Swayze Falls Trail – Short Hills Provincial Park

I ran a trail at Short Hills Conservation area in St. Catherines Ontario a few weeks back and really enjoyed myself. Today, I was looking forward to exploring a brand new trail there.

I had heard that there was a waterfalls in this park so when I saw this sign, I knew it was the trail for me.

There were quite a few hills along this route.

It was a nice trail but after running it for twenty-five minutes, I really started to wonder when I was going to see the waterfall.

I didn’t want to turn around but I wasn’t sure that this trail formed a loop. I knew that parts of the trail system here linked up to the Bruce Trail, which runs along the entire Niagara Escarpment. There was no way I was running that whole thing.

I really like how easy it is to follow the trails at Short Hills Provincial Park. Each one is numbered and has these yellow arrows to keep you on the trail and heading in the right direction.

Of course, I still didn’t know how far away the falls were. By this point, I had been running for just over half an hour. I was almost ready to turn around and head back since I didn’t know if this trail formed a complete loop.

We’ve had quite a dry summer, which certainly shows in the above picture. It looks like this bridge serves no purpose. I’m sure that’s not always the case.

Yes, I finally made it to the viewing platform for Swayze Falls.

Here’s some information about the falls.

Too bad they weren’t really flowing today.

This is what I was expecting to see. It was a little disappointing to have run so far, thinking that the waterfall would be my reward for putting in ten kilometers today, and all I found was a dried up pool. Oh well, at least I have the Internet and I found this photo of what I wished it had looked like today.

The trail did loop around and bring me right back to the start. I had stopped to take photos along the way and there were quite a few hills to slow me down, but I kept a good pace and figure that I ran about ten kilometers in all.

I hope you enjoyed this photographic tour.

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