This conservation area contains two separate falls, Upper and Lower Punchbowl Falls.
The Lower Falls is a 5.5-metre classical waterfall, and the main Upper Falls is a 33.8-metre ribbon waterfall. The Devil’s Punchbowl is one of the Niagara Escarpment’s most amazing sights, created at the end of the last ice age by huge melt-water rivers that plunged over the Stoney Creek Escarpment, thus carving the Punchbowl and gorge.
From the bottom of the falls, one can see the many different coloured rock layers of the Escarpment. The Punchbowl 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. There is a spectacular view of Stoney Creek and Hamilton Harbour from the lookout, not to mention the view down into the seemingly bottomless gorge. The Dofasco 2000 Trail, an 11.5-kilometre trail through upper Stoney Creek that features a long boardwalk section through Vinemont Swamp Forest, begins here.
The Devil’s Punchbowl is an amazing spot to witness the spring raptor migration as they use the updrafts in the gorge. You’ll have an up close view of thousands of raptors over the course of a few weeks.
