This post is about climbing the Devil’s Punchbowl water falls in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada (again). I actually did this when I was 12 years old as part of a youthful dare.
Boys will be boys. And then I grew up and forgot all about it.
That is until when my daughter visited Canada last year. 
Well, let’s just say that my daughter is not 12 and had no excuse to accept the same challenge that I had all those years ago. But it didn’t start out that way.
Let me rewind. My daughter, Jaz, was visiting and wanted to go on one of my legendary hikes on the Escarpment that I talked about when she was growing up in flat Florida.
No problem. We put on trekking shoes (it was November, cold and wet out), layers and drove to Battle Field Park (the legendary spot where the British Loyalists (Canadians) defeated the American rebel forces on June 6, 1813 (the deciding battle of the War of 1812).
Total Cost Range of this Activity is: Free
Free, free and free (ok, there is now a fee to park at the top of the falls, but Battle Field Park still has free parking).
Watch The Video
Video 237 coming soon…
Start the Hike
From the park we followed one of the many trails to the railway tracks, then the tracks west until we reached the well marked trail to the Devil’s Punchbowl water falls. A spectacular falls that rivals Niagara Falls, less volume;-)
At the base of the falls I told Jaz about my exploit way back when and she didn’t quite believe that I had been that dumb. To prove the point I asked her to follow me up a zig-zag route I devised up the steep slope. Sure there were a few precarious spots and we had to double back twice and sure she told me she was not comfortable and would rather turn back, but I explained that depending was actually harder than ascending when making a new trail, so on we soldiered. After all, I am her dad and she trusts me.
We See The Top
After one final steep push we reached a guardrail with a sign clearly instructing silly tourists not to cross the fences and descend to the bottom of the falls. I didn’t see any similar signs at the bottom warning hikers not to climb the cliffs incidentally.
She was mighty happy to have reached the top and told me she was never blindly following me again (she has said that often over the years) and then we hugged in victory.
We turned left and walked over to the lookout to admire the views and savor the adrenaline.
The descent was no problem since we could safely descend a groomed trail 150m east that I had neglected to tell her about when we were down in the bowels of the punchbowl.
Knowledge is King!