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River

Irondale River

Class

Cascade

Size

Small

Visitability

Mediocre

Accessibility

Free

Activity

Moderate

Walk Time

1min

Trail

Easy

Gorge Access

Moderate

Other Trails

Some (?)

County

Haliburton

Follow Hwy 35 north to Kawartha Lakes Rd 45 at Norland. Turn right and follow Rd 45 through Kinmount. The road turns into Haliburton Rd 503. The waterfall is located about 7 or 8 km past Kinmount. Watch for the signs for the Irondale River, and park in the traveller's rest stop picnic area about 50-100 m east of the bridge on the south (right) side.

NOTE: These falls are NOT located at the settlement of Furnace Falls as marked on the Map Art road maps.

Settlement

Furnace Falls

NTS Map

31 D/15

Easting

692710

Northing

4966546

UTM Zone

Furnace Falls can be dissapointing at first. The falls are visible from the bridge as you cross the Irondale river, but the drop is merely 1 to 2m. However, the passive park surrounding the site is a great place for a rest stop and the falls, while small, are picturesque. I'm not sure of the water depth downstream of the falls, but I remember the flows being safe enough in summer for children to wade just to the right of the above photo. I believe you can wander several 100m upstream along the banks within the park boundary (probably more, but you may enter private property - although in this part of the province, nobody would ever know you were there...). The river is on a major canoe/kayak route in central Ontario.

This is a roadside picnic area. The site can be crowded during summer with half a dozen cars stopped for picnics and to let their children wade in the water. It is probably near-deserted most of the year. The raod (used to be Ontario Secondary Highway #503) is less than 100m from the waterfall, so the site is never really that quiet.

This waterfall is covered in more detail in the print version of "Waterfalls of Ontario."