” the GRCA said in a June statement. It’s why officials are enforcing a limit for the first time this year. The first 1,300 guests per day will receive admission wristbands and the rest will be encouraged to visit the surrounding area.
“(The area is) so quintessential Ontario and is one of the most spectacular natural backdrops,” says tourism co-ordinator Deb Dalziel, noting the “Floridian quality of life” in Centre Wellington that keeps the locals there and the tourists coming.
“It’s more than just going to the quarry for a swim,” she says. Rock the rappel Dabbling in the water below the Elora Gorge isn’t the only way to experience it. You can also rappel right down the side with Frederick Schuett, co-owner of One Axe Pursuits, and the man who helped Canadian explorer George Kourounis rappel into a pit of lava known as the “Door to Hell” in Turkmenistan.
Tethered to a couple of ropes, I don’t feel confident at the top, but Schuett makes it look easy as we rappel side by side over Irvine Creek, with the David Street bridge over our left shoulder and a lookout called the Lover’s Leap to our right.
The folklore goes that an Indigenous princess is said to have leapt to her death there after her lover died in battle. I can’t help but picture tumbling to my rocky demise, but the rappelling is easier — and more relaxing — than it looks.
You won’t be setting any Guinness Records with Schuett in Elora, but you’ll still get a rush as you approach the edge of drops that measure more than 18 metres into the gorge. One Axe Pursuits also offers zip lines, rock climbing, caving and a new rappel experience that ends with a “river feast” inside the gorge. The bike trail One of the best ways to see the sights of Fergus and Elora is by bike. This year, the pros at theBicycle Tailor are offering a “picnic ride” in partnership with Fraberts Fine Foods from nearby Fergus, Ont. Rent a bike at the tailor’s, strap on a set of bags filled with baguettes, cheeses, pastries, bean salads and sparkling apple ci- der, and cruise along the Elora Cataract Trailway, a flat, smooth track that’s perfect for a picnic ride. Lined with purple wildflowers and snippets of history (the old rail line it’s sitting on was leased to Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years in1884), the10 to15 kilometre loop is an active way to see the area in one afternoon. Grab a pint Reserve a table in advance at the Elora Brewing Company to end a day of adventure with a congratulatory pint.
The restaurant-brewery opened in August 2015 in a space that used to house hardware and drug stores for most of its long history. Now, the drug of choice at the Geddes St. spot is craft beer.
Try the Ladyfriend IPA (a silvermedal winner at the 2016 Ontario Brewing Awards) for something hoppy, or the lighter Three Fields Lager.
There’s plenty of food to quench an adventurer’s hunger — from panseared duck and smoked pork tenderloin, to tacos and creamy mac and cheese.
Pick from a selection of Elorabranded souvenirs at the brewery bottle shop on the way out: hats, sweatshirts, glassware, or a growler (two-litre bottle of beer).