Taking advantage of what was almost certainly the final day of our warmer-than-usual early November period, I drove up to the conservation area at Hilton Falls in Halton Region.
As with the other Halton Region Conservation Parks I've visited (Rattlesnake Point and Kelso), so here too advance reservations are required to enter. Here's the reservation link again:
In common with the other parks, this one had an area of mown lawns surrounding the parking lot and the small visitor's centre located near the entrance, with washrooms. A gravelled path leads past these buildings up to the access road and then across the pavement to the woods. At once the path turns left and begins to climb -- and it's definitely a keep-your-eyes-on-the-ground path, liberally studded with rocks.
Of course, what you are climbing here is none other than our old friend, the Niagara Escarpment, which has figured in several of my adventures -- not only in the other Halton conservation areas but also in the provincial park at Mono Cliffs. Look around to the left as you climb and there, across the valley and Highway 401, is the high bluff at Kelso Conservation Area, on the north end of the Escarpment's Milton Outlier.
At the top of the last, steepest bit, the trail levels out.
The first hundred metres or so of the trail at the top of the hill are lined, along the left side only (odd), by multiple clumps of rounded boulders, coated with generous layers of moss. I wonder if these were rocks that were dug up and tossed off to the side during the work of levelling and widening the path.
It's ironic that a trail which has such a rocky start should actually turn out overall to be one of the easiest hikes I've taken in Escarpment country. As you wend your way northwards into the forest, the trail is broad and well levelled, with only minimal curves and hills to add variety.
This late in November, the winter phase of the forest's life is well prepared. The leaves are all down, except for a very few stubborn holdouts, and the bare trees actually admit more natural light than at any almost other time of the year. Only when the ground is covered with the reflecting coat of snow will it appear any brighter than it does now. Shorn of their foliage, the tree trunks become striking natural sculptures, silhouetted against the blue sky.
To no one's surprise, there are choices of trails to follow, as shown clearly on the trail map posted at the park entrance and also at a junction near the falls.
This close-up of the map shows only the southern one-third of the park, which extends much farther north and west out of my picture frame. I was following the yellow Hilton Falls Trail, the most direct route to the falls. I'll save the much longer Red Oak Trail for another visit when I am not so time-constrained by the Covid-related 2-hour time limit on visits. The round trip along the trail, with time to look around at the Falls, took me about 75 minutes.
This park also had better and more consistent use of trail markers and the numbered junction signposts than Rattlesnake Point, and far more comprehensive signage than Kelso.
As I arrived at the Falls proper, the first thing I noticed was the familiar sight of trees struggling to get a foothold on the staircase layers of rocks, and especially on the very brink of the canyon into which the falls tumble.
Hilton Falls itself turned out to be a lacy cascade, not much more than a mere thread of water, as you would expect this late in the year. The eroded rocks of the bowl around the falls, and the undercutting of the upper layers, show very clearly that there can be far more water falling over this rim during flood times and spring runoff.
I'll wrap up with a map showing the location of Hilton Falls in relation to the major towns and cities of southwestern Ontario.
Like all of the natural areas and parks which I've travelled to share with you in this series of posts, Hilton Falls is a beauty spot that would definitely repay future visits in any season of the year.
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