Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A Frozen Webwood Falls

I did make my destination yesterday, heading down Sideroad 25 to find Webwood Falls.  This was a very short but challenging snowshoe walk, as no-one had been in to the viewpoint over the falls, and I had to find my way through very deep snow - after climbing the 4 foot snowbank.

Sideroad  25, with a view of the west side of `Blue Mountain` and a completely frozen Georgian Bay in the distance.

Here`s the totally frozen Webwood Falls, just a huge pile of ice where Fairmount Creek drops over the edge of the Manitoulin escarpment and starts carving a deep ravine downstream.  No sound nor sight of running water.

It`s a difficult waterfalls to photograph at the best of times because of the trees in the way - this would be the best viewpoint if it weren`t for the trees.  And those little branches play havoc with your auto-focus too.

I did manage to tramp around to another safe spot behind some trees and lean through to get this photo.  A better photo would require descending the ravine, the sides of which are far too steep to allow this safely.  Someplace under that ice water is running.

Like all these waterfalls I`ve described, there was an old mill here years ago.  There are two bits of stone wall remaining, shown here, just above the falls.

On the other hand, the stream above the falls was still partly open and running.  I could hear it gurgling away as I climbed another snowbank to get this picture.

And down in the ravine there was at least a little open water, so I know that water is flowing over the falls.  In this view you  can see the steeply-sloped ravine this creek has carved.  In fact this waterfalls is geologically different from the three previous ones I`ve featured the past few days.  They all fall over the Amabel dolomite, and then tumble gradually downstream.  But this falls tumbles over the Manitoulin formation, and then carves a ravine through the highly erodable Queenston Shale formation below - the result is a much more steep-sided valley.

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15 comments:

  1. Beautiful shots! What a winter it has been for falls like this one.

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  2. Wow, amazing landscapes which i haven't been gifted yet the chance to experience. I love waterfalls and sometimes take long distances just to photograph them here in the country. But looking at them as frozen static white stuff is maybe an unusual experience. Oh how i wish to see them too. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Wonderful shots of the falls. Such interesting topography in your area.

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  4. Oh the things we go through to photograph waterfalls! :) Love all the snowy winter scenes.

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  5. Thanks for the marvellous pictures and the short geology lesson. A shame about the vegetation getting in the way. Presumably in summer, with the leaves on the trees, it's almost invisible.

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  6. Gorgeous scenes. The silence of a snow-covered landscape can be amazing!

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  7. It looks like a difficult falls to photograph, that's for sure! Good for you for getting out & about in spite of the weather!

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  8. Wonderful photos ! We have an old concrete half building an old mill in the swampy area of the valley near our river . Thanks for sharing , Have a good day ! Spring is coming mild and rainy here yesterday mild again here today !

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  9. Love to imagine the way it was when those walls were first built. Waterfalls are calming to listen to when not frozen.

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  10. I would have loved to tramp around with you as you took those pictures. It's a challenge, but the results are worth it. :-)

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  11. Nice place to 'tramp' around in your snowshoes taking pictures. You took some real beauties.

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  12. Great images of a fall I saw when it was flowing. Can hardly wait for that to happen again!

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  13. Really pretty winter scenes with blue skies. I think I told you what somebody gave me some snow shoes as I can't manage the cross country skis anymore. But..wow.. Even with my ski poles, I couldn't get the walk correct and ended up falling again and again so....I don't think they are for me but my husband is using them....Michelle

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  14. You are intrepid in finding all these falls for us!

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