Chasing Waterfalls - Hiking Chippewa Falls

 Earlier this summer we took a driving trip to Northern Ontario, gradually meandering our way to Wawa and back. To break up some of the long spells of sitting in the car we'd plan roadside stops and short hikes. Chippewa Falls is one of the best road side stops we've ever taken. Here's six reasons why:

Located directly off the Trans-Canada highway this popular road stop requires no extra driving time (provided your route is on the Trans Can). This hike offers maximum beauty for minimal time spent. 

This viewing spot can be easily seen at a distance from a viewing platform, or from a short 0.50 KM out and back trail. We opted to do both. Bring a pair of solid running shoes so you can billy goat around the rocks and explore the waterfall completely. Most kids over 4, who will listen to parents on the rocks should be able to handle this hike.

Since this is a popular spot, it means it has a picnic area and washroom available for use.

This spot is truly as beautiful as it seems. It's also the subject of art from Group of Seven Painter A.Y. Jackson. A true gem of Canadiana history. 

For those really pressed for time, the view from the platform is gorgeous, but if you have 20 - 30 minutes to spare I highly recommend climbing the falls.

In addition to being the a gorgeous spot, this also marks the half way point for the Trans Canada Highway, which is pretty cool.

I would come back here in a second!

A Hiking We Will Go - Exploring Burk's Falls Screaming Heads

What could be better than an art hike on a 310 acre property? An art walk filled with Tim Burtonesque cast concrete sculptures, that's what! This summer we visited The Screaming Heads!

Our hike was meant as an easy way to stretch our legs on the first portion of our 10 day road trip to Wawa an back earlier this summer. 

Artist Peter Camani has created a unique experience for anyone who wants to enjoy a bit of macabre inspired art. It's more of a walk than a hike, but worth it all the same.

We spent roughly an hour and a half exploring the grounds, and we only explored about half of what's available.

Offered for free, but you can provide a donation to support (highly recommended because this place is awesome!), the Screaming Heads has a robust outdoor gift shop that Molly was inspired to buy a necklace at.

The man we spoke to working at the Screaming Heads was incredibly knowledgable about the history of the area, offering tips on the best ways to explore.

This was a simple, 4KM stoll for us and I didn't need wear hiking shoes, my sandals did the trick!

This area of the display was under construction, but that's okay, we could take photos from a distance and have something new to visit the next time we come. It also means this space continues to be a work in progress with something new to see year after year.

There is one section of the park, known as the dragon eye, where the screaming heads provide an aerial view of a dragons eye. It is amazing, but hard to envision from the ground.

The Screaming heads are open all year round. We have been told that the trees around the Screaming heads were deliberately planted in a way to provide a vibrant display of fall colours.  A unique winter view that can be seen in the winter by snowshoe bringing you up higher into the mouth of the heads!

This art park, roughly half an hour north of Huntsville and Arrowhead provincial park is well worth a visit. It is fairly accessible, we saw people using a stroller while we were there and anticipate you could see a great deal in fair weather via wheelchair. This spot can be enjoyed by kids of all ages (provided they aren't scared). 

So check it out this summer, or add it to your Halloween schedule right along with your Pumpkin Spiced Latte!

Hiking at The Tree Museum, Gravenhurst

Now that things are beginning to open up we've been able to hike and explore outside of the Greater Toronto area. This past weekend we were able to explore a hike I've been excited about for a while, The Tree Museum in Gravenhurst Ontario an outdoor art exhibit site and hiking trails. It did not disappoint!

There is no fee for parking here and a small parking lot. When we arrived one other car was leaving, so it appears this trail isn't that popular, particularly since we arrived mid-morning on a Saturday.

It is about a 1.5KM walk into the art installations from the parking lot, so with walking around the grounds to explore the art you can expect to log anywhere from 7-11KM depending how adventurous you're feeling. There may be some times when the gate is open so you can drive direct to the art installations and shorten the hike dramatically, but that wasn't an option while we were there.

The roads and trails were buggy, but we'd been warned in advance, so we came armed with plenty of bug spray and wore our bug nets over our hats to protect our faces while we hiked.

The trails are well marked and the art installations are in a loop, with signs making it easy to explore.

Bring plenty of water to keep you hydrated while you check out the art.

Exhibits ranged from large in size, like this stone house, to small, like reflectors placed in wooded sections to enhance the light in particular sections of the trail.

This stone house would be a great place to stop for a snack mid-hike.

One of my favourite exhibits was this mirrored box where you could "disappear" into the forest arond you, although it translates better in person than in photograph.

These cars have become a part of the land in this installation

An upside own shed.

Although the bugs were really distracting and a nuisance (5 days later I still have quite a few bites I'm dealing with), Molly said this hike still made her top 15 favourite hikes. I know we missed a few exhibits, but we couldn't handle the bugs and heat anymore. I plan on returning for a fall hike sometime when (hopefully) the bugs aren't so bad. I was also happy that my new hiking boots allowed me to confidentaly cross new terrain with very little blisters and breaking them in pain. This hike is worth adding to your list, but only if you have kids and/or adults who are prepared to hike the 7-11KM required to see everything.

Hiking Manitoulin Island - Misery Bay Provincial Park

With COVID-19 still being an issue around the world, our "travel" for 2020 remains inside our province of Ontario. Thankfully, Ontario is huge, beautiful and there is plenty to explore. For our major summer vacation we rented a wonderful little AirBnB cabin on Manitoulin Island where the best of everything to do is outside anyway.

On our first full day on the island, since it was still the long weekend, we decided to travel one of the less popular hikes I'd researched. Misery Bay Provincial Park is the only operational, day use only, provincial park on the island.

Molly hiking on The Canadian Shield

Although I'd planned to tackle the 8KM Costal Alvar hike I found online, later research on Alltrails.com revealed that portions of this hike were under water because of high water levels in and around Lake Huron.  Instead we completed the 5KM Inland Alvar Trail.

Since we were there on the holiday Monday, there was no one at the visitor centre. We paid our admission via a machine ($2 each for the adults, $1 each for the kids for a reasonable price of $6 total).

So much of this hike is directly on the Canadian Shield, an ancient Alvar rock that acted like a path.

I'd only ever seen this type of plant life, sometimes called Reindeer Lichen, (frequently eaten by deer and contestants on the Survivalists History Channel show ALONE) on TV so I had to snap a picture of it.  We didn't try eating it.

One of the many cool things about this hike was how solitary it was. We truly felt like we were alone in the wilderness and the chances of us seeing some wildlife was high. We only ran into two other hikers during our entire hike, and then another two families when we returned to our car. The wildlife we saw was mostly birds and squirrels. When we arrived at the park we saw two giant hawks perched on the Park sign that we thought were statues, until they flew away.

The wild flowers on the island are so bright and vibrant I just had to snap some photos.

At various rock "clearings" we passed throughout our hike. We were able to see rock art that other hikers had created.

These are some of our favourites. People made pictures, wrote out names, and in some cases indicated the date and year, some clearly untouched from over a year ago.

This is the beach portion of the trail that overlooks Misery Bay, however the water you see here is also a part of the longer hike that we skipped because it was flooded.

This bright yellow flower is called Manitoulin Gold and is virtually everywhere, lining highways and hiking trails alike.

Another Rock clearing we found was filled with dozens of Inukshuks people had made.

Molly thought this rock art looked like Cookie Monster.  Do you see it?

Molly celebrating the end of our adventure at Misery Bay by climbing on top of a giant rock. We all highly recommend this 5KM easy hike. For all hikes on Manitoulin Island I'd suggest wearing long pants because there is a lot of Poison Ivy. We had a cool day that threatened rain the day we explored, which was perfect for long pants and a sweat shirt. Chris and I loved the raw ruggedness of this hike and the feeling like we were the only people in the world, while Molly and Jack adored seeing what rock art created by other hikers was around each corner. Definitely a must do on the island! 

It took us about two hours to complete this hike, including several stops for snacks, photos, and exploring the rock art.

To us there was nothing Miserable about Misery Bay, however according to the Website Friends of Misery Bay this is how it got the name: According to local lore, the earliest settlers—lacking hay

came to the foot of the bay to cut marsh grass for their livestock.

One warm June day in the early 1880’s, a pioneer was cutting marsh grass there when two men approached in a small boat. The boaters shouted, “What is this place called?” Hot, tired, and swatting black flies, the farmer called back, “I'm in misery!”

What the farmer did not realize was that the boaters were government surveyors, mapping the island. The surveyors wrote that name down, and it stuck. So this beautiful spot with its clear water, unique rocks, bountiful wildlife, and lovely wildflowers continues to be known as Misery Bay—a misnomer puzzling to today’s visitors.

Walls of the Cave - Hiking Hamilton at Eramosa Karst Conservation Area

When people hike Hamilton and the Niagara Escarpment they usually have one thing in mind - waterfalls. While I like waterfalls as much as the next hiker, I know they draw big crowds and have less flow when we've had particularly dry weather.

Parking was $5 and this well kept secret of a trail meant that we only ran into a handful of other hikers during our hour and fifteen minute adventure filled with sinkholes, caverns, passages, and caves oh my!

From the roadway the Eramosa Karst Conservation Area looks like almost nothing, but don't be fooled by this hidden treasure. The paths are dirt, gravel and cement. You'll want to stay on them and wear long pants as there are several warnings about poison ivy and ticks.

We chose the most popular 2.5km Karst Features Trail loop to explore because it offers several side paths of interest and caves to cool off in. Grab a map from the Visitor Centre display because many of the markers on the trail are faded and can be a little confusing. With the side paths you're probably hiking closer to 3KM.  The kids climbed along the Old Quarry early on our hike.

Looking down on a balancing rock into Pottruff Cave.

The old trees bent here to make passages and "caves" of their own.

The kids sitting above the flowing water in one of the many sinks to cool off. I think this one is atop Pheonix Creek Sink (yes it's spelled that way).

Climbing into Nexus Cave Entrance to see what's down below.

Looking down at the Cave Explorers.

Like something out of a story the Nexus Cave Window is at the base of a tree.

Naturally they had to climb into that too.

The area is known for the wildlife. We spotted many chipmunks, squirrels, birds and butterflies (and Ted had a blast chasing them). We also saw a dragon fly and a small snake hanging out in the rocks near the entrance to the hiking paths. We overheard another family say they had spotted a weasel on their journey. The area is known for owls and while it was too early to see an owl, we saw evidence of owls along the paths in terms of 'owl pellets' of the remnants of bones and fur from their former meals. Much of this hike is accessible, save for the side trails to some of the caverns and sinks. Molly said this trail ties the Limehouse Side Trail with the honour of "best trail" we've hiked so far this spring/summer. I must admit, at just 45 minutes away from Toronto I would come back here again in an instant!

Waterfalls - Hiking Beamer Conservation Area

In our efforts to get outside, stay healthy, and remain socially distanced we've begun going on early morning hikes and exploring new trails. In terms of keeping kids attention what could be better than cliff side views, breathtaking lookouts, and, wait for it, WATERFALLS.

This week we headed to Grimsby to visit Beamer Conservation Area to hike the lookout trail (a 25 - 30 minute loop) along with a portion of the Bruce Trail tie in to visit Upper Beamer Falls.

The parking lot is currently open for free parking and the conservation site is open to enter the paths. With current COVID-19 rulings there are no washrooms here open. We left early enough in the morning that it took us less than an hour to get here.

This is the section of the Bruce Trail that leads to Beamer Falls. They are much prettier in person and with the low flow of water right now their beauty doesn't quite translate into photos.

Photo from the bottom of the falls. To access the falls you'll need to take the paths out to the road way following along the river bank and walk a small section of road before re-entering the path system to get to the waterfalls. 

Travelling along the rocky path

Heading back from the falls we ended up climbing a rock face. it was steep enough that Chris and I had to hoist our dog Ted up to each other. There is a longer, easier route around. Lucky for us Ted trusted us enough to lift him over the steepest portion of our climb back up.

The lookout trail was breathtaking and I've already sent myself a calendar alert to come back here late September early October to check out the fall colours.

These views are amazing, particularly for such a short hike, but hikers be warned there are a lot of huge drops and cliffs that are not fenced in. If you're travelling as a family you need to make sure your kids will listen and not go too close to the edge.

Our hiking rule of single file travel on this trail with an adult in front and an adult behind was a great way to ensure safety. While we were on this trail we saw a couple of families with kids aged 3 to 5 who were just too young to understand the dangers. Both families seemed really stressed and had resorted to carrying their kids to avoid them wandering too close to the edges of the cliffs.  I wouldn't have been comfortable here with Molly and Jack until they were about six years old.

This trail is rated moderate, mostly because of the climbs, cliff edges and rocky terrain.

This forest had many huge trees and some interesting fallen trees to check out. Don't forget your bug spray as this was the buggiest trail we've done to date in the 2020 hiking season.

We spotted this little guy on our way back. After a lengthy debate on whether he was a frog or a toad, we'll be implementing some reading for homeschooling next week to learn how to tell the difference.  We also spotted a hawk soaring above one of the cliffs.

Our hike lasted for about an hour and a half to two hours including stops for snacks and water. Molly said her favourite part of the hike was the waterfall, while Jack loved exploring and seeing our friend the toad. By the time we left, mid-to-late morning the parking lot was packed with cars parked along the highway, so our early morning hikes have been a good way to get out and avoid others while on narrow trails.  Stay safe and healthy.  Happy Hiking Everyone!