Formed by Ice

Formed by Ice. A landscape thousands of years in the making. , Although the view is obscured by trees, Fort Willow is located on a ridge overlooking the Minesing Wetlands to the northwest. From the fort, the land drops nearly 40 metres to Willow Creek, a tributary of the Nottawasaga River that runs through the wetlands. , This landscape was shaped by erosion beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet that once covered much of northern North America. About 13,000 years ago the ice sheet started retreating, creating a series of lakes as meltwater was trapped between the glacier to the north and high ground to the south. , Glacial Lake Algonquin (forming 11,500 years ago) and the Nipissing phase of the upper Great Lakes (forming 4,500 years ago) left their mark on the landscape, leaving behind beaches and shore bluffs in a “stepped” progression down to the Minesing Wetlands. The ridge you are standing on would have been beachfront along glacial Lake Algonquin around 9,900 years ago! , If you take a short walk west along the North Simcoe Rail Trail you'll walk along these glacial lake beaches before coming to an outlook over the wetlands below. , [photo captions] , . The retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet left behind a series of meltwater lakes and formed the Minesing Wetlands as we know it today. , . Topography of the Fort Willow area. The landscape around Fort Willow reflects the lakes and beaches formed by the retreating glaciers.