On July 30th we drove 30 minutes from our cottage to hike the trails in Warsaw Caves Conservation Area in Warsaw, Ontario. Unfortunately the caves were closed because of social distancing, but the kettle trail and scenic trail were open.
The Warsaw Caves were formed thousands of years ago at the end of the last ice age. The deep, swift, glacier-fed river shaped the landscape found within the conservation area, leaving behind caves, kettles, limestone cliffs and ledges, underground channels and other interesting natural features.
When starting out on this trail, I had no idea what to expect. We were disappointed for sure about missing out on exploring the caves, but the area itself held a lot of promise for an interesting hike. Thankfully Cilla and I both had a proper night sleep so we were able to function on a more human level. It was like night and day with Cilla—she was no longer wondering around like a zombie, but running ahead, full of energy and excitement.
We headed into a beautiful forested area where there were lots of limestone rocks to navigate as well as exposed tree roots and it wasn’t long before Cilla took a bad tumble and bashed her knee on a boulder. She had a huge bruise to show for her troubles the next day. She spent the next few minutes crying hysterically while we tried calming her down. Some hikers saw our predicament and patiently sat on the rocks and waited her out until they could safely pass.
Once we convinced Cilla that she was okay and she realized that she wouldn’t bleed to death from her minor injury, we continued our walk. Along the trail we had some beautiful views of Indian River. You can swim, canoe and fish on the river, which many people were doing today. The variety of fish in the river include perch, sunfish, and smallmouth bass.
There was a small footbridge at the point where the river disappeared underground. We could hear it rushing around in the underground channels, but not see it until it emerged once again several hundred metres away.
As we crossed the bridge we had beautiful views of the river on both sides. There were people swimming and Dottie decided she too would take a dip in the water.
Sometimes the path was hard to find because it was large slabs of rock and no actual defined footpath.
With the topography being so diverse, Cilla had a great time jumping onto the limestone slabs, skipping over the tree roots and running through the trees. She was excited about what might be around the next corner and you couldn’t hold her back.
Just before we reached the kettles, 2 little girls came running toward us on the trail very excited about what they just saw. We were careful to keep our distance while the girls spilled out their exciting tale about climbing through holes and into caves. A few minutes later, their parents came along and told us where we could find the kettles.
Kettles are round depressions in the bedrock that were formed when granite stones trapped in the river current were spun around in place, grinding their way into the underlying limestone. When we got to the site we almost immediately spotted the huge round one that went to the bottom of the ravine. There were also a number of smaller ones, but they weren’t as impressive.
The erosion of the limestone created many caves, cliffs, valleys and surprisingly steep vistas. We had to be careful of our footing and make sure Cilla paid attention to her surrounding so that she didn’t step into a large crevice or fall off the cliff.
After having our fill of exploring the kettles, we continued our hike on the lookout trail. This part of the trail took us on a loop where we walked through a forest of cedar trees and through meadows.
The first time we reached the scenic lookout there was already a couple there having a picnic, so we decided to keep going with the hope that by the time we looped back they would be gone. Our instincts were right and when we reached the lookout for the second time we had the view and picnic space to ourselves. We marvelled at the 30 m view of Indian River below, then sat down at our picnic table and ate our sandwiches. A chipmunk decided to tease Dottie and we had a good laugh while it jumped tree to tree while seemingly laughing at her, driving Dottie absolutely batty.
The one thing that marred the whole experience somewhat was the amount of discarded cigarette butts polluting the forest floor. I will never understand people who go into nature, marvel at its beauty, then light up a cigarette and drop the butt on the ground, like it will just magically disappear. Please, take your garbage with you!
I love dead trees, and these two looked quite the pair, branches outstretched as if ready to receive a giant hug, their vulnerability laid bare for all to see.
On our way back we ended up taking a detour to the falls. It was luck really, as we had lost our way and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves among large slabs of limestone that we clearly hadn’t traversed before. Water only rarely flows over the giant limestone boulders now, but you can see clear evidence of the erosive power of the huge volume of glacial meltwater that coursed through this channel thousands of years ago. It was pretty amazing. Some of the gaps were so large and steep I needed to help Cilla climb over them.
We all really enjoyed this trail and once the pandemic is over we will come back and explore all 7 caves that we were unable to this time.
Of course our day wouldn’t be complete without a swim in the lake. After we returned to our cottage we grabbed our beach towels and headed to the water to cool off.
The next day we made our way home. While we were only gone for 3 nights, it was the first time we had left the safety of our 4 square walls since the pandemic started and it was a welcomed change.
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