Bruce Trail and Waterfalls-Ancaster,Ontario

Bruce Trail -- Starting at Wilson Street -- April 3, 2010 Total route was 8-10 km total and, of course, I did some ascending and descending. Today's hike: about 2.5-3 hours. Moderately easy, with a few trickier bits. Being Saturday morning Bus travel takes a little longer and requires a second transfer from the Mohawk West to Meadowlands Terminal to the Ancaster 16 to my starting point of Wilson and Old Dundas. From Wilson at Old Dundas Head north on Wilson St E toward Rousseaux St 800 m Turn right at Montgomery Dr 650 m Turn left to stay on Montgomery Dr 300 m. This will take you quickly to Tiffany Falls. 1. Tiffany Falls (Hamilton, Ontario) Follow the trail from the Tiffany Falls parking lot into the woods to the right of the creek bed. Two new bridges and a wide gravel pathway leads you to the falls. The creek bed rounds a corner and there is front of you is the impressive and pretty cascading Tiffany Falls with a new observation platform. There is a trail up the side of the gorge to the left of the falls that leads to another Tiffany Falls –the upper falls which has a height of 6.5 m and a crest of 7 m. This is a rather steep trail up and the trail is usually wet so be careful if you decide to view the upper falls. After viewing the falls retrace your steps to the parking lot. To access the main Bruce trail you need to cross busy Wilson Avenue. Be careful here! 2. Once across, take the short access trail down and go left on the main trail. This is an interesting section of the trail with some very rocky portions. You might see a few deer in the area. The trail comes out onto Old Dundas Road. Be careful crossing this road to pick up the main Bruce Trail on the other side. 3. As you leave the road and enter the Bruce Trail system once more, you can see and hear Sherman Falls ahead of you. The trail crosses a wooden bridge in front of the Falls. It’s a steep cascade with a wide ledge about two-thirds of the distance down. This is one impressive waterfall to explore. 4. Leaving the Falls, the trail climbs a dirt hill and follows along a fenced-off field and then goes back into the woods and follows the winding edge of the escarpment. I spotted these birds along the way. 5. Around a rock face there is another small waterfall (Canterbury Falls?) as the creek runs down into the gorge. 6. The trail meets a gravel pathway called the Heritage Trail and continues straight ahead. This trail is part of the Dundas Valley Conservation area series of marked trails. The trail comes to a corner, makes a right turn and then goes downhill and follows a small almost dry creek bed. At the bottom of the hill there is a small junction and the trail goes left crossing a small wooden bridge. Before reaching this bridge, Hermitage Creek flows down the side of the escarpment resembling more of a waterslide than a waterfall or a rapid. Hermitage Falls is a short distance further upstream.

Hamilton's Ghosts

The premise for this mural is bluntly, to illustrate how most everything wonderful in Hamilton core has been lost because property owners and politicians neglect city properties until they fall down on their own. The worst case's include the partial collapse of the Balfour Building—part of the historic Lister Block in downtown Hamilton. The rest was demolished. The Lister Block's future will probably be the same.

Panel One: Illustrates the beauty that Hamilton offers that people rarely see, the two oil on board paintings depict The Red Hill Creek in Stoney Creek and Spencer Creek in Dundas.

Panel Two: Illustrates the downtown core's slow demise into a wasteland for drugs, crime and dilapidation. The left pastel and chalk drawing represents falling education standards which I believe are directly influenced by declining government spending on education, meanwhile spending on bureaucracy continues to sky rocket. The right water colours include the aft mentioned Balfour and Lister Block as well as the Century Theatre, City Hall(under construction) and the numerous junk shops and shady borrowing companies along King and James.

Panel Three to Eight:The turn onto Barton St E and the start of a five mile journey down to the under construction Centre Mall. Five miles of forgotten buildings,closed factories,dead steel mills and a stadium frozen in time. For every store owner who gives a damn about their property their is two crack houses on either side.

Introspect throughout are reminders of neglected infrastructure and a Hamilton brand of justice that is suspect at times.

The entire mural was created using left over paint, recycled sketches and art supplies from previous works and even homemade glue using the following recipe.

Materials

* 3/4 cup water
* 1 teaspoon white vinegar
* Small saucepan
* Tin Can
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 3/4 cup cold water

Directions

1. Mix water and vinegar in tin can.
2. Place can in sauce pan of water bring to a full, rolling boil.
3. In bowl, mix cornstarch with cold water.
4. Add this mixture slowly to the hot mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture returns to a boil.
5. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
6. Let completely cool before using.

Later,
Kenaz

Rose of Sharon 2009

Rose of Sharon

2009

My Roses 2009

My Tulips and Daffodils 2009

Sorry but this years crop of Tulips and Daffodils where a complete bust. Firstly, it was another long cold winter with nothing happening well into May. Secondly, these are the only photos of one lonely Daffodil and a couple of tulips that I managed before some idiot picked them. The Roses and Rose of Sharon are looking promising thank god, I'll post those pictures later in the Summer.