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River

Chedoke Creek

Class

Cascade

Size

Small

Visitability

Average

Accessibility

Free

Activity

Quiet

Walk Time

5min

Trail

Very Difficult

Gorge Access

Very Difficult

Other Trails

few

County

Hamilton

Exit Hwy 403 at the Lincoln Alexander Parkway in Hamilton and go east to Garth St. Follow Garth St north for 2 km and turn left on Denlow Ave. Follow this street to Scenic Dr. The falls are hidden in a green space on the right side of Scenic Dr. You can't park on this street, so continue west and find parking on a side street, like Balfour Drive. Walk to the concrete railing along Scenic Dr and look down on the falls. The view from the base of the falls is much better, but is unfortunately very difficult to access (see description).

Settlement

Westcliffe

NTS Map

30 M/4

Easting

589298

Northing

4788304

UTM Zone

This little falls is located on the east gorge wall of Chedoke Falls. The waterfall is not visible from Scenic Dr above, so you will have to descend into the gorge in order to get a good view. See the directions to the base of the main Chedoke Falls.

This is a good example of what I call a steep Cascade class waterfall. Water flows out of a drainage pipe at the top of the Niagara Escarpment, and cascades over an irregular, blocky face of dolostone. As it makes its way down over the waterfall, the water spreads out, becoming wider as it approaches the waterfall base. Flows in this stream are probably very low or non-existent during drier periods of the year though, and it is quite probable that the waterfall is dry for extended periods of time.

While I cringe at most waterfalls with a "pipe" as their water source, the lower portions of this waterfall are actually quite pretty, and good photographs can be made by cropping the pipe out of the picture. You will note that this waterfall really has not eroded much of a gorge. It is likely that the falls is actually very young - possibly even just the result of the drainage pipe, which would probably be less than 100 years old. In other areas on the Niagara Escarpment, creeks as small as this have much larger, well-developed gorges.