At work we are given our birthday day off as an added bonus to our regular vacation days. For my day off this year I decided to take a drive out to the town of Elora to do some hiking. Running through Elora is the Grand River which has carved out a magnificent gorge. To get to the bottom the gorge I had to do a short hike along a trail to a staircase.
Elora Trail
It was the perfect fall day out with nice warm temperatures and sun making the leaves glow as I walked along the trail. It didn’t take long before I found the staircase to get down to the bottom of the gorge.
The Staircase
It was going to be a bit of a bitch to get back up this staircase. Luckily I didn’t have to worry about that just yet – I still had some exploring to do in the gorge before I was going to need to climb back up these crazy steps.
David Street Bridge
Down in the gorge I had a great view of the David Street bridge. Thinking back I wish I had checked out the view from the top of the bridge too. I guess I’ll have to save that for my next visit here.
Elora
Before I left Elora, after some much needed shopping therapy, I decided to get one last shot of the city from across the river. Elora has always been one of my favourite places to visit and I love coming back here in the different seasons. I hope to be back here again soon.
Nigel and I decided to do a day trip up to Inglis Falls Conservation Area. With spring here we knew the water levels would be much higher than normal. Once we got to the park we followed the path down river to one of the viewing areas that looked over the falls.
Inglis Falls_above
This view is very easy to get to and I have so many shots from this viewing area but today was going to be different, We were venturing further along the path to find a way down to the bottom of the gorge. It didn’t take long before we found a short but rocky path down to the river below.
Rushing Water between the Rocks
The water levels were higher than I expected and being down by the water’s edge we had to be careful where we stepped. We headed upstream back towards the bottom of the waterfall to get some shots at its base.
Inglis Falls from Below
Since the water levels were so high we were finding it difficult to manoeuvre around so we called it day. We packed up our gear and went out to grab some grub before we headed back home.
After our last foray into the world of waterfalls Nigel Banks and I headed to yet another waterfall, this time in Grey County. Walter’s Falls is located south of Owen Sound at the Walter’s Falls Inn and Spa. I had never tried to get down into the gorge here but this time it was on our agenda to find the path down. Turns out there is a fairly easy way to get down to the river its just getting upstream that can be just slightly tricky as there is no real path so you have to watch your step. It’s easy to turn your ankle here but if you go slow you will be met by a beautiful little waterfall.
Walter’s Falls
As you can see the waterfall splits into two separate ones as it comes over the top meaning you’ll need the wide lens to capture the full waterfall. Even mine was a little on the tight side. But you can focus on each one like I did here.
Walters Falls Right Side
My favourite side was to the left. There was just something about how the water came down and hit the large rock just below it.
Walters Falls Left Side
You may have also noticed the dark mood of the photos above. We came at a specific time of day (and on one that was overcast) which meant there was barely any light getting down to the bottom of the gorge. And definitely none shining on the waterfall itself. This gave me the opportunity to create a set of moody photographs. I’m liking how they turned out. What do you think?
My friend Nigel Banks and I headed to Spencer Gorge in Hamilton to get us a waterfall fix. Our destination – Webster Falls. The falls used to be easily accessed to from the Webster’s Falls parking lot but a few years ago they closed the stairwell that led down to the base of the waterfall. That left only one option to get to the base – hike the 2km from further downstream.
Spencer Creek
With Autumn still kicking around and most of the leaves hanging on for dear life to their branches it was well worth the hike upstream. There were many opportunities to stop and photograph our surroundings which made the walk take just a “squidge” longer than it should have (okay a lot longer – but who’s counting?).
Webster’s Falls
Webster’s Falls never disappoints, with its two level drop and good flow there is no bad time of year to come here. Which is why it was so popular before they closed the stairwell. Hopefully one day soon they will replace the stairs and reopen the area.
Looking Downstream from the Falls
But it is nice to have the time alone here without any crowds so we can just do our thing and take our time about it.
Getting up a little earlier this morning we got ourselves over to Watkins Glen State Park by 8am anticipating another day of great shooting. And boy were we right on that account. Barely anyone was there and we were able to get up quickly to the places where we started having the crowds yesterday.
Over the Edge
My main goal this morning was to get a photograph of Rainbow Falls. Yesterday’s crowds made this spot very challenging and I was unhappy with the photos I made. Today with the early start time there was no one in sight and I was very happy to get the shot below.
Rainbow Falls
We spent about two hours here again today but during the last hour things started ramping up in the park. More and more people came in as we packed up our gear and headed out.
We had to start thinking about heading home so after some lunch we decided to drive straight up to the south coast of Lake Ontario and drive along there to see what we could see. But first we made a short pit stop at Taughannock Falls State Park. The short trail from the parking lot leads past some spectacular scenery finally ending with Taughannock Falls.
Taughannock Falls
It turned out to be an amazing weekend full of waterfalls and beautiful autumn colours. Too bad it went by so quickly but Watkins Glen will be on my list to visit again soon.
