Escarpment Property Trails

Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Region is represented here by several properties forming a 110-hectare, three-kilometre ribbon along the Escarpment edge. RBG trails, and especially the Bruce Trail, link our local lands — collectively all these properties are a key part of the new Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System.

Trail Conditions

27 kilometres of trail include packed earth, crushed stone, asphalt and boardwalks; some sections are steep and hilly. Trails are not plowed or sandy during the winter. During spring thaws and after rains, earthen trails become muddy. Please take appropriate caution.

Current interruptions and Closures:

Trail Destinations

RBG’s Escarpment Properties are home to lots of interesting trails and lookouts! Here are 5 key destinations marked by number on the pdf map.

1. Escarpment Edge Lookouts

Following along the Escarpment edge, the many lookouts along the Bruce Trail reveal the last unbroken natural connection between Lake Ontario and the Escarpment. Much of this open space is part of the Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System.

2. Borer’s Creek Gorge and the Cedars

The impressive gorge has been carved by thousands of years of erosion. Old growth cedars were studied here in the 1980s/90s with the oldest being close to 400 years old.

3. Borer’s Falls

Located next to Rock Chapel Road, this 15-metre-high curtain waterfall is one of more than 120 waterfalls found in Hamilton. Borer’s Creek drains from Waterdown, winding its way to Cootes Paradise Marsh.

4. Geology Exhibit

Located 0.75 kilometre west of the parking lot on the Armstrong Trail, a 10-metre descent on a stair system takes you past labeled layers of escarpment rock formations.

5. The Disappearing Brook

At the end of Armstrong Trail a small brook emerges, or in fact reappears. It flows from the meadow above and disappears some 200 metres back from the Escarpment edge. This is a karst feature, formed when water dissolves limestone bedrock and creates underground passages.

6. The Orchards

At Berry Tract, a small orchard was planted in the 1930s. It is regenerating with native Ash, Hawthorne and Black Walnut trees. Deer frequent the area in autumn to eat the pears and apples, and use Red Cedar trees to rub the velvet off their antlers. Come take a hike in spring during blossom time!

Canada’s Biodiversity Hotspot

Royal Botanical Gardens’ 1,100 hectares is dominated by nature sanctuaries enveloping the western end of Lake Ontario. These form a Nodal Park within the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Region and the heart of the Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System. With more than 750 native plant species, 277 types of migratory birds, 37 mammal species, 14 reptile species, 9 amphibian species and 68 species of Lake Ontario fish, the area is an important contributor to ecosystems that span international borders.

About Rock Chapel

What’s in a Name?

Rock Chapel is named after a clapboard church built east of Borer’s Falls in 1822. The site was turned over to the Gardens in 1942, after originally being set aside in the 1920s as a potential gravel quarry. Berry Tract is named for Alfred Berry who bequeathed this former farmland to the Gardens for conservation purposes in 1965.

Early Residents

United Empire Loyalists settled Dundas and the first family to arrive, the Mordens, was granted land in the area. Morden House, located next to Borer’s Falls, was built in the 1790s next to the creek that powered their sawmill. The community of Rock Chapel sprang up along the road near the mill — it once included a buggy works, butcher, blacksmith, two general stores and its namesake church.

Vegetation and Microclimate

Its south-facing orientation gives Rock Chapel one of the warmest talus slopes along the Niagara Escarpment. Shallow soils, rock outcrops and numerous springs, create a diverse mixture of habitats that host a great variety of plants. Perhaps the best known are ancient White Cedars that cling to the face of the Borer’s Creek gorge. The oldest of these germinated in 1601!

Habitat Restoration

Natural succession of old farmland has taken its course in the Berry Tract, led by trees like Hawthorne, Black Walnut and White Ash. Plantations of Black Locust and poplar were added in the 1970s.