Tue 5 Jul 2005
Into the Caves
The Scenic Caves themselves are part of a land which was occupied by the Petun nation of native Canadians (also called the Tionontatehronnon or Tobacco). Here’s a little more on the history of these people courtesy of the Innisfil Public Library. As we’re just tourists and not anthropologists, we took the caves at face value. The trail is pretty easy to walk through for the most part. They require that you wear shoes and not sandals though. Any of the tougher areas can be circumvented for people that have trouble with tight spaces. Throughout the walk there’s great scenery with plenty of native species to see. The view was unique, but not as great as it would be on a sunnier day.
There are a few highlights on the trail, the caves that everyone remembers. The first of these is called the Refrigerator. The Refrigerator is a deep cave that you can clambo down in to and feel the cold stone around you. There’s condensation on the rock walls and ceiling which allows moss to grow in some places. The cold can be refreshing on a hot summer day.
Signal Point rises high and lonely above the surroundings. It’s a typical example of one of the structures you’ll see here. It looks like it came right out of a cartoon, but you won’t find any roadrunners out here. Fat Man’s Misery is probably the best known of all the caves here. It’s 30cm (14 inches) wide at the narrowest point. It can be a challenge to get through, but if you take your time and breath easy then it’s really not that hard. I’m not skinny and I got through without a problem. The Petun Arch leads the way out of a ravine full of ferns and rocky outcroppings. My camera lens couldn’t capture the breadth and depth of the foliage here. The arch is an interesting natural phenomenon to see first hand.