Conquering the Escarpment

Posted on May 15, 2008 in the Town and about
7 comments 

It was a heartbreakingly beautiful day today, 20°C with a cool breeze and sunny with a few clouds in the sky. Since I wasted the day yesterday staying indoors, away from the rain, I was not going to waste today, and decided to go hiking and exploring the Niagara Escarpment.

Hamilton is known Canada-wide for it’s steel industry and the pollution that comes with it; but that was all in the past. Today, the steel industry is only part of it’s economy, along with health care, education and a growing biotechnology industry. Hamilton has many best kept secrets like and its natural beauty and biodiversity is one of them.

The Niagara Escarpment is the very cliff over which the Niagara river plunges to form the Niagara Falls and it runs through south-western Ontario following the Georgian Bay shore, into Michigan and finishes in Illinois near Chicago. In 1990, it was designated as a UNESCO world biosphere reserve, which means all non-conservation activities along and near the escarpment are prohibited.

The Niagara escarpment cuts straight through the city of Hamilton, where it’s called “The Mountain”, and separates the city into Upper Hamilton and Downtown. The two parts are connected through a series of roads called “Accesses” that were built by cutting into the rock. My apartment faces the escarpment but unfortunately, I’ve been unable to take a picture that actually makes the escarpment look like an escarpment. So I have to leave you with the entry from Wikipedia, which has a nice picture of from the air.

I took the bus up the Mountain in the afternoon, and got off at Sam Lawrence Park where I took most of the pictures. After spending an hour there, I began my hike down the mountain, along the Jolly cut and took the bus back home from downtown.

The pictures came out too light because I was using the daylight effect on my camera. You can hover your mouse over the pictures to see their description.

image:Downtown Hamilton as seen from the Jolly Cut

image:Sam Lawrence Park

image:A Hiking Path

image:Looking down Claremont Access

image:Rock was cut through to make way for roads up the Escarpment

image:Unwanted rocks from the escarpment arranged to make a wall

image:Hamilton East Side

image:Walking down the Jolly Cut

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There are 7 comments to "Conquering the Escarpment"

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Maureen May 16th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

Jaffer! Great photos… I didn’t realize you were a Canuck, let alone living in Hamilton! You are right, we often think of Hamilton as a steel city; those photos prove it is very, very beautiful!

Maureen’s last blog post… Tivo’s Twisted Sense Of Humour
Jaffer May 16th, 2008 at 10:21 pm

Hi Maureen ! I don’t know how you’d define a “Canuck”. I came to Canada around 7 years ago and have been in Hamilton for the past two. Thank you for your comments on the pictures :)
Jaffer’s last blog post… Conquering the Escarpment
Noor May 25th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Great pix bro.
Hmmm, I wonder if there’s any such interesting place around downtown Raunheim where I live…
Then again, maybe not.

Noor’s last blog post… Of men and women
Curtis May 26th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

I love that rock wall. Very nice photos there Jaffer.

Curtis’s last blog post… Name that Tree
Jaffer May 26th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

Noor - Thank you ! May be not around Raunheim… but I am sure there are many such interesting places around Germany. They should be easy to come by, it’s a small country anyway ! ;)

Curtis - I didn’t think the wall would come out that great. Thank you.
Blog Bloke May 31st, 2008 at 2:52 am

My Aunty lived on the escarpment and I’ve traveled up and down it many-a-time. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Jaffer June 1st, 2008 at 6:30 pm

You’re welcome Bloke. I am glad it helped !

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