17th
June 2016
Lots of water !
I drove into the
Gorge Discovery Centre and parked there since it was the closest free
parking. There is a shuttle bus tat runs
all day around the whole complex, so I bought my $3 ticket for that, but then
decided that it would be more interesting to kind of “creep up” on the Falls
! On the US side you can see nothing
from a distance except a lot of spray in the air, so I thought I would just let
the view “develop” as I walked along a cliff top path.
And “develop”, it
does ! My first view was of the Rainbow
Bridge which crosses over to Canada, and I walked under the edge of that,
seeing the Canadian-side jetty for the boat tours up to the Falls (their
passengers have red plastic ponchos !).
Then it was on to the Observation Tower that sticks out over the cliff,
and you can see the US side boats – The Maid of the Mist – And their passengers
wear blue ponchos !! To get more of a
feel for the Falls, I wander upstream from the Falls a little way, watching the
water starts its inexorable rush to its drop over the edge. I find the power of big waterfalls really
enthralling – In the same way that I love the whoosh of big rockets on Guy
Fawkes’ night, especially when I am lighting them !
I then came back
to the Observation Tower and decided to go down and do the Maid of the Mist
tour, so I bought my ticket and after viewing the Falls from the Observation
Deck, I went down in the elevator. One
is issued with your blue poncho and then you make your way down to the boat –
There are several all going in rotation, so no big delays, and within 5 minutes
I was in my poncho and on the boat, and we were off.
You can only see
the Falls from the side when on the US side and so the view from the boat was
the first front on view I had seen – and it certainly is impressive. There is lots of debris from rock-falls at
the bottom of the Falls, which may lessen the height of the Falls, but
certainly seems to increase the spray !
So much spray, in fact, that it is impossible to take any photos when
you are close to the Falls because you would just get water all over your
camera. The ponchos work well though
! To the side of the main US Falls are
the smaller Bridal Veil Falls, and then we were off towards the main Horseshoe
Falls.
These really are
something, and the noise is quite deafening.
I found myself just staring at the immensity and power of the water as
it fells the 170 feet to the bottom – Although of course you can’t see the
bottom because of the spray ! The boat hangs around in the spray for about 5
minutes, making sure everyone gets thoroughly soaked, before backing slowly
away and making its way back down stream.
To the right, on the Canadian side, are the remains of the 1900 Schoellkopf
power station that was partly destroyed in 1956. The destruction was blamed on
earlier multiple sawmills and flour mills whose individual and unregulated
water flows are thought to have undermined the rock face over time.
After the boat
tour I walked further along the paths to the other side of the Falls where I
went down to the Cave of the Winds complex. This requires another elevator ride
down inside the cliff, and then a walk down a tunnel after which you come out
on the shore above the river – Which is covered in hundreds of gulls which nest
there – And the small of them all is, shall we say, VERY fishy ! At the moment they all have their fluffy
chicks with them. Walk down the wooden
boardwalk (which has to be reconstructed every spring due to ice damage during
the winter), getting closer and closer to the Bridal Falls, while the spray
gets heavier. In some places you are
actually paddling through water which is flowing over the boardwalk, and the
noise and the spray are unbelievable.
Finally you walk
up some stairs to “The Hurricane”, and here the winds created by the Falls are
amazing, whipping at your plastic poncho which, if you don’t hold onto it
tight, will blow upwards, ensuring your get thoroughly soaked ! Quite a sensation to stand there almost under
the Falls – There were a group of Amish people there, and the girls were
standing right in the middle of it and absolutely shrieking with laughter, and
having a wonderful time ! My day was
made when an older Indian gentleman standing beside me was just shaking his
head, awestruck, and when he saw me watching him, smiled and then laughed in
sheer enjoyment of the experience.
Once back up on
top of the cliffs. I walked across a bridge out to Luna Island where you can
stand between the main American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls, and just enjoy
the scene as the water disappears over the Falls, and watch the people down
below, in the Cave of the Winds, getting soaked ! I was also stunned to see a Japanese lady
there in all her finery, and wearing 5 inch high heels ! Unbelievable !
I then went
through the information centres and learned about the power stations, and past
rock falls, and times when they actually diverted all the water over the
Horseshoe Falls so they could work on the American Falls to make them better /
safer. Some amazing engineering work,
and some amazing facts :-
·
The
US is 2nd only to Canada in production of hydro power
·
750,000
gals per second flow over the Falls, with only 10% of this over the American
Falls, and the other 90% over the Horseshoe Falls
·
At
night they divert more water to the hydro plant, so the Falls are less “scenic”
!
·
Only
a quarter of the water in the river goes over the Falls – The rest is diverted
to the hydro plant - Imagine the Falls
if ALL the water went over it !
·
The
Falls were originally some 7 miles further downstream, but have gradually been
eroded to their current location.
·
The
Niagara River drains 4 of the 5 Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, and
Erie), into Lake Ontario, and together these Lakes contain 20% of the world’s
fresh water supply.
I then treated
myself to lunch at the Top of the Falls restaurant where, unfortunately the
view is hindered by some big reconstruction work going on which has totally
closed Terrapin Point, although it will re-open shortly.
I then caught the
shuttle bus back to the car park, and after chatting to a couple from Florida
who were keen to do a trip like mine, I headed down river to the Whirlpool, a
section of the Niagara river where massive eddies and whirlpools form. It seems
that Capt Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel, drowned here in 1883
when he attempted to swim through the Whirlpool.
From the
Whirlpool I drove past my campsite to Fort Niagara, on the edge of Lake
Ontario, which was unfortunately closed by the time I got there. But this was an important part of the battle
for local supremacy in the 1700’s between the French and the British, changing
hands on more than one occasion. Once
again it was fascinating for me to read how they had fought and defended, using
all the terms and details identical to the Sharpe series of books that I am
currently reading by Bernard Cornwell.
From there is was
back to my KOA campground, with an early start tomorrow to drive up to near
Toronto to meet up with a Canadian Lotus owner who I have met through the US
Lotus website.
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