Winter Walk on the Bruce Trail – Sherman Falls to Canterbury Falls

One thing we can say about this year is that the mild temperatures and low volumes of snow in this area have made this season very favourable for winter hiking. Early morning on Saturday, January 14 I headed out to explore the trails. Parking at the corner of Lions Club Road where it meets Old Dundas Road, I headed into the woods in the direction of Sherman Falls. This is a short walk and the fresh snow from the prior day gave the whole area a clean and bright look. Admiring the icicles forming on the rocks, this was the ideal spot for my morning coffee. Sherman Falls is impressive at any time of year, and at 17 metres high provides plenty of perspectives for photo taking. On this day I had decided to continue on the Bruce Trail with the goal of reaching Canterbury Falls which is a waterfall I had never visited before. To get there, I returned back in the direction I had come but now on the other side of the stream. Following the trail up the steep rock, I was soon at the top and walking through the woods deeper into the Canterbury Hills area. One of the great things about hiking in the winter is the quiet and solitude. With the exception of the sound of my boots crunching through the snow and the jingle of Rosie’s dog tags, the silence was perfect.

The air was crisp and the light snow cover made the green colour of the moss covered rocks really stand out.

The Canterbury Falls area really has two waterfalls, both of them being fed by a tributary of Sulphur Creek, which is also sometimes referred to as Canterbury Creek.

The first one you get to is called Little Canterbury Falls. This is a 5 metre (16 feet) tall ribbon cascade with a crest width of 1 metre (3 feet). It experiences its strongest flow during seasonal storms and after the winter snow melt.

The second and larger of the 2 is Canterbury Falls which is a 9.5 metre (31 feet) high terraced ribbon cascade with a crest width of 3.3 metres (11 feet). A wooden footbridge crosses the creek right at the crest of this waterfall providing an interesting vantage point for viewing. We spent some time here, enjoying the fact that we had the whole area to ourselves. After quietly watching a group of deer working their way through the valley, we headed back, making a mental note to definitely visit this area again soon.