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F01 - Borer’s, Webster’s & Tews Falls

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THE SITE: From the parking lot you will see an informal trail heading north back to the bridge across Borer’s Creek. Looking to the right you will find yourself just above the crest of Borer’s Falls giving you a good view of the area that runs down into the conservation area and out to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG). The energy of the water falling over the escarpment at this point was used by the Borer family to run a sawmill for over a century. This mill was the lifeblood of the village of Rock Chapel. However land clearing by the early 1900s altered the water flow of the creek to such an extent that the mill was forced to convert to steam power. It seems obvious that a much larger volume of water once flowed over this falls in order to carve out such a large gorge.

THE HIKE: After crossing Borer’s Creek over the bridge, the trail follows along the edge of the gorge to your right. You will soon reach a viewing area between two stone pillars that gives an excellent view of the Falls. This white-blazed main trail continues along the escarpment edge affording numerous lookout points. Where the trail curves around the escarpment you will find a welcome bench for a rest or to enjoy the view .Looking towards the field on your left, a kestrel nesting box can be seen in a cultivated field. As you continue along the trail, Cootes Paradise and the City of Hamilton come into view from lookout points. Soon the trail makes a sharp turn right and descends down the steep escarpment. The descent is so steep that a plastic garden hose was strung along to aid you -but it has gone missing. Fortunately we do not go down this slope but turn back and take an alternate unmarked path along the edge of the cultivated fields. This path rejoins the main trail and takes you back to the parking lot.

From the parking lot head south along the trails through a regeneration field keeping away from the tree line and to your right. Eventually the trail does curve into the tree line and meets the main Bruce Trail. Turn left onto the trail and walk through the maple and oak forest. Look left to examine the maple sugar shack that supposedly contains an impressive display of the syrup making process. However, I have never seen this open. It is reported in some current Toronto hiking books that each year in March when the sap begins to run with warmer sunny days and cool evenings, the staff of the RBG taps a number of trees in this sugar bush. A tasty pancake and maple sugar breakfast is served here each Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm. However a few locals have told me that this has not been done for years and years and there was no evidence of such a breakfast on a very warm sunny day after a long cold winter (March 16 ,2003). Across from the sugar shack is another fine area to view the City of Hamilton and the Burlington Skyway. Leave this wooden viewing platform and turn right following the main trail again. Soon you will come to the Armstrong Side Trail on your right. Keep to the right on this trail and ignore the paths leading in other directions. The trail leads to an impressive geology display that allows you to get a close view of the different layers (strata) that make up the escarpment. Display boards explain how each layer was created by ancient seas and glacier action. Climb up the metal stairs to the top of the display and follow the blue blazes back to the main trail. Walk past the sugar shack again and continue back to the parking lot.

B. Webster’s and Tews Falls

THE SITE: The Spencer Gorge/Webster's Falls Conservation Area exhibits the physical features which have made the Niagara Escarpment one of Ontario's most spectacular geological formations.
This significant natural area contains two beautiful waterfalls: Webster’s and Tews Falls. Webster’s is a magnificent tiered waterfall and Tews, which towers at 41 metres, is only a few metres shorter than Niagara Falls. Both offer spectacular vistas of the gorge. A nature trail allows access to the Dundas Peak, which provides stunning views of the Dundas and Hamilton area.
The Spencer Gorge area with its impressive waterfalls was highly prized and ownership changed hands many times before it came into the hands of the Webster family in 1819. It had been called in previous times: Flamborough Falls, Spencer’s Falls, Fisher’s Falls, and Hart Falls. Webster purchased hundreds of acres of additional land around and below the falls which now makes up the conservation area.
At Tews Falls, layers of bedrock common to the Niagara Escarpment are exposed at the falls. Look for red lenses of Queenstone shale, fine grey sandstone and harder more resistant ledges of blue-grey limestone.

THE HIKE: From the parking area head to your right to pick up the main Bruce trail and follow the white blazes along the escarpment edge to the Spencer Gorge. The park like conservation area features lunch spots, picnic tables and washrooms. Be careful in approaching the crest of Webster’s Falls as there is a considerable drop here. If you cross over the reconstructed stone bridge over Spencer’s Creek there are excellent viewing areas of the falls. For a closer view there is a long set of metal stairs that descends down the side of the escarpment taking you to the bottom of the falls. The Bruce Trail continues along the bottom of the escarpment but after viewing the falls, climb back up the steps. Phew! 

Head back towards the parking lot now and follow the Bruce Trail past the lot and towards Tews Falls. A viewing platform provides a good spot to view the falls as Logie’s Creek tumbles over the escarpment into the gorge below. There is an upper and a lower viewing platform placed well out over the gorge to enable a good view.

Continue along the escarpment and the main trail until you come to the signs for the Dundas Peak Side Trail. Keep right and follow along the trail along beech trees. The trail is close to the escarpment edge so exercise caution. All along, there are good views of Spencer Gorge below. Arriving at Dundas Peak, which is more a flat rock formation than a peak, you will have a magnificent view of Dundas right below and all of Hamilton and Burlington Bay in the distance.
Look for familiar landmarks such as McMaster University, Cootes Paradise and Hwy 403 as it climbs the escarpment towards Brantford. Leaving Dundas Peak follow the trail to your right which takes you back by an alternate route. Return to Tews   Falls and back to the parking lot.

Enjoy the hike and the day.

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