The Devil's Punchbowl - Hike 7

It's been a long time since my last hike on the Bruce Trail, Father's day in June to be exact.

This past Sunday I got back on the trail where I left off in June, at the 9.2km mark of the Iroquois section of the trail. It was a nice day with sun and mid 20's temperatures, although a bit humid.

I parked at the top of the Fifty Road and walked down the road to pick up the trail.

The trail travelled the majority of the day below the top of the escarpment through the Stoney Creek area. The following are many photos of the woods, plant life and a few of many feathers I came across this day.

 

At one point you come up out of the beautiful woods and on top of someone house and backyard. I also hit a point where you knew you were getting close to Hamilton as you could see the steel mills in the background.

 

The trail continues parallel to a railway - tough to tell whether it was active or abandoned. At the 18.8km mark the trail meets the railway and you cross new Mountain Road on the railway bridge.

 

 

 

At the 19.4km mark the Bruce Trail meets the Devils Punch Bowl Side Trail. This side trail exits south and is a very steep climb up the escarpment (not recommended on a wet day as it would be very slippery). I decided to climb the side trail to see the water fall from the top. I wasn't disappointed as the view was spectacular.

 

 View from below.

 

A little research states that the Devils Punch Bowl, at 37 meters high, was formed 450 million years ago after the last Ice Age. It is rumoured to have gotten it's name either because there was a lot of bootlegged booze brewed in the surrounding forests or that God, having made this beautiful site, refused to name it in His Name and instead named if after the Devil. Accompanying the waterfall is a platform looking out over Stoney Creek and Hamilton and above the platform a 10 meter high steel cross. Apparently the cross was built by William Sinclair in 1966 for his late father George Sinclair. It was originally intended to be lit Christmas and Easter but due to the donations of the Stoney Creek Knights of Columbus, the 106 bulbs light up the cross every night since 1991.

 

Here is a shot of a point on the trail where the roots are so entwined that they make a wonderful set of stairs to ease the climb!

 

 

 

The trail continues down the escarpment and crosses under Centennial Parkway - colourful graffiti on the parkway overpass!

 

 

 

The trail climbs again until you reach Felkers Falls another high ribbon water fall that cascades 22 meters over the escarpment. This water fall is right inside an East Hamilton subdivision and again is very spectacular with a meandering creek above the waterfall and a very steep and deep gorge below the waterfall.

 

 

My wife met me at the 23.2km mark of the trail and drove me back to where I parked the car.

 

Good to be back on the trail and hiking again - today I covered 14km!

 

Completed: 103.2km





5 days in Algonquin Park - Other Adventure 1

Just thought I would post an update.

My last Bruce Trail hike was on Fathers Day. As expected with a busy summer I didn't get out for any hikes at least on the Bruce Trail.

Highlight of the summer was 4 nights/5 days back country canoeing/camping with my 2 sons in Algonquin Park. What a very tough but wonderful trip. Beautiful scenery and campsites but lots of canoeing and some very long portages. How about a 45 pound canoe, two 30-40 pound backpacks, a 35 pound food barrel and other small items on portages ranging from 50 meters to the grand daddy portage of 2.3 kilometers. My sons and I figured that was one of the toughest things we had ever done! Did I mention mosquitoes - clouds of them!!

Tough trip but it felt great to have beaten the challenge.

Here a few memorable shots from the Algonquin trip.

I'm hoping to get back out on the Bruce shortly maybe this Sunday, so hopefully you will see a new post soon!

Next up, the Iroquois Section - Hike 6

Hike number 6 on the Bruce Trail was on Sunday, June 16, Fathers Day.

What a Father's Day gift it was as my wife and two sons came with me for what was planned as a somewhat short hike.

The hike was starting at the 0.0km mark of the Iroquois Section of the Bruce Trail.

It was a beautiful day again - bright sunshine and low-mid 20's.

We drove two cars down, leaving one at a parking lot just up the escarpment from marker 9.2km on Fifty Road. Then we drove to Grimsby and parked the other car on Gibson just near the Forty Mile Creek bridge.

The climb up through the Forty Mile Creek ravine was steep and especially muddy and slippery with all the recent rain. Following are a few shots of Forty Mile Creek as we climbed.

 As we continued to climb we saw some very interesting looking fungus!

 

At the top of the escarpment we took the Beamers Falls Side Trail to see Beamers Falls. The first picture is Forty Mile Creek just before it goes over the falls and the second picture is Beamers Falls.

 

 

We hiked back towards the main Bruce Trail which hugged the escarpment cliff above Grimsby offering up some beautiful shots out over the city and Lake Ontario.

Another wonderful shot of Lake Ontario and Toronto in the distance!

 

 

It was at this point we realized that we had a problem! It dawned on me, for some reason, to ask my wife if she had the keys to her car which was parked at the end of the days hike. Turns out when we parked my car at the beginning of the days hike, we locked my wife's purse - and the keys to her car - in my car at the start of the hike. If we hadn't thought of it at this point we would have arrived at the end with no keys for the car. My wife was the good sport and hiked back to the start while my sons and I hiked on the rest of the planned hike.

After turning inland from the escarpment at the 2.2km mark of the trail we came on Beamer Falls Conservation Area and a renowned viewing spot for hawk and raptor migration. Once Spring arrives each year, many varieties of hawks and raptors amass at this area along their migration from Central America and Southern US to Ontario, Northern Ontario and the Tundra. The birds amass at this area due to the significant thermal updrafts caused by the lake and warm air rising along the escarpment. It's said on a good day you can see as many as 1500 birds!

At the 2.7km mark the trail follows Ridge Road for 2km - make sure to walk on the road facing traffic as the road is narrow and busy.

Back into the bush at the 5km mark and we walked for about 1.5km before descending steeply down to below the escarpment. For the next 3km or so, we hiked below the escarpment on very muddy and slippery paths. In addition to the mud and slickness, it was warm, humid and there were lots of mosquitoes. On a drier, cooler day the trail section would have been beautiful but today my sons and I trucked along as quickly as we could to get through to the end before being eaten alive by the bugs.

Finally we came out onto Fifty Road, half way down the escarpment. This meant we had a steep climb up Fifty Road to get to the parking lot and our car. My wife was waiting and we drove back to the other car at the start.

It was an eventful but enjoyable day with my sons and wife (at least for part of the hike) joining me on Fathers Day.

9.2km in total for today.

Looking forward to the next hike although I will likely be selective as far as drier and cooler days to hike as we get into the warmer and more humid days of summer.

Completed: 89.2km