Capturing the Art of Nature
Dundas Point and Smokey Hollow (Day 3)
Today we visited two locations - Dundas Point and the Smokey Hollow Waterfall
Category
Ontario Adventures
2019
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Our day began with Mike arriving to pick me up around 10:30. We loaded up my camera gear and ham radio into his car and we made for Webster and Tews Falls. I thought that the Spencer Valley Gorge would have some nice colour and now that the sun was starting to emerge from the clouds it would be a lovely spot to find some bright colours.
We set off for the highway and the Ancaster area where we could drive up to Dundas and the parking lot for the gorge. We made good time on the road but as we approached the escarpment, we were stopped by the road being closed for construction. We had to check our maps for the next road up to the top. That took a few minutes but soon we were climbing the escarpment and looking for the road to the Webster’s falls parking lot, there we would park and walk the trail to Tews and on to the point. We passed the Tews parking area and made our way to Websters where we paid for a parking pass and then gathered our gear for the walk.
As we left the parking area, we were treated with a new fence that closed the trail to the other waterfall. It seems that the trail passed through private property and the owners had finally had enough of the discourtesy of visitors that they put up a solid fence closing off their property. It was a shame but nothing we could do anything about. So rather than walk to Tews we had to drive to the other parking area. This was well over filled and the grassy area beside the parking area was now serving as an overflow area. It was muddy in the middle and a car was stuck with people helping to push it through the mud! Mike was fortunate in that he remembered that there was another entrance to the overflow area at the start of the area and on higher drier ground. So, we drove back and quickly found a parking spot.
Done with parking, we made for the trail and were soon walking towards the falls. We ended up walking the length of the parking area twice as we didn’t realize that the trail actual doubles back alongside the parking lot. Once we got to the viewpoint overlooking the falls, we started to have some nice colour and views to enjoy, at least what we could see through the crowds. I gathered some photos and then we continued along the trail to the point. Mid way we dropped down to a rock ledge that juts out into the gorge and offers some nice views of the Tews falls. We met a pair of guys who were making their way to the bottom. Their first route ended in a cliff so they had to resort to the simpler path that had a rope to help.
We continued to the point where we spent time taking in the colour and grandeur of the location along with dozens of others who were enjoying the day. Then it was back to the car to look for a place to eat lunch. Mike thought of driving to Waterdown and so we made straight for there. The area was vastly built up from what Mike remembered but we made our way through all the new malls to the older part of town where we found a place to park so I could try contacting Ralph at home via amateur radio. I tried a number of repeater sites but most I couldn’t reach and those I did were not responding on IRLP so I wasn’t able to call him.
Done with radio, we found a spot in the old town for lunch a nice little soup and sandwich café - Jitterbug . It was quite nice and we both enjoyed the food there. Our next stop was at the Smokey Hollow Waterfall. Here we found a stairway to a view platform above the falls it was a nice view but it wasn’t overly scenic. On our way back Mike found a route along the creek to where it dropped down and gave access to the creek. From there we scrambled back to the waterfall gathering photos. It was a nice spot with many scenes to capture. A few others had also walked the creek and were busy taking photos as well.
It was now getting on and we had to get back. We thought that it would be a nice spot to revisit perhaps tomorrow. The drive back to my hotel went fairly quickly even despite the Friday afternoon traffic. A very nice day taking colour photos and waterfall pictures.