Rockway Falls Side Trail

At the back of the parking lot, follow the white-blazed main Trail northeast along the edge of the steep river valley. To your left you will see Rockway Falls, where Fifteen Mile Creek tumbles 40 m over alternating layers of dolostone and shale. Continuing along the Trail you will soon meet the blue blazed Rockway Falls Side Trail.



The side trail continues alongside Fifteen Mile Creek and then turns west along a hydro right-of-way to cross Fifteen Mile Creek. Note that the Creek cannot be crossed during peak flow periods – use extreme caution. The side trail then climbs a hill to 9th Street, turns left and proceeds south to join the white blazed main Trail. Follow the main Trail to Rockway Road where you should take some time to view the Falls again, before returning to your car at the Community Centre.



Rockway Falls is 18.3 m high, with a plunge basin over 3 m deep at the bottom of the falls, eroded into the Irondequoit Dolostone Formation. Downstream about 70 m, a smaller falls has a height of about 5 m and a plunge basin about 0.6 m deep at the base. The water course then continues to surge over a series of rapids. Although not part of the Hike, the area has some interesting cultural history.



The remains of the Fifteen Mile Creek salt-well are located in the north-east part of Rockway Conservation Area, and date back to 1792. All records indicate that this was the first salt well to operate, for approximately 30 years, in this part of Upper Canada . The well was 15 feet wide, 5 feet high, 11 feet deep, and contained the best quality and quantity of salt in the province. Even in the 1940s, three gallons of salt water fed into the well every five minutes.

With file information from the Bruce Trail, for more information on this and other Bruce trails please purchase the Bruce Trail map and trail guidebook. The Bruce Trail is the oldest and longest marked hiking trail in Canada. It is 840 km long, with over 440 km of side trails. Every year more than 400,000 visits are made to the Trail as people walk, snowshoe, watch wildlife, take photographs and admire the glorious scenery of the Escarpment.



The Bruce Trail was instrumental in the Escarpment being named a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations in 1990 - one of only twelve such reserves in all of Canada. The Bruce Trail is a member of the Ontario Trails Council through affiliation with Hike Ontario.

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