Indian Falls

After that interruption to appreciate our snow, I wanted to take you to see Indian Falls.  Located just at the northwest corner of Owen Sound, I think it's one of the less appreciated waterfalls around here, but very beautiful nonetheless.

It's a straight drop about 30' down into the water below, and it's about 30' wide too.

You get there by following a nondescript trail along the banks of the Indian River from 3rd Ave. West or Grey Rd. 1, just south of Balmy Beach.

Halfway or more along the trail, it rises through the woods, past plentiful young beech trees still holding their yellow leaves, to a high level, the top of the geological formation the water falls over.

From here in spots you can look down and see the river, and the geological layers it's carving a ravine through, on the far side.

Before long you come out at the falls itself, plunging directly over those geological layers.

It's certainly a pretty waterfalls, but it's the geology that fascinates me, for this is a classic example of a waterfalls over the two lower layers of the Niagara Escarpment, the Manitoulin Limestone (the dark grey upper half) and the Queenston Shale (the two bluish and red lower layers).  Several waterfalls in the valley fall over exactly the same formations, though none of them show it off as nicely as here.

Looking down the gorge you see these layers very easily.  The hard gray upper layer of limestone is very slow to erode, and forms the waterfall, while the lower blue and red layers are soft and erode easily, leaving pieces of limestone above undercut and ready to fall into the river below.  10,000 years after the glacier, and you've got yourself a nice vertical waterfalls and gorge below.

I leave you with a final softer view of the falls.  I'll be taking a blogging break for a week ... or two ... or three while I have some lil' ol' heart surgery.  Wish me well in your prayers.