April 30 – Goldstream Provincial Park

Goldstream Provincial Park is about 15 minutes north of the RV park. Hwy 1, the main highway north goes right through it.

When we got there the parking lot was almost full, as it is Saturday, but I think most people were doing the more popular hike up Mount Finlayson.

We first hiked to Niagara Falls, then did a steep climb up to the E&N railroad trestle and then followed the Gold Mine Trail which went past an old gold mine before looping back to the car. At the bottom of the loop there was supposed to be a trail to Hidden Spring Falls but it was too hidden for us so we gave up. My GPS said we did about 5.6 km. One program on Jennie’s phone said we did 6.5 and another program said over 7 so we are not sure.

 

All the climbing was done between the highway and the trestle. After that it was all downhill which was VERY nice.

There are no marking on any trail in the park. I guess you have to have a map.

Also you park on the east side of the highway and the trail is on the west. There is no official walkway over it so rather than trying to run across between the cars the unofficial way to go through a drainage tunnel. I guess it can’t be official because sometime it is actually full of water.

Again no markings at the entrance. You just have to know or follow someone else.

 

The exit.

You can then walk alone the creek bed or a path along the side.

It was only a few hundred meters until you had to climb down.

And then around the corner is the western version of Niagara Falls. They are the same height as the eastern version but just slightly less water.

 

We then return along the creek to the culvert and started the steep climb up to the trestle. It never looks steep in the pictures.

Back at ya.

This our first bit of real climbing so there was a lot of huffing and puffing.

Almost there.

The side path to the trestle is another unofficial section because the trestle itself is private property but as you can see everybody goes out so I joined them.

It was rather scary out there as you could see all the way down between the ties. There was no way you could fall through but it sure felt like it.

You wouldn’t catch me sitting on the edge. It is a long way down.

I did go out on this platform to get the last picture.

This lady was really afraid of heights but wanted to go out. She never did look down.

We climbed back down the short way and continue on the Gold Mine Trail loop. It was not a hugely interesting trail. There were not many plants to look at. It just just a nice downhill walk through the tall trees.

We kept looking for the gold mine. We saw this side trail but it said that it had been a copper mine shaft.

I couldn’t imagine lowering myself down there.

Eventually we found the gold mine.

I went in a short way.

It was a horizontal tunnel that seemed to go a long way in. I only went about 10 feet.

Onwards.

When we got to the bottom we found what looked like the start of the small trail to Hidden Spring Falls but it petered out to nothing. We couldn’t see an obvious way to continue so we headed back.

The section from the bottom of the loop back to the car was along the highway. First we had to cross it. The Saturday traffic was pretty constant so it took a while to find a long enough gap.

Back near the parking lot we had a late lunch on the banks of the Goldstream River.

And then home.