Webster Falls

Hamilton sits astride the Niagara Escarpment and creeks crossing the edge produce over a hundred waterfalls within the city limits, which is why it markets itself as the waterfall capital of the world. Webster Falls is the showpiece: a curtain fall about twenty-two metres wide and high where Spencer Creek drops into the gorge, with a stone bridge and staircase built in the 1930s. Nearby Tew's Falls is a narrower ribbon of about forty-one metres. Crowding became severe enough that the conservation authority introduced mandatory advance reservations and paid parking, with enforcement, after years of illegal parking and cliff accidents.

What you actually see

• The curtain fall - a wide twenty-two metre drop into Spencer Gorge.
• The stone staircase - 1930s steps and bridge in the gorge.
• Tew's Falls - a taller narrow ribbon fall a short walk away.
• The escarpment gorge - the Niagara Escarpment cut by Spencer Creek.

When to go

April to June for meltwater volume and October for colour; flow drops considerably in late summer. Reservations must be booked in advance for peak season and are enforced.

Honest expectations

Advance reservation and paid parking are required in season, and turning up without one means being turned away. Flow is weak by August. Going beyond fencing has caused deaths.

Nearby

Dundurn Castle lies east; the Royal Botanical Gardens are northeast.