Day Trip – The Miner’s Loop

We went for a drive Saturday, wanting to hit some of our favourite local spots.  The first place we went was Callaghan’s Rapids Conservation Area. 

We got there and the parking lot was full and the cars were parked up and down the road leading to the parking lot.  Perhaps we’ll go another time, we didn’t even get out of the truck.  We should have known better, it’s a Saturday and pretty stinking hot!  I’m not sure but I think it was mid to high 30’s (Celsius)

So off we went and ended up on the Miner’s Loop.  It’s a driving loop, well I guess that was obvious by it’s name lol – anyways, it takes you to different touristy spots.  One place was Deloro Mines , gold mining was started here in 1873 and lasted about 25 years.  After the gold mining, it was used for processing silver ores and also the production of cobalt and stellite.  I didn’t know what stellite was but it’s a mix of cobalt and chromium and is used in the manufacturing of munitions.  Deloro was apparently the exclusive supplier to the Allied Forces during the two World Wars.  It’s quite an interesting story as found at the link I posted above (Deloro Mines)

After that we were on Deloro Road and turned right onto Deloro Dam Road to see the Deloro Dam.  Whew, that’s a lot of Deloros right there!   What a road!  Good thing we had our new Off Road Dodge Ram Truck …………..this “road” was pretty bad; lots of big rocks, water holes, holes, and it was very narrow and very bumpy!   Lots of branches coming at us too.  Probably was about 2 kilometres but seemed like 10 !

This dam, built in 1953,  is on the Moira River, which is a river that runs through the city we live near.

Below is a dirt road we followed, on foot, from the dam parking lot.  You can see the road continues on the other side of the small river.  Except for the river, this is pretty much what the road looked like going in to the Dam.

We tried to find a couple of other waterfall spots but failed, they were mostly in cottage areas and no access to the water for the public.

This is a photo near the Deloro Dam area.

We stopped when we saw a group of Turkey Vultures in a field, all sitting on hay bales and wandering around.

All in all, it was nice to go for a drive and see some scenery other than my street !

Sty safe everyone