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River

Stoney Creek

Class

Plunge

Size

Medium

Visitability

Average

Accessibility

Free

Activity

Moderate

Walk Time

1min

Trail

Easy

Gorge Access

Difficult

Other Trails

some

County

Hamilton

Exit the QEW at Centennial Parkway in Stoney Creek, and go sotuh. Follow the road through Stoney Creek, and go up the big hill up the Niagara Escarpment. (You may be able to see Billy Green's Falls on the right, but don't stop here!). Once you reach the top of the hill, turn left on to Ridge Rd. Follow this road for a few minutes to the parking lot for the waterfall park, on the left side of the road.

Settlement

Stoney Creek

NTS Map

30 M/4

Easting

601067

Northing

4784921

UTM Zone

This is a really interesting site, and probably doesn't get the publicity it deserves. Do you notice something odd about this waterfall? How could the little trickle of a creek have eroded such a monstrous sized gorge? Well, the creek was probably much larger during the period just after glaciers left southern Ontario about 10-12,000 years ago. If drainage patterns were different, and more water were directed towards this creek, it would have had increased erosion power and could have eroded a gorge of this size.

The waterfall is easily viewed from the quiet park on the side of Ridge Rd. This is one of the best places to appreciate the layered nature of the sedimentary rocks underneath much of southern Ontario. But the best view of the falls is from its base. But this is a deep gorge, and it is next to impossible to get to the bottom from this point. The easiest, and safest way is to follow the directions to Lower Devil's Punchbowl Falls, and walk upstream along the path. The view from this point is stunning. As you enter the circular shaped gorge, isolated from just about everything else, it's just you and the 40 m high ribbon of a waterfall. As a special treat, if you visit on a windy day, you may be treated to what is probably one of Ontario's only "bending" waterfalls. When winds are strong enough, the falls can bend sidways in mid air, to maybe 10-15 degrees off from the vertical.

NOTE: Jerry Lawton's book "Waterfalls. The Niagara Escarpment" reports that you can reach the lower falls from the upper falls by walking west along Ridge Rd until you see one of the blue signs indicative of a side extension of the Bruce Trail. You can apparently walk down this trail to the lower falls.

This waterfall is featured in the print version of "Waterfalls of Ontario."




If you are visiting on a windy day, this waterfall may have a special treat in store.