The South Outlier Loop Mono Cliffs Prov. Park

From the parking lot, head west on the Carriage Side Trail for about 500 m to reach the start of the South Outlier Loop Trail. It turns sharply to the left (south) to follow an old fence line and then climbs in a zig zag fashion to the top of the Outlier. Numerous crevices can be found at this north end of the outlier.



Outliers are islands of bedrock that have become detatched from the main Escarpment. Most of them are capped by hard dolostone, while the valley floors that separate the outliers from the Escarpment are underlain by softer Queenston shale.



As glaciers melt and retreat, large volumes of water flow off the glacier, creating meltwater channels. The Violet Hill Meltwater Channel charged though the Mono Cliffs area and deepened the valley between the main Escarpment and the outliers. The waters flowed down from the north between the Orangeville Moraine and the Singhampton-Gibraltar Moraine, eventually making their way to an earlier Lake Erie.



The outliers were likely already there before the Violet Hill Meltwater Channel came into existence, but the presence of the large volumes of water from this channel would have helped to deepen the valley and make the outliers more prominent. On top of the outlier, follow the Trail to the south; after 1 km it will join the white-blazed main Bruce Trail.



Turn left (east). After 800 m turn north (left) on the blue-blazed South Outlier Trail again. You will be crossing open meadows with good views of the surrounding area. The Trail then swings west through cedar bush to meet the descent of the outlier by which you initially reached the plateau. Return via this route to your car.

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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