We all want to travel the world. Isn’t it an amazing coincidence that no matter where you live in the world, the rest of the planet is exotic and where you live is boring? That’s not true, of course. Even if you live in the middle of a wheat field in Saskatchewan, far from any measureable civilization, someone, somewhere in the world would consider a visit to your home a once in a lifetime experience.
In the spirit of ‘everyone’s home is an exotic location to somebody’, what follows are ten local gems within a two hour drive from my home. I would love to have you share your gems with It’s About Travelling – see details at bottom of this article. With a one year old and a lifestyle change, quite frankly a street scene in suburban Omaha, Nebraska would somewhat soothe my itch to travel.
Most of the links in the article go to either more indepth articles about that location here at It’s About Travelling or to videos by us at YouTube featuring that location.
Well, this one is fairly exotic to most of the world. Toronto has been slowly positioning itself with the big boys like New York City, Paris, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. This view is from the ferry terminal on Centre Island. Note the number of cranes. Toronto has more skycrapers on the go right now than any other city in North America.
Toronto Island is a short ferry ride from downtown Toronto and is a peaceful, natural oasis just minutes away from the hustle and bustle of Canada’s largest city. In the middle of the night, I have made it from downtown Toronto to my home in Orangeville in around 45 minutes. On many week days, it can take up to two hours to do the same drive.
It falls over the same escarpment as Niagara Falls and is located about 20 minutes away, yet Rockway Falls receives maybe a handful of visitors on a summer weekend. The main waterfall, shown in the image, is simply beautiful. However, it doesn’t stop there. The water cascades and plunges several more times downstream, cloaked in a canopy of green from the trees overhead.
Pine River Provincial Fishing Area is located about 20 minutes north of me, near Shelburne, Ontario. As you can see in the image, there is one season when this location excels. The bright autumn colours and the still water reflections can almost be blinding.
I periodically come to this location at night because it’s the closest decent spot void of light pollution where I can attempt star trail photography.
Right at the two hour drive limit is Muskoka High Falls on the Muskoka River just north of Bracebridge, Ontario. High Falls is off to the left and the smaller waterfall in the foreground is coming from Potts Creek.
What is amazing about this spot is that is located nearly right below one of Ontario’s busiest highways, yet most who pass by do not even know it exists. Even more amazing is that the little day-use picnic area next to the waterfalls is free to use and is mostly a rest area for travellers. Many pull in, use the washroom and don’t even venture over to see the natural spectacle.
Also stretching the two hour drive limit is Indian Head Cove within the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Along the rocky shores of Georgian Bay, this can obviously be a bather’s paradise. However, when the weather doesn’t co-operate, it can be downright nasty.
Typically, visitors camp at Cyprus Lake Campground and hike in about a half hour to Indian Head Cove. There are certainly more peaceful areas along the shoreline. Just a note – this is the same rock formation, the Niagara Escarpment, that creates Rockway Falls from above along with Indian Falls and Cannings Falls below.
Indian Falls is located just north of Owen Sound, Ontario. The base of the waterfall is easily reached by following the river bed upstream. Looking at the loose rock just below the band of reddish rock near the base of the waterfall, at that point you can walk entirely behind the veil of water.
Another look at the Niagara Escarpment with the Bruce Peninsula National Park. This is a rock scramble north of Halfway Log Dump. Indian Head Cove is actually not that far north of this location, either by hiking on top of the escarpment or swimming.
The constantly decreasing water levels of Georgian Bay are well documented. I’ve witnessed the levels drop several feet since the early to mid 1990’s.
The Dain City lift bridge is a reminder of a much busier past. The bridge is still in use by train traffic today but no longer raises. Why? It doesn’t need to. This portion of the Welland Canal was abandoned when a new by-pass was dredged out to avoid the city of Welland and provide a straighter passage for Great Lakes freighters.
Now, this portion of former canal is now used for recreation only. It is a world class rowing facility and is well used by anglers.
Just ten minutes from my front door is Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. The feature of the park is Churches Falls on the Credit River. Yet another Niagara Escarpment waterfall, Churches Falls is a plunge that has a long history of hydro-electric generation.
The ruins of the hydro-electric plant remain but are supposed to be off limits to visitors. The above image was taken from behind the waterfall. When water levels are not too high, one can hike upstream along the slippery loose rocks along the side of the river and actually climb right up in behind the waterfall. There is an open area that was once used for water diversion from the plant above.
Cannings Falls. A mediocre natural feature less than ten kilometres out of Orangeville. Why is it a gem? Because, officially, you can’t get there. Increasingly an issue of controversy between trespassers and local land owners, Cannings Falls is a gem for the simple reason that it is a real conquest to get to.
The above image was taken this past winter after snowshoeing up the Nottawasaga River from Hockley Valley Provincial Park.
Show us your local gems!
Please, send in your images of your local gems. It can be anything from an image or two that we can post on our Facebook Page or, you can send several with descriptions and we can turn it into a guest article. If you have a website or blog, we can promo and link up to that site through the guest article.
Remember, whether you’re from Paris, Tokyo, Wichita or even Orangeville, Ontario – your local gems are exotic to someone!
To connect or for more info, email me: tom@itsabouttravelling.com .
