CAMBRIDGE — It’s a place made for childhood adventures on a lazy summer’s day.

But maybe — just maybe — Devil’s Cave holds more than stories spun from young imaginations.

Like a place for a pair of bank robbers to hole up after a big job.

Or perhaps a hasty stopover for Canadian political rebel William Lyon Mackenzie in 1837, as he looked for shelter from a cold December night. There was a 1,000-pound bounty on his head as Galt residents took up arms to guard the Main Street bridge a few kilometres downstream.

“It’s a nice hideout if nobody knew it was around,” says Dave Menary, a local historian and author who knows the little cave well.

He played there in the 1960s with his friends, contemplating adventure while overlooking the Grand River and the Galt Country Club. The memories are fresh as he offers a tour at the city limits, his eyes sparkling as if he’s 10 again.

“Back then, your parents would let us come. Today, you’d never think of letting your kids walk down here. I wouldn’t,” he says, brushing dirt off his pants after climbing into the cave.

Or maybe he didn’t tell his parents where he was going.

The cave isn’t easy to spot while on foot. If you’re on the Grand, it’s easier to see. Watch the for the rock bluff along the west side of the river come into view through the trees, as golfers come into view on the opposite bank.

On foot, start from a gravel parking lot along George Street North, near the Blair Road intersection. Follow the gravel trail about 50 metres south, looking for the beaten path to your left. It’s a steep, rocky climb of six metres down to the river where anglers like to fish near a waterfall some 50 metres downstream.

If it’s the cave you’re interested in, turn upstream and watch your step for 200 metres or so, through loose rocks, thorns and trees.

“We’re here,” Menary says, savouring the blank looks from his guests. “Look up.”

It’s a hole in the rock about three metres overhead. The 420 million year old limestone looks worn smooth in places, perhaps by the feet and hands of visitors climbing up over the centuries.

Inside, the cave is tall enough to stand in. It reaches about five-metres back into the rock. The walls are cool and damp, but you don’t hear any of the dripping water that carved out the chasm over 12,000 years.

Graffiti on the walls, soot overhead and cardboard spread on the floor show it’s still well known.

You can tell Menary wants to believe the story about rebel Mackenzie hiding in the cave as he fled his aborted uprising in Toronto. Did the man pushing to replace the Crown with a Republic of Canada pass through the wilderness near Galt on his way to eventual self-exile in New York state?

Andrew Taylor’s history of North Dumfries Township — which surrounded Galt — offers up the story. Then knocks it down by referring to Mackenzie’s biography: the closest the reformer came to Galt in 1837 was Dundas.

Taylor ends the tale with another tease. One of Mackenzie’s conspirators, Samuel Lount “was in all likelihood, sheltered for some days near Galt.” Was Mackenzie with him?

Even if the Mackenzie tale is nothing more than conjecture based on hearsay and wishful thinking, historian Menary can say for sure Devil’s Cave would have made remote hideout for a man with the King’s army on his trail.

“Back then, there would have been wolves and bears out here. It would have been wilderness,” he said.

The Devil’s Cave may have got its name from the nearby Devil’s Creek that drains into the Grand River. Today, it’s part of the privately-owned rare Charitable Research Reserve, which was known as Cruickston Park before 2001.

Reserve spokesperson Tarah Walsh doesn’t want people stomping off trail in any of the organization’s nature areas — even for a peek at Devil’s Cave.

“We would not be telling people to go and check it out unless there is a canoe access point along the river,” she said.

If you’re determined to see the cave, she asks you tread lightly where some trees might be 1,000 years old. Don’t set fires, dig up plants or cause damage, she says. That happens often in other parts of the 370-hectare (913-acre) nature preserve and research area along Blair Road.

While an outing to Devil’s Cave isn’t easy, people aren’t getting hurt doing it. At least not hurt enough to call 911 asking Cambridge firefighters to rescue them. While there have been falls down the bluff and into the river downstream, no injuries have been reported near the cave in recent years, said Platoon Chief Neil Main.

Menary has no plans to stop visiting his childhood stomping grounds, even though he’s now 51.

“I don’t know how long I can keep coming to Devil’s Cave. I guess when I’m 70, I can’t.”