Waterfalls in cottage country make worthwhile day trip
Exploring these Ontario falls is an ideal option for a brief getaway
Only a few hours’ drive from the Greater Toronto Area, cottage country provides well over 100 waterfalls to explore. Here are two worth exploring, a short car ride away from one another:
Cordova Falls
This is an interesting place to explore and a perfect spot for a picnic. There are at least three little waterfalls along this stretch of the Cordova River, which drops a total of 28 metres. The largest is found immediately below a dam at the southern outlet of Cordova Lake. Here, the Crowe River tumbles down a narrow rocky channel perhaps 100 metres long. The river drops about 10 metres, falling not as one main cascade, but rather in at least five distinct smaller drops, separated by short pools. By walking along a poorly marked trail leading south from the dam, you can get to the lower reaches of the falls.
Middle Cordova Falls is perhaps the most photogenic of the three waterfalls, forming a pretty five-metre-high cascade set among cedars and hemlocks. It is partially hidden behind the Cordova Lake Hydroelectric
Generating Station, and is difficult to view up close without a little adventuring. A portion of the river’s discharge that would have flowed over these falls is diverted at the upper falls and delivered 200 metres to the hydroelectric plant by a long, wooden penstock. Opened in 1992, the station generates a peak output of 780 kW, which is enough to power about 50 homes.
The lower falls are the smallest, but are located beside a beautiful rock-floored clearing in the woods. You’ll find them hidden at the end of a short driveway on the right side of the road a few minutes’ drive further south.
Healey Falls
The Trent River drains much of central Ontario, including much of the Kawartha Lakes. As a result, the flow over Healey Falls can be significant, but can also dry up during the summer. Some of the river’s flow is diverted for the power generating station located on-site, but the rest is allowed to fall over a 150metre-wide series of limestone steps. Each of the hundreds of small steps is a different thickness, varying from thin to massive bedding.
Look for potholes in the bedrock, but also watch out for slippery sections covered in algae. According to Environment Canada, the average stream discharge at Healey Falls is about 50 cubic metres per second, but has varied from as much as 286 cubic metres per second to as little as 0.6 cubic metres per second.
In addition to the falls, Locks 15,16 and17 of the Trent-Severn canal are located about a five minute walk to the west. A concrete trail leads up over the long dam structure. The trail becomes a long concrete berm that supports the approach channel to the locks. Use caution here! While the water is only about one metre below the edge of the walkway, there are no railings; if you fell in, you’d find it very difficult to climb up the featureless, near-vertical concrete face of the berm. But don’t stray too far toward the other side of the berm, either, since the ground is covered in poison ivy!
The walk to the locks also takes you past the Healey Falls Generating Station. The station went into service in 1913 and contains three giant feeder pipes, each 3.6 metres in diameter. Note from the author: Many waterfall sites in Ontario have been closed to the public this summer due to visitor negligence. Several emergency and high-risk rescues have occurred. Please note that waterfalls can be great, safe places to visit as long as we do so with care and respect.