Episode #25: Coopers Falls Waterfall, Coopers Falls Ontario: Exploring Ontario's Waterfalls

Episode #25: Coopers Falls Waterfall, Coopers Falls Ontario: Exploring Ontario's WaterfallsShow more

Cooper’s Falls, located in the Ghost Town of the same name, Coopers falls is an impressive cascade of water almost completely masked from the modern world.

Coopers Falls Photo Gallery:
https://www.waterfallsontario.com/coopers-falls-waterfall

Wild, hidden and unspoiled, out of view of motorists driving by, Cooper’s Falls is one the most beautiful and best-kept secrets in Muskoka. You have to really search for this near-mythical place; it’s not on any tourist map and only the most local of locals seems aware of its existence.

My visit to Coopers Falls was in September of 2020, I was off on a 3 day waterfall road trip all through Muskoka, my final waterfall in this area on the 3rd day was Coopers Falls.

Coopers Falls is now a Ghost Town with a few residents, according to wikipedia:

“In 1864, Thomas James Cooper and his wife, Emma and three young children, emigrated to Canada on the steamship "Hector" from Fawkham, England. They arrived in the area from the train in Barrie. From there they proceeded to make their way by boat to Washago. There they set off into the bush to find a location to build their home, in lands that turned out to be occupied by wolves.

Emma and Thomas Cooper built a house and general store half a mile from a waterfall on the Black River. Many years later, in 1878 the first post office opened with the name Cooper's Falls.

The village soon added a general store, blacksmith and cheese factory. A log schoolhouse was built in 1874 followed by two churches. The Methodist church was built in 1894 and the Anglican church was built approximately 1884.

Thomas Cooper had hoped that his town's inhabitants would live good and clean lives. He believed in prohibition and thus, was not pleased when men from the lumber camps would show up in town, drunk.

The town's demise came when the lumber mill closed. The actual waterfall which took the Cooper name sits on private property, but can be seen from Cooper's Falls Road, especially in winter and early spring, when foliage doesn't obstruct the view.”

My visit was entirely done without research, all I knew was there was a ghost town and there was a waterfall, with no idea how to get to the waterfall. I just parked my car and started hiking in the general direction of the water.

The entire town is peppered with the old homes from the town's active days, most are decrepit and decaying, yellow “No Trespassing” signs all over the homes. I had to find a way towards the water, so I picked what looked like a trail between two old abandoned homes that headed directly into a forest.

Passing bits of debris, machinery and some old shacks, the sound of the water was getting closer, I found myself on the property of a very obviously abandoned shack, just off in the distance was an old rusty and wooden bridge over the creek, to the right was the waterfall. If I was to get to the waterfall I have to cross this bridge carefully. As I got to the other side I came to an unmarked path into the dense forest heading in the direction of the waterfall. It was here that I started to wonder if I would encounter moose or a bear.

Finally I find rock and the waterfall is on my right, entirely hidden, wild and secluded this was the best and most remote waterfall of this trip, I won’t be leaving here anytime soon.

I unpack my gear, capture some photos and video footage, then I spot a perfect “Dave sized” spot carved into the rock directly beside my waterfall, this is where I will sit and spend a good 30 minutes of total peace and tranquility.

It’s time to finish what I am here to do, capture this experience in photos and video, I still have one more waterfall on this trip and it’s 3 hours away!

It was hard to pull myself from this waterfall, there is something about being alone in a place this remote and wild!

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