Webwood Falls

Yesterday was probably the last day of real winter around here, as the temperature is supposed to rise into the teens, and stay above freezing all week.  I think early spring has sprung!  The day dawned bright and sunny, so I headed out to get the last of the winter waterfall pictures I wanted before the ice melted and the winter pictures disappeared.

Webwood Falls is a beautiful little falls on a small stream that flows over the Manitoulin dolostone here, dropping down into the Queenston Shale and eroding a very steep-sided ravine downstream.

The top half is dropping straight down over the dolostone; the bottom half is eroding into the shale, giving a bit of interesting variety to this waterfall.

Geologically it forms the classic bowl shape of all the waterfalls formed by the Manitoulin dolostone around here; it's one of the main layers in the escarpment and forms several waterfalls you can see along the Bruce Trail.  Even though there was once a mill here, sitting right beside the waterfalls on the right, the ravine is full of trees now, and in the summer you don't get a very clear view of the falls.  Another large tree has fallen in the gorge this winter.

If you look carefully, you can see that some of what you might think is falling water is actually a curtain of ice behind the falling water.  It's quite a small little stream.

This property was donated to the Bruce Trail, and was named by the donor after his mother (who was a Webster), and his father (who was a Horwood).  Locally the creek is known as Fairmount Creek, flowing downstream out of Fairmount Wetlands.

I wonder if there's a big mound of ice under there, or a big pile of rock?

This falls has been added to the Grey County tourism office pamphlet 'The Waterfalls of Grey County', so I expect it will get a lot more visitors in the future, and a viewing platform will be built this summer.  The slopes are extremely steep and dangerous, especially in the winter, so you need to stay above the slope to get pictures.

The falls is found right on a sharp bend in Sideroad 25, east of Grey Road 7.  But the bend interrupts visibility completely, so you need to park well before the bend and walk.  It is right on the main Bruce Trail, on the east side of the road.

I've been suffering from a severe case of cabin fever; in fact I'm going stir-crazy after nearly two weeks of being under the weather and staying indoors.  This really helped calm me down for at least one day.  I got to two other waterfalls as well.

I've also been practicing my bird photography a bit which helps keep me sane, even it it's not getting me out (shooting from the bathroom window or the deck).  A few of those tomorrow.

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