Ball's Falls
Ball's Falls is just about an hour away from Toronto. We stopped here for a couple hours on our way to NY. Not going to lie: Its name is why we decided to check this place out- but our immaturity paid off because this place turned out to be an amazing find!
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We arrived at the park a little after 1:00, so we went to the picnic area to start a BBQ. We had called the park in advance and we were told that this was allowed. There are some great areas for a picnic, but we chose a spot right outside of the visitor centre (which closes at 4:00 PM), as it was really close to the parking lot (so carrying the cooler, portable BBQ, the baby etc. was easy), had some shaded areas near by, and was close to the bathroom with change tables (inside the visitor centre).
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Once we finished eating and packed the car back up, we began our hike to lower falls. This was much shorter than expected - it took about 20 minutes. The view of the falls was not all that impressive, however there were some old barns and mills that we passed on the trail that were quite interesting. Some of these structures are open to the public but we skipped this thinking we had a long hike ahead of us. We had Adam in the carrier for this, but it would not have been necessary. We would probably skip this next time.
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We then headed for upper falls. This was much more of a hike. The trail map of this was very clear and extremely easy to follow.
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We followed the path passed the pedestrian bridge and followed the twenty-mile creek along the cataract trail until the upper falls look out point. Along the way we passed the old mill ruins, which are marked on the trail
We got to the end of the trail and had a great view from the top of the waterfall. We decided to walk out a little to the top of the waterfall. The rocks looked dry and several people were doing this, so we figured it was safe. Technically this is not part of the trail as there is a wall that blocks you from going here, but it is easy to climb over (it is about waste-high), or there is a gap on your left (facing the wall) which has been made into an unofficial entrance to top of the falls.
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It was really worthwhile! We felt safe and it was a really awesome view!
The way back you can either follow the same trail back, or continue on the cataract trail, which is what we opted for. The trail was similar to the part of the trail that followed the twenty-mile creek, but offered new views of the falls. There was one spot that had access to the river slightly downstream from the waterfall, allowing for a really great view! We went slightly off trail and climbed the rocks in the river since the river was pretty shallow and extremely calm.
The entire hike (going to lower and upper falls, hanging out on the top of the falls etc.) took about an hour. It was a great, non-strenuous hike with beautiful views.
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There were a bunch of mosquitos around, but the baby outdoor cream we used on Adam kept him from getting any bites.