Where the Speed meets the Grand
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In 1990, the Grand River was nominated as a Canadian Heritage River in recognition of its human heritage, impact on settlement, and unique natural areas.
At this location you will find a City of Cambridge Linear Park that runs along the banks of the Grand River. The trail is wheelchair accessible.
The Speed River is a river that flows through Wellington County and the Region of Waterloo in western Ontario, Canada. It flows south from its source near Orton, through Guelph, where it is joined by the Eramosa River, then through the towns of Hespeler and Preston, finally uniting with the Grand River in north-west Cambridge.
The Grand River flows from its source on an undulating plain near Georgian Bay, the Grand River winds 290 kilometres from the village of Dundalk to Lake Erie, dropping 352 metres as it flows. Together with its tributaries, the Nith, the Conestogo, the Speed and Eramosa Rivers, it drains 6,965 square kilometres, one of the largest watersheds in southern Ontario.
Natural environment of the Grand River
The Wisconsin glacier covered the valley 20,000 years ago and shaped the Grand River Valley. It pushed soil and rock ahead of its advance, filling in older river systems. As the glacier melted, two major landscape features emerged in our part of Ontario. The first is the huge deposits of gravel, sand and clay that were left behind. Today these form the basic sub-soils in regions of the watershed, and are why there are glacial drumlin hills near Guelph, gravel pits near Paris, and clay soils in Haldimand County.
The second landscape feature is the river itself. It is suspected that an ancient river used to run west to east from Stratford to Dundas and Hamilton. This old river valley was "filled in" by the Wisconsin glacial till, and the meltwaters carved today's Grand River in a north-south direction.
During this process, features such as the scenic Elora Gorge were carved out. This was created at the same time and in the same manner as Niagara Falls and gorge. Some of the world's largest and most numerous pothole formations were created by the glacier, and can be seen today at Rockwood Conservation Area.
Facts about the Grand River watershed
If all the creeks, streams and rivers in the Grand River watershed were lined up end-to-end, there would be 20,000 km of shoreline.
The Grand River watershed comprises 25 per cent of the Canadian land area draining into Lake Erie, and 10 per cent of the total Canada/U.S.A. drainage area.
In February 1857, a severe flood destroyed ten major pedestrian and vehicle bridges on the Grand River, and severely damaged at least five others. However the railway bridges were unharmed.
On average, the watershed receives 933 mm (about 36 inches) of precipitation each year.
On a dry summer day, up to 70 per cent of the water flowing under the bridge at Highway 401 in Kitchener comes from upstream GRCA dams.
The Grand River Forest runs along the river from Cambridge to Paris in an almost unbroken 20-kilometre strip. Its hummocky glacial topography gives rise to many habitat types ... extensive uplands and swamp forest, bogs in kettle depressions, fens, remnants of prairie and oak savannah. Many Carolinian species, which exist only in eastern United States and southernmost Ontario, flourish here.
To log this earthcache you need to email the following requirements to the cache owner.
1. In what years were the five major floods?
2. In what year was the most damage done to the watershed?
3. Do do think the conservation area across the river will be flooded again? Either yes or no, why?
4. Posting a picture is your option.
Congratulations to DrStrange01 for FTF
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