This winter has been a non winter for Southern Ontario this year, with only one week of normal winter temperatures. In that week I hiked until I couldn't hike no more and took so many photos that this adventure almost fell through the cracks. I had forgotten totally about it until organizing memory cards.
The Devil's Punchbowl is a 121 foot tall ribbon waterfall located in Stoney Creek Ontario. Waterflow can vary drastically during the year, with summer months usually very dry and with no waterflow. But in the winter the ice formations can be quite incredible!
Hiking to the base of the falls starts on a trail that begins at train tracks and only minutes into the hike you will find the Lower Punchbowl Falls. A Overhang Classical Falls that stands at 20 feet tall. The great thing about this smaller waterfall is that you can walk behind it easily, well you can in the other seasons. Winter makes it tricky! It is very slippery but more than worth the trouble. Wind gusts create a "dragon scale" look to the ice behind the falls.
Once past the lower falls it is around a half hour hike to the main waterfall. As I approached, I was very surprised how much ice had formed in only a week of freezing weather! You can see the scale of the icicles in the photo with my friend standing by them.
Snow began to fall quite heavily as we reached the base, which made taking photos a little difficult and I had many that couldn't be used because of snowflakes on the lens. But the ones that didn't have any are stunning!
