Hamilton waterfalls, beaches packed as summer heat continues

Against the roar of water, the sounds of normalcy could be heard at the base of Sherman Falls on Saturday afternoon.

Laughter, chit-chat, babies screeching and the occasional shout of, Take my picture!' peeked through the gushes of fresh water for the first time in months.

This weekend marked the first in which many of Hamilton's 100-plus waterfalls and associated parking lots had reopened since closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a heat warning in effect, visitors from near and far came out in droves to beat the heat and cool off.

Parking lots at both Tiffany and Sherman Falls were jam packed with traffic coming in and out early in the afternoon.

A single bylaw officer could be seen patrolling Albion Falls. Its parking lot was also full.

Nikki Taylor and her daughter Abbey had travelled from St. Mary's to cool off at Tiffany Falls. The pair said that despite the fair number of visitors, people were respectful."

They were waiting for each other on the bridge and going around each other as much as possible," said Nikki. I assumed people would be respectful and they were by and large."

Abbey said they saw a couple" people wearing masks but most" were not.

Trang Ho, who travelled down from the Toronto-area with her family, said it was amazing" that the falls had reopened. Saturday was their first time visiting the falls.

Ho said she wasn't concerned about difficulties of physical distancing - which was why the Hamilton Conservation Authority originally shuttered the parks at the onset of the pandemic.

As long as we keep our distance, we should be good," said Ho.

At Sherman Falls, people were getting soaked through their clothes, youngsters were playing in the run-off streams and the more adventurous folk had scaled their way to the upper level of the cascade.

Others were taking selfies and posing at the falls' edge. At least 50 people were in the water around midday.

Stoney Creek resident Zoe Dodgson said most people were doing okay" with keeping their space, but not as well" as she'd thought they would.

Nobody is wearing masks ... on the trails I only saw one or two," said Dodgson, sporting a maple leaf patterned mask. They just need to make it mandatory ... provincewide, indoors and outdoors until this pandemic is done."

Walking her dog Shona, Dodgson was also surprised" that so many folks were in the water, so close to one another.

We don't know what is safe and what is not safe as far as water is concerned," said Dodgson.

Other families, including the Stuarts and the Ellahis of Ajax, opted for picnics on the forest floor and at the parking lot's edge, much farther away from others.

Playing a game of cards on a patterned blanket, Eva Stuart said the sit-down" outing was the family's first" since the beginning of the pandemic. Otherwise they'd only been to the grocery store.

We chose here so we could be away from everybody," said Stuart.

The same rang true for the Ellahi family, said Naureen, who were kind of" worried about the ability to physically distance themselves.

But, it's nice to be out," said Naureen.

Beaches packed

Down around Hutch's at the Beach, parking lots were already filling up just after 11 a.m. At the Burlington end, the three parking lots were already full by 11:30 a.m., with one parking lot designated as a drop-off zone.

The conservation authority also continued a pattern of closing some of its beaches due to capacity limits Saturday.

According to its Twitter account, Christie Lake Conservation Area as well as Fifty Point Conservation Area were temporarily closed around just before 2 p.m.

Valens Lake Conservation Area had also reached capacity just before noon.

Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com