Surprising number of waterfalls in Ontario
Golden Horseshoe has many well-known spots, but hidden ones, too
Waterfalls are special places. Few features of the natural landscape are more beautiful than a falling stream of frothing, bubbling water. Ontario's Golden Horseshoe is home to nearly six million people and has been intensively urbanized. Fortunately, however, there are still a large number of natural places where you can temporarily forget the hustle and bustle of city life — including a surprisingly large number of waterfalls. Many of these are well known and have been favorite spots for family outings for years. Others are virtually unknown: small, but pretty and satisfying. One recommended tour for the Golden Horseshoe includes a visit to Rockway and Louth Falls.
Rockway Falls
Rockway Falls is a surprisingly rewarding waterfall, one of the most underrated in the Golden Horseshoe region. While the gorge is at least as deep as that of nearby Ball’s Falls, the waterfall itself is admittedly less spectacular.
The main falls at Rockway is about 12 m (40 ft) high and is a good example of a ramp waterfall, where the waters of Fifteen Mile Creek never really leave the rock face during the descent.
In addition to the main falls, there is an upper falls and a lower falls, each about 2 to 3 meters (7 to10 ft.) in height. The upper waterfall is on private property, but can be viewed from the road bridge. The lower is 100 meters (325 ft.) downstream of the main falls and forms a low, but convincing plunge waterfall where the river crosses a layer of resistant Irondequoit limestone.
A trail that leads behind the community center leads you to the lower falls, and, if you are careful, to the base of the main falls. The trail follows along the east edge of the gorge, but then splits into two.
The left branch leads to narrow rock outcrops high above the falls and its beautiful valley. The right branch leads temporarily away from Fifteen Mile Creek, and follows a more gentle course down the escarpment edge. The trail then cuts back toward the creek and crosses a footbridge over the water. By carefully hiking upstream along the water’s edge you can reach the base of the falls. As you will need to scrabble over a few boulders and big brush piles, it is suggested to hike this last portion with a friend. But you are in for a treat when you reach the base of the main falls.
Louth Falls
Louth Falls is arguably the best waterfall surprise in the Niagara Peninsula. It isn’t very big, isn’t well known or signed, and isn’t even marked on maps. But this is one of those special places where you feel you’ve found something secret that you want to keep to yourself. The waterfall is about 8 meters (26 ft.) high and belongs to the plunge class, with a nice little pool at its base.
The10-minute walk to the waterfall is interesting in itself. The woods in the Niagara Peninsula are part of the Carolinian forest: an assemblage of species more at home in the mid-Atlantic states than in Canada. Shagbark hickory and sassafras are two tree species found in this zone, which is confined to southwestern Ontario, more or less south of Highway 401. On the left side of the trail, you should be able to see deep, polished fissures in the rock. This is a mild example of karst topography, a name given to landscapes where limestone bedrock is slowly dissolved by the weak carbonic acid present in rainwater.
After the trail leads you past a vertical rock face, turn left and follow the path to the top of the falls. If you walk downstream a few hundred meters, you can find a break in the gorge wall that lets you carefully scramble down to river level. This does take a lot of effort, though, and so it is recommended that most visitors remain up top. A less strenuous option is to carefully explore the area upstream of the falls. Just be sure to stay back from the edge.
This excerpt is adapted from “Waterfalls of Ontario, Third Edition” by Mark Harris and George Fischer, with permission of Firefly Books.