Warsaw Caves Conservation Area is located near the village of Warsaw in the province of Ontario. The conservation area is popular for the group of caverns which is a geological feature in the limestone rocks. You can explore the caves from within which have long passages. The Indian River which flows through the area disappears underground under the limestone layers. It is a great place for kids to learn some geology.
Duration: 1 night
This was our first trip and stay at a conservation area.
Conservation Areas There are many parks that are not managed by Ontario Parks. Most of these parks are conservation areas. So if you want to book a reservation in one of these conservation areas, you will have to go the corresponding authorities website that govern those parks which could be according to the region that they govern. Apparently, in Ontario there are 36 conservation authorities which govern over 500 conservation areas. Warsaw Caves Conservation Area comes under Otanabee Conservation.
How to get there? Warsaw Caves Conservation Area is about 164 kms and less than 2 hours east of Toronto.
Our campsite was moderately sized. It did not have a lot of woods / bushes around it, so there was less privacy with the sites adjacent to us. We got our tent up, had some lunch and went on a walk to explore the park.
Staying at Warsaw Caves Provincial Park Warsaw caves has 52 unserviced sites in a wooded setting. You can bring trailers but there are no electrical sites.
The park has some trails totalling 15 kms in length, some natural features that are a must see, a small beach for day picnicking, boat launch areas and campgrounds.
We were not carrying a map and our first stop was supposed to have been the washroom. As we were walking along the road, which we we thought was going towards the washroom, we happened to find a trail going into the woods. We were unprepared for the trail but still entered it hoping that it will lead us to a washroom somewhere along the way. Unbeknownst to us, we had actually entered the longest trail loop of the park (which we found out much later when we saw the maps after returning) and that we were not going to find a washroom for a long time. We had entered the Southwest loop which was part of a 7 km long trail. And soon after we entered the trail, we were attacked by a million mosquitoes. We were still under the impression that the route we had taken was going to take us to the picnic area where the washrooms were. So we continued on the trail instead of turning back. After almost 2 hours, we reached the end of the trail which brought us back to where our campsite was. We still had not found any washrooms. We went back to our campsite, grabbed our maps to find the washrooms. Apparently, if we had not turned into the trail and proceeded on the road, we would have reached the washrooms which were less than 100 meters ahead. But instead of washrooms, we got numerous red bumps on all the exposed portions of our body.
Trails in Warsaw Caves Conservation Area Limestone Plains trail - 7 kms in total - This is a long trail on the side of river where all the campgrounds are. This can be split into - Northwest loop and the Southwest loop. The central loop splits the whole loop somewhere in the middle. So you can either complete the whole trail or you could use the Central loop to do one side of the trail at a time. Caves and scenic lookout trail - 4 kms - This is another long trail on the other side of the river. This trail will take you to the lookout and the caves.
There are some pretty cool geographical features to see at this park. There are signs along the trails which clearly tell you where to find the different features of the park using an alphabet.
- D – Disappearing River
- F – The Falls
- K – The Kettles
- L – Scenic Lookout
- C – The Caves
So, after finally finding the washrooms, we headed to the picnic area which is close to D, the disappearing river and C, the caves. Due to Covid, the caves were closed at this time. Even the trail leading to the caves were closed.
There is a small beach on the bank of the river and it is not very deep. This area is popular for day picnicking as well.
You can start the Caves and Scenic lookout trail here which is close to the parking area.
At this point, an amazing thing happens to the river. The river literally disappears underground. The trail takes you over the layers of limestone under which the river is now flowing. You can even hear the river flowing under the rocks at many points.
Proceeding further, the trail splits towards the Falls on one side and Kettles on the other.
At the Falls, the river re-emerges from the underground. But we did not really see a fall here. Maybe at certain times when the flow of water is heavier, the falls might be visible. The river here was flowing softly under the rocks and we really did not see it “falling”.
At the Kettles, you can view some really cool geographical formations called Kettles. There are many of them here of different sizes.
Kettles are holes formed when hard granite rocks are swirled by a river or a whirlpool in the softer limestones. Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_(landform)
Some of these kettles are big enough for humans to go through them.
From here, we proceeded on the trail to reach the lookout point. The lookout gives a nice scenic view of the Indian River continuing its journey after emerging from underground.
By the time we reached the lookout, it was beginning to get dark. We turned back to return to the camp site.
Woke up early, had our breakfast and decided to pack up first. We wanted to complete the Lookout trail but it would not have been possible to complete it before checkout time. We checked out from our campsite and parked ourselves near the start of the trail.
The trail itself is beginner friendly. It is not very rugged and also does not have steep climbs.
The trail itself is a big loop which starts from the lookout point and comes back again to the same point. It took us about an hour to finish. Once we were done, we returned back to the parking and left the park.
All in all, the experience of a conservation area was great. We had a great time, saw some amazing features and learned a lot. There are many amazing things to see in nature and the different parks, whether they come under Ontario parks, conservation areas or national parks, do a great work in conserving them and give us an opportunity to see them, enjoy them and be amazed by them.
Happy Camping!
For additional information, visit the links below: https://www.otonabeeconservation.com/ https://www.otonabeeconservation.com/camping-outdoor-recreation/warsaw-caves/
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