Devil's Glen Provincial Park
This tiny (61 hectare) park located between Singhampton
and Glen Huron includes a steep-sided bedrock gorge that was carved
into the Escarpment by the Mad River.
The Mad River trail (a side branch of the Bruce Trail)
goes down into the picturesque gorge. Hikers descend through a cedar
forest with some very large trees, which gives way to a deciduous
forest in the lower reaches of the valley. All along this trail,
the red clay of the Queenston shale is strongly in evidence.
The trail ends at the The Mad River, a babbling, shallow
stream overhung with cedars, its banks lined with ostrich ferns.
Several rare ferns, including Hart's-tongue fern, smooth cliffbrake
fern, northern holly and green spleenwort, grow further up the slopes.
A tributary of the larger Nottawasaga, the Mad River is a cold stream
which provides ideal habitat for brook trout.
For more information, visit the Ontario
Parks website.
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Glen Huron, Dunedin and Creemore
Near Nottawasaga Lookout there are three small towns
worth visiting. Glen Huron has a historic, water-powered feed mill
and a beautiful setting on the Mad River. Dunedin, located nearby
on the Noisy River, has an operating forge and an artist's studio.
Creemore is an elegant old town with beautiful architecture and
tree-lined streets. It is the home of Creemore Springs Brewery and
a few good restaurants. Creemore Springs offers half-hour brewery
tours.
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Hockley Valley Provincial
Nature Reserve
The 400-hectare Hockley
Valley Provincial Nature Reserve
is not developed for recreational uses other than hiking, but the
Bruce Trail and other trails through the property offer some spectacular
scenery through hardwood forests, into deep valleys, and across
countless creeks and streams. There are no visitor facilities, but
Hockley Valley provides good opportunities for hiking and nature
appreciation. There's a long loop that takes five hours, and a short
loop that can be hiked in just two hours.
To get to Hockley Valley Provincial Nature Reserve,
take Highway 10/24 north of Orangeville and turn east on Hockley
Valley Road. Park in the lot at Line 2 EHS Mono, and take the trails
into the park from there.
After a hike, you can tour the 15-kilometre-long Hockley
Valley by car. The Nottawasaga River runs through the Hockley Valley,
and County Road 7 runs along the river. It was once an Indian trail,
and later a settlement route.
The Hockley valley cuts through both glacial drift
and the bedrock of the Niagara Escarpment. Watch for outcrops of
Queenston shale in the road cuts, and in the banks of the Nottawasaga
River near the village of Glen Cross.
Kames are another interesting glacial feature to look
for in this area. Kames are symmetical cone-shaped hills that formed
when glacial meltwaters dumped their loads of sand, gravel and silt
into piles. Watch for a group of these small hills on the north
side of Hockley Valley Road, about 1 km west of Glen Cross.
Hockley Village is a little town that time seems to
have passed by. The building that was the village's hotel and general
store in 1837 is still in operation today, as an inn and tea room.
Hockley Village also has another small inn, antique and craft shops
and galleries.
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Mono Cliffs Provincial Park
Mono
Cliffs Provincial Park is one place in Simcoe-Dufferin where
the Niagara Escarpment does put in a dramatic, through brief, appearance.
The dominant features of the park are three Escarpment outcrops
known as the Mono Rocks. Their sheer, dolostone cliffs, fractured
by crevice caves and fissures, rise above the surrounding glacial
drift. Two of the hills are outliers; they were once part of the
Escarpment, but became separated from it through millions of years
of erosion. The Violet Hill Meltwater Discharge Channel furthered
the erosion when it thundered through the park around 15,000 years
ago, carrying a torrent of glacial meltwater.
The Violet Hill Meltwater Discharge Channel was a
major influence on the landscape in the Simcoe-Dufferin section
of the Escarpment. Geologist Walter Tovell has suggested that this
post-glacial river deserves special status as a "Pleistocene Heritage
River".
After the ice (and the meltwaters) receded around
ten thousand years ago, Mono Cliffs Provincial Park was a boreal
forest of jack pine and balsam fir, inhabited by mammals that today
live nowhere near Dufferin County. In 1990, scientists found the
bones of a pika, a small rabbit-like mammal, in a cave in the park.
Today, pikas live in high elevation talus slopes of the Rocky Mountains,
but around 8,670 years ago, soon after the glaciers disappeared
from southern Ontario, they lived along the Escarpment.
Though Mono Cliffs is a relatively small park (750
hectares), its botanical wealth has made it a haven for researchers.
The park is a study site for old-growth eastern white cedars that
grow along the Escarpment. It also has 46 species of ferns, making
it one of the richest fern sites in Ontario. The North York Board
of Education operates an outdoor education centre adjacent to Mono
Cliffs Provincial Park.
To get to Mono Cliffs, take Hwy 10/24 north from Orangeville.
Turn right on County Road 8 at Camilla and continue to the park
entrance just north of Mono Centre.
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Nottawasaga
Lookout Provincial Park
A well-worn trail takes you out to Nottawasaga Lookout
and the Singhampton Caves. These are crevice caves: deep, narrow
fissures that are open to the sky. They were created when huge blocks
broke away from the cliff face. Mosses and liverworts create a moist
green carpet on the cave walls, and 27 species of ferns have been
recorded here. The caves are easily accessible to anyone wearing
running shoes or hiking boots. The Bruce Trail Conservancy is trying
to rehabilitate areas that have had too much traffic. Please obey
the signs.
Nottawasaga
Lookout is operated by Ontario Parks. This provincial park presents
a commanding view of Blue Mountain to the north, and of Georgian
Bay and Christian Island. With its mature deciduous forests, including
a row of venerable old maples along the path into the caves, this
spot is especially beautiful in the fall.
To get to Nottawasaga Lookout, take Highway 24 north
into Singhampton. Where the highway turns off to the east in the
village, continue straight north to the end of the road. There is
parking for a few cars where the road ends. The caves are 0.4 km
north along the blue-blazed Bruce Trail side trail that continues
in the same direction as the road that brought you here. (If the
parking spots are taken, turn left on the unpaved road, and take
the next two rights into another small parking lot.)
Just north of Singhampton, on the way to Nottawasaga
Lookout is the highest point on the Niagara Escarpment. Near Edward's
Lake, the elevation is 546 metres above sea level.
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Pine River Fishing Area
At the Pine River Fishing Area, there is a large pond
for fishing on the main river and two artificial ponds along the
side of the river. Make sure you have an Ontario fishing licence
before trying your luck. The season runs from the last Saturday
in April to the end of October.
You can also enjoy watching fish fighting their way
upstream to spawn. Rainbow trout use the fish ladder at this site
from late April to early May; brook trout use it from early to mid-October.
To get to the Pine River Fishing Area, take the Pine
Valley Road off Hwy. 124. En route, you will pass by the village
of Horning's Mills. Stop and read the historic plaque in this small
village that seems to breathe history.
A century ago, Horning's Mills was a supply centre
for the surrounding area, and over 300 people lived here. Endless
supplies of logs from the surrounding forests kept the sawmill busy.
The remains of the sawmill can still be seen on the banks of the
fast-flowing Pine River where it runs through the village.
Horning's Mills also had an electrical generating
station on the Pine River. At one time, electricity from Horning's
Mills powered the towns of Shelburne and Orangeville.
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Ruskview
Ruskview, a crossroads hamlet high in the Mulmur Hills,
has been described as "the most scenic of the Escarpment's ghost
towns". It earned this reputation because of its spectacular long
views down over the Pine River Valley. If you are touring by car,
pull over at Ruskview and enjoy one of the Escarpment's least known
but most magnificent vistas.
To get to Ruskview, take Hwy 124 (formerly 24) north
from Horning's Mills. At Redickville, go east on County Road 21
to Ruskview.
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