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The Devil's Punchbowl

Sometimes referred to as Horseshoe Falls for the distinctive shape of its cliff-face (and somewhat resembling its larger, more well-known cousin in Niagara), the Devil’s Punchbowl consists of two separate falls: Upper and Lower Punchbowl Falls. The Upper Falls is a 5.5-metre classic waterfall and the main Lower Falls is a 33.8-metre ribbon waterfall, resulting in one of the Niagara Escarpment’s most amazing sights.[1]

The waterfall is part of one of the many “passive areas” maintained by the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA). The term passive is one that the Conservation Authority itself recognizes the irony in, since there is nothing passive about the more than three thousand hectares of regional passive areas that play a major role in the ecology and health of the region. The term doesn’t refer to the landscape itself, but rather to the fact that, though the combined areas annually cost about $1,800 per hectare to maintain, the HCA doesn’t charge an admission fee.[2]

The Dofasco 2000 Trail — an 11.5-kilometre trail through upper Stoney Creek that features a long boardwalk section through Vinemount Swamp Forest — begins here, as do several escarpment access trails with connections to the eight-hundred-kilometre-long Bruce Trail.[3]

Although the falls dry up often, rainstorms and melting snow will cause the water to flow, and though flow is typically a thin trickle, it is still an impressive sight, with the water cascading down almost forty metres of free fall.[4]

Widely hailed as one of the region’s most impressive sights, the backdrop or horseshoe shape to the waterfall consists of multi-coloured stratified rock layers of the Niagara Escarpment, best visible from the bottom of the falls. The Hamilton Conservation Authority explains that “the Punch Bowl is the only area where one can view such a large vertical display of Ordovician and Silurian stratified rock. Some of the layers include Queenston Formation red shale, Cabot Head grey shale, limestone, and shale dolomite.”[5]

The history of the Devil’s Punchbowl dates back more than 450 million years, when materials that form the Niagara Escarpment were originally deposited in a large inland sea, which most likely originated from the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. As the sea bottom deposits slowly changed to rock, corals and other organisms became fossilized.[6]

About one million years ago, the area was subjected to several ice ages, with the inland sea retracting and great slabs of ice covering the land. The effect of this ice on the landscape was dramatic; in some places it exposed the escarpment rock face, and in others it buried it farther beneath drifting material.[7]

At the end of the last ice age, a period of high water levels etched and carved many fine details into the landscape of the Niagara and Hamilton region. Powerful runoff streams from the melting ice plunged over the escarpment at Stoney Creek, carving out a gorge that seems almost bottomless if viewed from the safe side of the surrounding guardrail.[8]

Numerous stories circulate as to how the Devil’s Punchbowl got its name. One possibility is that it was named for the pails of home brew that, at one time, was bootlegged in the surrounding woods. Rumours abound regarding moonshiners who made their product available along Ridge Road, with thirsty road workers claiming to go to the waterfall to fill their buckets but instead filling up with the devil’s brew.

Another story suggests that people saw the beautiful sight as God’s work but, knowing that God would not want something named after him, decided they would name it after the devil instead.

And although the Devil’s Punchbowl may not have been named after God, one monument located at the site is a large, ten-meter high steel cross, erected by a man named William Sinclair (1925–1994) on December 18, 1966. Sinclair wanted to bring a little light to the world by building the steel monument, which has 106 light bulbs along its edges. It was originally planned to be lit up for six weeks of each year, during Christmas and Easter.[9]

Since 1991, however, the cross has been lit up every night of the year, sharing the “Good will of God” with one and all, thanks to donations made by a Stoney Creek branch of the Knights of Columbus.[10]

An incredible view is offered by the Devil’s Punchbowl and the platform erected there. It overlooks Stoney Creek, Hamilton Harbour, and the Skyway Bridge. From the lookout spot, a trail descends down into the gorge. The first half is quite steep and difficult to traverse, but the second half is a stairway that leads to a trail to the creek at the base of the falls.

As with any stunningly picturesque and magnificent historical area, legends abound regarding the Devil’s Punchbowl. Despite being an ideal spot for photography or romantic picnics, the site has been the scene of much vandalism. The HCA had to shut down the stone washroom building many years ago due to vandalism, and it’s still not uncommon for picnic tables, lengths of fence, and other miscellaneous debris to be tossed into the bottom of the gorge by vandals. Local residents have also often complained of the drunken parties on summer nights down in the Punchbowl ravine that carry on into the wee hours of the morning.

Despite being the perfect spot for photography or a romantic picnic, the Devil’s Punchbowl has been the scene of vandalism and suicides, as well as the source of many eerie legends.

Courtesy of Stephanie Lechniak.

And, due to the nocturnal activity in the area, the site has seen its share of deadly accidents and suicides. There is a legend of a boy and his dog who ventured too close to the edge of the gorge, when the hillside gave away and they plunged to their deaths; this tragic and senseless type of accident is one that is regularly reported in newspapers, the bodies of the deceased often being found the next morning by hikers out for a walk. Young men and women feeling they had nothing to live for have leapt to their deaths from the lookout spot, and a man is even alleged to have hung himself from the railway tracks that run near the base of the gorge.

One of the legends told of the Punchbowl is that of a lone still operator who, on dark and moonless nights, can be heard lugging pails of moonshine along Ridge Road, the eerie red glow of his eyes beaming through the dark — a reminder of the “devil’s brew” he was offering.

Due to its magnificent scenery, the Punchbowl has been the location for various television and movie shoots. In 1989, television star Super Dave Osborne taped his “atomic yo-yo” stunt here.[11] As he rode inside the hub of a giant yo-yo suspended from a crane, the yo-yo broke free of its tether and rolled off the cliff, plunging into the ravine.[12]

Both the Devil’s Punchbowl and the large illuminated cross were featured in the first few scenes of the 2006 horror film Silent Hill,[13] which is about a woman’s search for her missing daughter within a small, desolate town. It was a fitting sort of movie for such a picturesque yet ominous piece of Hamilton landscape.