Spencer Gorge Conservation Area | |
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Location | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
Coordinates | 43°16′59″N79°58′0″W / 43.28306°N 79.96667°W |
Established | 1967 |
Governing body | Hamilton Conservation Authority |
Website | Official website |
Spencer Gorge Conservation Area is a conservation area located on the Niagara Escarpment in the community of Dundas in Hamilton, Ontario. It is owned and operated by the Hamilton Conservation Authority. It has views over Hamilton and a two major waterfalls that are accessible via a system of trails. [1] The natural features found in the area are considered to be provincially significant. A shuttle service runs from Christie Lake Conservation Area to Spencer Gorge/Webster Falls Conservation Area, [2] for visitors to access this conservation area on weekends and holidays.
The main feature of the area is the Spencer Gorge, a Y-shaped gorge around 1-kilometre (0.6 mi) in length, with the depth reaching 100 metres (330 ft). [3] The walls of the gorge are very steep, contrasting the gently sloping landscape found in the nearby areas. The gorge was incised by the melt streams of the Wisconsin glaciation about 10,000 years ago. [1] The gorge displays a near-complete stratigraphic section from the red shales of the Queenston Formation to the caprock of the Lockport Formation (dolomite and limestone). [4]
Measuring 41 metres (135 ft) in height, Tew's Falls is the tallest waterfall found in Hamilton, [5] [6] among 96 others. [7] Located at 219 metres (719 ft) above the sea level, it is also the highest waterfall in the city. [6] Webster's Falls is another major waterfall. With its 30 metres (98 ft) crest, it is the largest within the city. [8] The gorge is an excellent example of the process of waterfall recession. At least 10 bowl-shaped basins have been identified within the area, indicating the earlier positions of the waterfall. Some of the largest and the oldest identified basins have the diameter of up to 350 metres (1,150 ft), with depth of up to 60 metres (200 ft), making them comparable to the present state of the Horseshoe Falls. [4]
Victoria Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi River, located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the world's largest waterfalls, with a width of 1,708 m (5,604 ft). The region around it is inhabited by several species of plants and animals.
Dundas is a community and urban district in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is nicknamed Valley Town because of its topographical location at the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment on the western edge of Lake Ontario. The population has been stable for decades at about 20,000, largely because it has not annexed rural land from the protected Dundas Valley Conservation Area.
The Amable du Fond River is a river in Nipissing District, in Northern Ontario, Canada.
The Crowe River is a river in the counties of Haliburton, Hastings, Northumberland and Peterborough in southern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Lake Ontario drainage basin and is a tributary of the Trent River.
The Pukaskwa River is a river in Thunder Bay District and Algoma District in Northern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a tributary of Lake Superior, which it enters at the south end of Pukaskwa National Park. It is a remote, pristine, free-flowing, medium-sized Shield river, with lots of whitewater, best travelled in spring.
Grand Portage State Park is a state park at the northeastern tip of the U.S. state of Minnesota, on the Canada–United States border. It contains a 120-foot (37 m) waterfall, the tallest in the state, on the Pigeon River. The High Falls and other waterfalls and rapids upstream necessitated a historically important portage on a fur trade route between the Great Lakes and inland Canada. This 8.5-mile (13.7 km) path as well as the sites of historic forts at either end are preserved in nearby Grand Portage National Monument.
The Hamilton Conservation Authority maintains the greenspace, trails, parks and some attractions in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The Elora Gorge is a popular tourist attraction located at the western edge of Elora, Ontario, Canada, which is 25 km north from the city of Guelph.
Hamilton is located on the western end of the Niagara Peninsula and wraps around the westernmost part of the Lake Ontario. Most of the city including the downtown section lies along the south shore. Situated in the geographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe, it lies roughly midway between Toronto and Buffalo. The two major physical features are Hamilton Harbour marking the northern limit of the city and the Niagara Escarpment running through the middle of the city across its entire breadth, bisecting the city into 'upper' and 'lower' parts.
Webster's Falls is a 22-metre-high (72 ft) classical curtain and plunge waterfall located in the Spencer Gorge Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The water flows down Spencer Creek. In the past, the falls have been known by various names such as Dr. Hamilton's Falls, Spencer Falls, Hart Falls, Fisher Falls and Flamborough Falls.
Devil's Punch Bowl is a 37-metre ribbon waterfall on the Niagara Escarpment, in the Stoney Creek community of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is in the Devil's Punchbowl Conservation Area maintained by the Hamilton Conservation Authority, and features an escarpment access trail with connections to a section of the Bruce Trail. Stoney Creek's Dofasco 2000 Trail is nearby. The Punch Bowl is also known as Horseshoe Falls for the distinctive shape of the cliff-face, which somewhat resembles its much larger cousin in Niagara Falls.
Borer's Falls is a 15-metre-high (49 ft) ribbon-style waterfall found in the Borer's Falls Conservation Area in Dundas, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Its source is Borer's Creek. A very picturesque waterfall featured on many Hamilton waterfall postcards over the years. Named after the Borer family who ran a sawmill for over a century. This mill was the lifeblood of the village of Rock Chapel. Also known as Rock Chapel Falls. The area is a hiker's haven and also an ice-climbing destination in the winter when the weather is cold enough to freeze the Falls.
Darnley Cascade is a 4-metre-high (13 ft) cascade waterfall located at Crooks Hollow Conservation Area in Greensville, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Nearby attractions include Bruce Trail, Dundas Valley Conservation Area, Spencer Gorge/Webster's Falls Conservation Area, Hermitage ruins, Royal Botanical Gardens, Dundurn Castle, Christie Lake Conservation Area, Dundas Historical Society Museum and Carnegie Gallery.
Dundas Valley Conservation Area is located on the Niagara Escarpment in Dundas, Ontario, a constituent community of Hamilton, Ontario, and is owned and operated by the Hamilton Conservation Authority. Its 40-kilometre trail system provides a connection to the Bruce Trail. The area contains a trailhead of the Hamilton-Brantford-Cambridge Trails, Canada's first fully developed interurban multi-use trail system, which is a part of the Trans Canada Trail.
Lower Westcliffe Falls is a 7.9-metre-high (26 ft) complex classic cascade waterfall found near the Chedoke Civic Golf Course in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
King Street starts off as a collector road in the east-end of town in Dundas, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada beside Cootes Paradise and the Desjardins Canal at Olympic Drive and switches to an arterial road at York Street and cuts through the town of Dundas where it ends in the west-end by the CN railway tracks at the base of the Niagara Escarpment. It is a two-way street throughout.
Crooks' Hollow Dam was a buttressed gravity dam, built of concrete in 1916 on Spencer Creek in Greensville, Ontario, Canada.
Uisge Ban Falls is a waterfall near Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada. The falls is located in Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park near New Glen, Victoria County, 14.5 kilometres north of Baddeck.
Spencer Creek is a creek in Flamborough, Ontario. Banks of the Creek is made up of residential homes, farms, and businesses.