Hiking and exploring a waterfall at Hilton Falls

As the fall season comes to a close (although it is still awful warm here for December), I have been trying to find some fun adventures close to home. The Halton Agreement Forest and Hilton Falls happen to be a short drive away.

We decided to explore some of the agreement forest before continuing to the falls. The forest is beautifully groomed and an easy flat hike. It also has picnic areas along the trail with fire pits to keep warm in the winter weather. I imagine it would be lovely during a day of skiing or snowshoeing in fresh snow.

As much as enjoy flat trails, I also like exploring less maintained areas — it feels more like being in nature. The ‘side trails’ are perfect for this with narrower and winding paths. It started to snow while we were out, so the trails become slippy, but having walking sticks helped. These trails are easy to find on the maps within the forest and are marked with blue blazes.

Lastly we visited Hilton Falls. It is a smaller waterfall than some, but still a fun destination. The top of the waterfall also had a fire with lots of wood to stay warm.

Despite the cold weather, I decided to walk to the waterfall and get behind it. I am sure this would be very easy in the summer, but I was trying to stay dry in the weather. I put up my hood and accepted that I would get a bit wet before walking in behind the falls! It certainly is beautiful.

For the adventurous sort, you can follow a side trail back from the fire pit, climb a small incline and follow the river away from the falls. There is a bridge that crosses the river and allows you to hike back to the top of the falls on the opposite side. Its much less maintained, but is a different view from what most people see.

A nice place to visit for a few hours!