Fall Falls pt. 2 – Balls to the Walls

Last Sunday I wandered along the Niagara Escarpment, and had such a swell time I did it again this Sunday. Like last week, it was a grey, rainy day, but I will take a cool autumn day over a summer scorcher any day.

Partly I went because I just enjoy going wandering, and also because I had the idea to get down into Scenic Gorge to take some photos of the falls from below. It’s a steep descent and right now with freshly fallen leaves and quite a few rainy days in the last several weeks, they’ll be slippery and the ground underneath will be muddy. That’s what held me back last week, but all week I kept thinking about throwing caution to the wind and making my way down. It’s an intermittent waterfall, only making an appearance after rainfalls or spring melt. Best time to get some photos of it is now, after weeks of rainy weather. The descent involved a mud skidded ass and hands that required a rinse off in the creek, but I made it down in one piece

Start of the trail.

Made a little detour into Chedoke Gorge. Didn’t go in that far.

Remarkable where foliage will take hold.

From here I opted to check out the rest of the gorge. All those rocks you see on the ground – they covered the entire floor of the gorge from one end to the other. Some the size of a fist, some the size of a toaster, some the size of an oven, some the size of a car. Not to mention then being covered in leaves, and plenty of fallen trees. Made for treacherous footing.


I decided to explore another avenue out of the gorge further up and once I figured out that was a no go, I came back down and had a pucker moment when a rock slid out from under my foot, one leg went in one awkward direction, another foot slid and got wedged in behind another rock. My body, my legs, my knees, my ankles were in a strangely disjointed pose before I plunked myself down on my ass and stopped before anything snapped. Deep breath. And...on we go.

It seems that this is an area not frequented by people that much, simply by the lack of garbage. I only found three beer bottles and four beer cans. Probably too much trouble for shitheads to scramble in and clamber back out. What garbage there is looks like it is carried down here by the creek. A couple of tires, a completely rusted out wheel barrow, a destroyed suitcase. I’d like to organize a clean up of this area and one other in the spring. Do it with a group of people, some up top with ropes that can haul the stuff up and out. Trying to climb up the walls with tires and garbage bags in my hands doesn’t seem so feasible.

One last look around before clambering back out.

Even within the confines of a big city, and a highway not too far away, a really peaceful spot. Getting to sit on a big rock for a while, with the sound of a waterfall and a burbling brook right nearby - fantastic.