Photos

This is a quaint little stone bridge which crosses Spencer Creek just upstream of Webster's Falls, in Spencer Creek Conservation Area on the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton (the creek cuts quite a gorge for a kilometer or two back from the edge of the escarpment). The grounds up on top of the falls are, I believe, the gardens of an old mansion, and today they are maintained as a clean, open, grassy park, which is quite quaint. Lots of large trees, open spaces, park benches, etc., This foot bridge, which I believe is a modern reconstruction of about a 100 year old bridge which stood in the same spot, is a highlight of the park above the falls. There are stairs down to the bottom of the falls, and on a holiday or a hot summer day the whole area above the falls can be very crowded with picnicers and such, and the falls themselves are overcome by swimmers.

But follow the creek just a wee bit down from the waterfall, and it is a thickly-forested, rocky, somewhat hilly wilderness path with the 20m cliffs of the gorge rising up on either side of you. And few people venture that way, even though the hiking trail through the gorge is part of the Bruce Trail, a long-distance hiking trail which runs the entire length of the Ontario portion of the Niagara Escarpment. Needless to say, this is one of my favourite local places to go for a hike!