Niagara Escarpment in fall

This past weekend, my younger son came for a visit and helped me in the garden, cleaning up for winter. We decided after to take the dogs for a walk. I wanted to see what a nearby bit of the Escarpment was really like but was reluctant to go there on my own, not knowing what to expect.. I'd heard from friends that Metcalfe Rock was almost as spectacular as some of the other places on the Niagara Escarpment where rugged limestone cliffs are bared and become like sentinels watching valleys below.

In the above photograph, you can see the blazing in blue and white on some trees identifying  pathways to walk in this bewildering and very large tract of land - the blue ones signifying short circular side trails and white ones indicating the Bruce Trail which runs from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. In the photo's  background is the base of this particular cliff. We thought we'd go that far and see where to go next.

We began to climb - leaves everywhere on this rocky pathway. It was slippery. My son had Bliss on a leash and I had Spirit. I did not want to let the dogs go since I'm never sure when we're in a new place that they'll return with any kind of speed. They might find a deer, coyote, cougar, even bear scent and take off for hours. Also we wanted to respect other hikers who might not enjoy joyfully racing Labradors.

We had met a group of women who had been climbing and rapelling down the rock face on our way up so we knew we were going to see something rugged.

I loved the contrast between the many greys of the rock face and the gold, bronze and green of the tree leaves and mosses on rocks.

A different view.

Steps lead the way up and into the wilds on top of this piece of cliff. We follow.

Looking down into one of the smaller crevices. We come across many more and one actually separates the front of this cliff edge from the land behind by at least 50 feet...amazing. I don't want to go too close to any edges, specially with dogs that might get the scent of something and pull me into trouble.

After a brief exploratory, we return back to the base of the cliff and head for the car, determined to return one day and hike along at least two of the trails and more the next time. It was such a lovely mild afternoon, and checking out one more extraordinary part of this beautiful countryside was just the thing to finish a great day. Hope you enjoyed this short excursion into a special part of the Niagara Escarpment.