In today's waterfall adventure we’re exploring Cataract Falls in the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park in Caledon, Ontario.

Located just a stones throw from the small village of Cataract and found inside a provincial park, Cataract Falls is a welcome site to come across while hiking the parks trails.

Getting to the base of the falls can be a challenge, join me as I explore the waterfall from the base, the crest and the ruins that surround this waterfall.

Cataract Falls, also known as Smiths Falls is located where the Credit River spills 21 metres over a 9 meter wide edge of the Niagara Escarpment. The Credit River was named by 17th-century French traders because they would pay the natives for furs a full season in advance.

Just beyond the falls is the Village of Cataract which was a booming village in the 1800s thanks to three local quarries employing 400 men to extract stone that was used in several noteworthy structures, including Toronto's Casa Loma, old City Hall, the Provincial Legislature at Queen's Park and some of the buildings of the University of Toronto.

Cataract Falls waterfall is surrounded by ruins from its days as a source of hydroelectric power..

A sawmill and two grist mills stood on this site, built around 1820, the site was then converted for the production of electricity, called the Cataract Electric Company.  The station was purchased by Ontario Hydro before being shut down in the 1940s when it was determined to be too inefficient to continue generating hydroelectric power