I paid money to visit more than one cave system over the past half year, or so. Lockport Cave, along with Lewis and Clark Caverns were both well worth the money. I visited another cave this summer that wasn’t advertised and didn’t cost anything over top the price of day use admission to Canada’s National Park system (with a season pass, it didn’t cost me a thing).
Near the tip of Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula is Bruce Peninsula National Park. The highlight is Cyprus Lake camground, the Grotto and Indian Head Cove. A little further south is the day use area of Halfway Log Dump. Not long ago, this was found by traveling down a long, narrow, winding dirt road to a simple parking lot. From the parking lot, there’s about a kilometre walk to Georgian Bay. From that point, you can find the caves shown below by a couple of routes.
The thing is, when I first visited this site, there was no fee to park and there were few visitors, even at the height of the summer. Now, there is a standard day-use charge and the place is crowded by 10am in the summer. Like everywhere around North America, it seems, this place is getting exploited and over-used. In 2017, things will get much more crowded with no entrance fees to all National Parks in Canada.
Images of Bruce Peninsula Cave Point
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
Halfway Log Dump and Cave Point
The thing is, the caves aren’t part of any official trail map. There are no signs, or well-groomed trails, leading the way. However, there are no signs telling you not to go there. I mark that up as some kind of gray area adventure. To avoid exploitation, we’ll show you the images but, as for absolute directions, you need to find your own way.
I will tell you this, though, the caves can be accessed from the Bruce Trail that runs on top of the Niagara Escarpment, north of Halfway Log Dump. The caves can also be accessed from the rocky shores of Georgian Bay, a challenging scramble from the ‘beach’ at Halfway Log Dump.
I mentioned above that I had visited a couple of cave systems in the United States this year. Lockport Caves is man made and Lewis and Clark Caverns is a two hour guided tour. By no means do these caves along the Bruce Trail compare to the other two. You will not need helmets, lights or any special equipment. Yet, these caves are beautiful and definitely a sight to see.
2017 Free Entrance To Parks Canada
In 2016, we visited Jasper National Park, Banff National Park, Kootenay National Park, Bruce Peninsula National Park and Wood Buffalo National Park. With the exception of Wood Buffalo, all were an over-crowded mess. Wood Buffalo was an overcrowded mess, just with bugs and not humans. On one mid-week visit to Bruce Peninsula, we were turned away for day-use at the main Cyprus Lake area and barely got a parking spot at Halfway Log Dump.
In 2017, the entrance fee to all of Canada’s national parks will be free. I can’t see this being a good thing. I know for a fact, I will be taking the year off from these parks and finding adventure elsewhere. Unfortunately, this includes Fundy. Tentatively, there is a greater family visit to the maritimes planned to visit my father’s station during the Second World War. Normally, a stop in Fundy National Park would be in order. I just can’t see that happening this time around.
Luckily, the rather expensive season pass that I bought in Jasper is actually good through 2018 because of the free year.
