Paths to nowhere at Albion lead to treacherous terrain
City says plenty of signs warn visitors about steep drops at popular east Mountain gorge
The city-built stairs leading down toward the base of Albion Falls look inviting — which makes the city-posted warning signs all the more incongruous.
“Danger keep out steep drop,” screams a sign beside the concrete steps in red capital letters. “Use at own risk,” warns another. The biggest sign spells it out further: the city “does not maintain this stairway and does not recommend its use.”
Yet hundreds of visitors walk the stairs every sunny summer weekend on the way to a series of unsigned and unofficial trails leading down 18 metres to the base of one of the city’s most popular waterfalls.
City officials will tour the area next week searching for solutions to a spike in gorge falls that includes the fatal plunge of a twenty-something man at Albion Falls last weekend.
The man who died was identified as Michael Lane by a friend who was with him at the time of the accident. The friend, Blake Zimmerman, confirmed he posted a tribute to Lane on Facebook, in which he wrote they had believed they were on an “older trail” when his friend fell from the cliff.
Zimmerman declined to talk further about the accident and suggested that conclusions should not be drawn about the circumstances that led to the fall. Lane’s Facebook page said he was a photographer who lived in Toronto.
The city officially urges visitors to
enjoy Albion Falls from two designated viewing platforms and to stick to “marked trails,” mostly those following the rim of the gorge, said parks manager Kara Bunn.
Corey Dixon, however, suggests the city sends “mixed messages” by advertising the falls as a tourism draw but not signing or maintaining an official trail into the gorge beyond the municipally built steps. That leaves confused residents to find their own way, he said.
“In my opinion, if the city put the stairs there, they should either take care of it or get rid of it,” said the 22year-old Toronto man, who was badly hurt last February after slipping on an icy patch and sliding into the gorge.
His fall happened on Feb. 27, 2016 — the date of one of two legal claims active against the city related to injuries at Albion Falls. Dixon declined to comment on any legal matters linked to his injury.
But he argued if the city knows people are using the stairs — and by extension, the choose-your-own adventure selection of paths below — it should maintain and sign an official trail. Strategic railings or a new fence could help too, he suggested.
Dixon admitted he is “frustrated” by the suggestion all gorge fall injuries are “drunk or stupid people acting irresponsibly.” He pointed in particular to photos of people trying to climb the waterfall, or dangling legs over the brink.
“I wasn’t anywhere near the falls or the cliff edge,” he said.
He acknowledged some people criticized him for visiting the falls in winter and at night. But Dixon said the night was clear and warm when he and a group of friends decided to walk down the “snow-free” stairs in the hopes of getting a unique photo. While the stairs were clear, the group belatedly realized the paths ahead were slick and tried to backtrack. “My friend and I both slipped and slid down and I kept going. I fell at least 20 feet and broke my back, destroyed my arm … I’m still dealing with complications.”
Ward 6 Coun. Tom Jackson said he believes the old concrete steps pointing down into the gorge were already installed before he got into Hamilton politics in the 1980s.
Regardless, Jackson said it’s hard to miss the warning signs at and leading up to the stairs. “Even the sign warning about poison ivy” doesn’t stop the “small minority of risk takers intent on getting as close as possible to the falls,” he said.
Jackson said his touring group of emergency officials will discuss everything from signage to trail ownership to “targeted” extra fencing on June 23. But he added he hasn’t heard any specific complaints about phantom trails, suggesting the “vast majority” of visitors manage to traverse the area safely.
But Shawn Dall also described being led astray by a petered-out path after he was rescued by firefighters one July evening in 2013. In search of a great sunset picture, he headed down what he thought was a path to the gorge floor.
“I was probably about a quarter of the way down when it started to get steep. As I looked down, it was just a straight drop,” he told The Spectator shortly after his rope-rescue.
A Spectator reporter walked into the gorge Tuesday and noted several well-trodden paths to nowhere — including one that skirts a designated viewing platform and veers down a muddy, near-vertical slope.
Paul Lyrette was climbing back up from a visit to the water Tuesday when his chosen path was interrupted with a rocky drop about twice his height. The Niagara resident and regular hiker admitted he was surprised — but not fazed — by the lack of a marked path.
“That’s nature on the escarpment, right? You’re supposed to watch your step,” he said with a shrug, retracing his steps.