Walter's Falls [Waterfall in Grey County, Ontario]

Walter's Falls is a small double plunge waterfall on the Bighead River in Ontario. A somewhat confusing location, here's what you need to know if you’re wanting to visit!

Next up on our tour of Waterfalls of Ontario? Walter’s Falls.

During a recent camping trip to Meaford Memorial Park, we took a few day trips out to explore some of the waterfalls in Grey Bruce County, and the Owen Sound area, specifically.

I’ve already posted about Hogg's Falls and Eugenia Falls Conservation Area, the two we covered on our first trip out - about 30 minutes south of Meaford.

The next day, we went to two more - Walter’s Falls, and Webwood Conservation Area. These were more like 20 minutes away from our campground.

The Niagara Escarpment is LOADED with waterfalls to explore, and some pretty amazing hiking opportunities to go with them.

Walters Falls popped up on a few recommendation lists, so we decided to check them out.

Unlike most of the falls we’ve visited, these aren’t part of a Conservation Area, Provincial Park, or even Crown Land - they’re located on private property.

The Falls Inn is a popular wedding venue in the town of Walter’s Falls, and also serves as a destination for those interested in chasing waterfalls.

Spoilers: This was a bit of a weird setup.

Anyway, let’s tell you all about it!

About the Falls

Walters Falls is a relatively small cascade plunge - a double plunge waterfall, more specfically.

Located on the Bighead River, they're about 14 metres high, and a total of 15 metres across.

The falls are named after John Walter, who built a sawmill at the location in the mid 1800s.

The saw mill has long since burned down, but Walter's Woolen Mill - from the same time period - is still on the site.

The Basics:

Location Name: Walter’s Falls
Address: The Falls Inn & Spa, 140 Front St W. Walters Falls ON, N0H 2S0
Website: The Falls Inn & Spa
Price: Free
Reservations: Not Applicable.

4 part image showing the remnants of what was a sawmill. — Remnants of the Mill... I think?

Logistics

Due to the nature of the location, the logistics are a bit weird for this waterfall. Some information for you:

Parking

The vast majority of parking on-site is for hotel guests only.

Signs in the parking lot directs you to “Grey Road 29 @ bridge out sign” ... which is utterly unhelpful information to anyone not from the area.

Googling afterward, we found that there are a few spots for trail parking at Grey Road 29 and the Holland Sydenham Townline - not sure if this is the same lot mentioned on the parking lot signage.

That said, there are a few spots for waterfall visitor parking, near the entrance to the hotel parking lot - these spots have a 15 minute time limit.

Maps and Signage

I’ll get more into this in a bit, but the maps and signage in this area are basically non-existent.

There’s the frame of a board where I’m assuming signage or a map once existed, but there’s nothing in it.

Google maps was no help - the trails don’t show - so we eventually ended up opening the Pokemon Go app, to figure out where we were going.

It’s honestly wild, how many times that game ends up coming to the rescue in the absence of trail maps!

An empty trail sign structure. — Nice "signage"?

Connectivity

We had decent cellphone coverage in the parking lot, at the falls, and on the short segment of trail we were on.

Accessibility

Pretty much nothing here is wheelchair accessible, with the possible exception of the actual observation deck. More or less an enjoyable view over the falls, but not a great view of the falls themselves.

The trails aren’t wheelchair accessible, and would be pretty difficult for anyone relying on any kind of mobility aid.

Pets

From what I can tell, the hotel does not permit dogs on this trail, or in the waterfalls area.

There are no portapotties, vault toilets, or any other public washroom facilities on the trail or at the falls.

If washrooms are going to be an issue, you’re probably best off to buy lunch at the Inn, and use their washrooms.

Viewing Platform

A smallish viewing platform extends over the falls, and is apparently open to the public year round.

Walking out over it gives you a decent view over the falls - and down into the gorge below.

You can also take a narrow - mostly overgrown - trail down from the parking lot, to see the falls from under the raised platform.

2 part image showing a metal catwalks and platform over Walter’s Falls, from a distance. — The viewing platform.

Miscellaneous

Because the falls are on private property, visitors are expected to stick to the marked trails only, and respect the privacy of hotel visitors.

Also, fishing, picnics, and swimming aren’t allowed along the trail or on the property in general.

Finally, while several sources mention that you can access the base of the falls, signage at the hotel says that this is not the case. Given that it’s their property, that’s the information I would go with.

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Activities

Due to the nature of the property, activities are fairly limited. With the river and waterfall on private property, swimming and fishing aren’t options, and the trail really isn’t appropriate for cycling on.

That said, here’s what you CAN do:

Hiking

The hiking situation is a bit weird here. The trail is actually a side trail of the Bruce trail - The Walter’s Falls Side Trail.

Bruce Trail Conservancy lists the side trail as being 2.1 km long, but pretty much everywhere else calls it a 4.5km loop

We didn’t do the whole trail, for multiple reasons - let me walk you through our experience.

To start off, we did two quick walks, to explore a small amount of the trail on either side of the waterfalls.

For the sake of clarity, we’re calling them “left trail” - to the left as you’re facing the falls from the parking lot / hotel - and “right trail” - the trail as it extends to the right of the waterfall, behind the hotel.

Left Trail

The left trail was the more obvious of the trails, starting with a wide foot bridge that leads to the other side of the river.

To the left is a small waterfall, and to the right, the stream continues to the main waterfall.

We just wanted to take a quick look, to see if we wanted to do a more major hike, and move to the longer term parking.

On this section of the trail, we found it really overgrown. The path was very narrow, the grasses were waist to chest high, and recent rain had left it all very wet.

So, altogether not the most pleasant walk that day. We turned back fairly early on, and decided to check out the other side of the trail.

We headed back to the actual falls, to find the other side of the trail.

4 part image showing a wooden walking bridge, and some VERY overgrown trails. — The trail, straight out from the parking lot.

Right Trail

Due to the utter lack of signage, we had to load up Pokemon Go to find where the trail continued.

It led us behind the hotel, past an area that said it was employees only (We think that meant the actual enclosure it was on.)

This ABSOLUTELY felt like we were going somewhere we weren’t supposed to, but everything we saw online confirmed that yes, the trail continued in that direction. Behind the hotel was really the only way that made sense.

Just when we were about to give up and get out of there, we saw what appeared to be a trail sign on the edge of the woods up ahead.

2 part image showing the back of a hotel, and a small grassy area with a hidden trail and small sign way in the background. — Definitely felt like we were possibly trespassing.

From that point, things were much more obvious... for a bit.

A trail in the woods, with some trail signage on a tree in the foreground. — Once you get down that boardwalk, it gets a little more obvious... for a while, anyway!

We took a nice - but short - walk through the woods.

Pretty quickly, the path became less obvious. We couldn’t tell if the blazes were telling us to go up and to the left and forward, or to take a pretty well-worn trail down to the left and looped back.

The trail down seemed more well traveled, so we figured that was the right option, and we climbed down over a rocky embankment.

Fun, but a bit challenging as it was a little wet/slippery.

It was a gorgeous area, but we soon noticed that we weren’t seeing any trail blazes anymore.

Still not sure if we missed them, or if we just weren’t where we were supposed to be, but we decided to get out of there, just in case.

At this point, we were running low on our 15 minute parking, so gave up and headed back to the car.

Maybe the trail is more obvious if you’re coming from the main Bruce Trail, but it was getting really hot and muggy.

We were already frustrated from the lack of signage / general weirdness, that we elected to move on to the next waterfall, rather than move to the longer term parking to explore the trail any more.

Plus, there were a number of other waterfalls - more impressive falls - out there, yet to see!

Birding, Wildlife, and Nature

It might have been a matter of the weather, but we didn’t see - or hear - much of the way of birds during our visit to Walter’s Falls.

We saw: American Crow, American Robin, Song Sparrow,

We heard: Cedar Waxwing, Indigo Bunting, Trumpeter Swan*

* The app heard the swan, we didn’t. Unless there was a pond behind the hotel or something, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the location?

Niantic Games

There was only one Pokestop / Ingress portal that we saw... but we were definitely focused on trying to figure out where we were going.

That said, the Niantic map - Pokemon Go, specifically - was a big help in trying to find out where the trail went, to the right.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I’d give this one a pass, entirely.

Well, I suppose if you’re staying - or enjoying brunch at - the Inn, it would be worthwhile to check out the falls.

Otherwise, this was just underwhelming, especially when you factor in the logistics, trail condition, and just the general weird vibe.

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who don’t mind trespassing, but I really wasn’t a fan of feeling anxious the whole time, wondering if we were going somewhere we weren’t supposed to be.

Honestly, even if you discount the weirdness... the view of the falls itself really isn’t fantastic.

It’s a nice amenity for a hotel, but I don’t really see it as being a destination unto itself.