Unfortunately, a reality of living in canada is that it gets cold. The water freezes and we have to find something else to do with our weekend warrior hours. Every year we push the kayaking season just a bit longer but every year, that darn water freezes solid, once again. This year I have promised to embrace some new hobbies to get through the long winter months.
This series of trip reports will focus on those events. Want to hear a dirty secret? They are just as fun as kayaking.
After a long discussion that resembled picking a place to go to eat: “What do you feel like?” … “Oh, I don’t know, whatever you’d like”
We decided to do one of the many iconic hikes in my hometown of Hamilton. In the summer months, this place is an absolute zoo. The parking situation has become so bad, they had to start shuttling the masses in and out of the park from a remote lot. On a very unseasonably warm day in January, we had the place just about to ourselves.
Launch Spot?? Uhh Parking Spot?? Let’s call it our humble beginning:
Starting in the Webster’s Trail parking lot, we decided to head south on the trail towards the first waterfall. A note about this spot: Parking fees range from expensive to outright insanity. Be aware of them before you decide to do this trip. FEE PAGE
Well, that was a good start! Continuing along the path is very scenic, through the trees you can hear and catch glimpses of Tews in the distance.
After a about 30 minutes of hiking, we arrived at the next stop off point, Dundas Peak. At over 40 meters high, it is the highest elevation in Hamilton. There is a well marked trail and some very tempting spots for Instagram glory. I highly recommend you stick to the trail.
After some pictures and meeting some nice hikers, it was time to keep moving along. The trail got a bit confusing, to continue down the escarpment, you need to keep heading in the same direction. That sounds obvious, but the trail does a bit of a windy turn and forks. You will know if you were wrong when you hit a dead end, or end up back at the beginning. The hike down was pretty interesting, there is a giant concrete structure about half way down. Does anyone know what this was?
Then a really cool staircase.
After a short hike, we were faced with another decision: We could hike on a trail on the East or West side of the creek. We were trying to get to the base of Webster’s, so after a quick look at the map, we followed the trail that ran parallel to the train track and took the trail on the West side.
Once we were back on the trail, the scenery instantly went back into “wow” mode.
Trip Length:
The hike to the base and back was approximately 11km and took us 4 hours. We weren’t in any hurry and made a few wrong turns (plan for them.) It would be neat to go back on the East trail and see the base of Tews. It is unclear whether that is actually allowed.
Cost of the trip:
As stated above, there is a fee to park which can range from expensive to prohibitive. It’s certainly best to go in non prime time hours. I have a seasonal HCA pass and the parking meter wasn’t working the day we went, so we lucked out.
Notes:
Do not disobey any of the signs saying no trespassing. They are serious about handing out fines to hikers for putting themselves in danger. As well, there used to be stairs from the top of Webster’s into the gorge. They are closed, do not use them.
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