Ontario's Outdoor Activities: August 2012

Although it has been a while since I have blogged anything, it is not because I haven't done anything. On the contrary it seems like this past year has just flown by. In the last couple of weeks though, the boys and I have made a couple of trips up to Warsaw Caves. Warsaw is just the other side of Peterborough, about a 45 minute drive from our house depending on traffic. It is part of the Otanabee Region Conservation Authority's lands and I have to say it is a gem. The highlight or should I say the "lowlight" are the caves.

Although they are nowhere near the magnitude of Mammoth Caves, nor will you find stalactites or stalagmites you can easily spend an afternoon wriggling around twenty or thirty feet underground. I would say the ideal age for this is about twelve. There is a fair amount of scrambling and I am sure most adults would consider it a good workout if they wriggled their way through all of the cave passages. My boys are seven and three and they thought they were great fun even though I didn't allow them to enter the trickier parts as the three year old is not quite up to the climbing parts yet! Headlamps and clothes that can get grubby are strongly recommended!

Above ground there is some interesting things as well. Follow the trail to the potholes to see where an ancient river carved potholes in the bedrock by swirling a stone around and around. On the trail not far from the parking lot you will cross over the Indian river, where it flows underground. You can easily hear it gurgling through the bedrock under your feet as it flows underground for a few hundred feet.

This screenshot from Google Earth shows the Indian River as it comes south, disappears underground and reappears downstream. The hike to the potholes is about a kilometre and this is the best one with Isaiah looking down into it.

There is a small swimming area off the main cave parking area and there is a campground in the park as well. If that isn't enough for you, bring a canoe or rent one at the park gate and you can paddle down the Indian River to the town of Warsaw and back.