Thursday, October 22, 2020

Terra Cotta Conservation Area in the fall

This GTA park is located in the northeast corner of Halton Hills, right off of Winston Churchill Boulevard and just a kiss away from Caledon. The famous Bruce Trail cuts through this park with many other trails winding around the Terra Cotta Conservation Area. Part of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority parks, Google maps says this park is leafy and known for winter sports. When I visited the fall leaves were mostly yellow with the forest floor covered in a layer of fallen leaves.
The mixed forest contains a lot of maple trees, in fact you can see the trees are tapped using the flexible plastic hoses and buy some maple syrup in the visitor centre on weekends (closed now due to Covid-19).
Maple tree say collection using blue plastic tubing

Trail map

From the park's website, "Terra Cotta is a trail lover’s paradise. A variety of trails take visitors past the forests, fields, lakes and ponds of the Niagara Escarpment surroundings and let you experience natural settings, so close to urban and rural developments. The trails at Terra Cotta accommodate all levels of trail users, from beginner to expert with a variety of terrains and distances. Please note in the winter months Terra Cotta Lane and McGregor Spring Pond trail are designated for cross-country skiing only. Great loop trails for hiking and snowshoeing include the wetland trail and the AF Coventry trail." I love their trail map (you can find some maps in the field as well) as it identifies the routes along with names, colour schemes and the intersections, or stations are numbered. Along the trail you can find the markers showing the information so that you can find your way throughout the park.
Trail markers
The stairs to the Bruce Trail as it exits Terra Cotta

Rogers Creek, which feeds into the Credit River, features the Terra Cotta waterfall just northwest of the park, adjacent to the Bruce Trail (to the west) down a relatively steep valley trail. The 3m plunge falls is a low flow waterfall, but if you wait for spring flow it will probably be a little wet and hard to get down to the edge of the creek. You can find it by traveling about 5 minutes north of the park (from Point 15 at the ladder crossing, above) and at an intersection of another trail head down the valley bank towards the sound of flowing water.
Terra Cotta waterfall

See more of the Conservation Area after the jump.


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