Mount Nemo Conservation Area is owned and managed by Conservation Halton, and is located just under an hour from Toronto within Burlington. The area features over 7 km of trails, the majority of them being along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment.
Mount Nemo requires reservations in order to visit. We booked online on the morning of a Sunday in late August, and found no issues reserving for the same day. In the afternoon on a Sunday in August the parking lot was pretty much full, and we did come across a few groups of people along the trail. However, there were plenty of opportunities for clear views along the trail.
View looking north east. Immediately in view is Walkers Line and to the right, Mount Nemo Golf Club. Further behind along the horizon you can see the skyline of downtown Mississauga. 
In looking north you can see the ridgeline of the escarpment circle around at Rattlesnake Point. 
Ratttlesnake Point. You can see our post here when we visited Rattlesnake Point, and our views of Mount Nemo! 
Zoom-in of the downtown Mississauga skyline to the center, and the Toronto skyline with the CN tower to the right. 
Can you spot the plane?
The Niagara Escarpment of where Mount Nemo sits began to form 450 million years ago, where a shallow body of water covered the area that is now the Great Lakes. Small sea creatures in this water died and floated to the bottom of the seabed, becoming compressed and forming layers of sediment over millions of years.
The actual escarpment is formed from differential erosion over the past 250 million years. The cliffs that are capped with hardened limestone, making it less prone to erosion in comparison with softer-rock lowlands.
The Carolinian forest covers the southern most part of Ontario, including the plateau of Mount Nemo. Along the escarpment is an ancient forest comprised of cedar trees, with some measured to be over 800 years old.
Looking up at the greenery of the deciduous Carolinian forest. 
Ancient Eastern White Cedar roots intermingle with the limestone of the escarpment. 
Dolomite that forms the escarpment, the remains of an ancient body of water. 
Ancient Eastern White Cedar hanging on from the edge. 
Looking from the cliff we saw groups of turkey vultures that were coasting on top of the warm air rising from below. We saw and heard a few chickadees along the trail.
Turkey vultures can be identified by the “V” shape they hold their wings when in flight. 
Turkey vultures soar high to cover greater distances with ease. 
Turkey vultures have a strong sense of smell for decay, and feed on dead as opposed to live prey.
If bringing small children or pets, I suggest keeping a close eye on them. Some of the trails along the edge of the escarpment do not have any guard rails or barriers, and it would be easy to stumble off should you not be careful or paying attention.
Have you visited Mount Nemo Conservation Area? Let us know your experience in the comments below.
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Mount Nemo is a fantastic spot to go hiking, especially in the fall when all the leaves are changing colour. It’s wild how popular it’s become and that you now have to make a reservation in advance. Glad to hear you had no issues booking a spot and that the trails weren’t too crowded.
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Thanks for commenting.
My plan is to return to the area in a month or so once it’s autumn here to see the colours changing (I saw lots of maple trees which would be beautiful)!
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