Back at the end of May I took a solo expedition to Niagara Falls, Ontario. I figured since it is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, I had better do it before move.
I got there on a Saturday afternoon and after checking into my hostel, I followed the flow of traffic hoping it would lead me to something that looked like a city and perhaps the falls. [I again didn't think to bring a map with me, but bought one at a local market so I could be a better tourist.] It was really amazing! The place where my hostel and the train station were looked like something out of a ghost town. While I did walk by the city hall, the whole "main drag" through "downtown" Niagara Falls City was comprised of run down, deserted, or otherwise decrepit buildings. There was a bar or a bank speckled here or there, but really nothing impressive.
Apparently most of the City's focus is now on a section of town called Clifton Hill which is catered to tourists who come to see the falls which are located just down the hill. It reminded me of Vegas really with the throngs of people/tourists, the bright lights, and the amusement activities.
I saw something that I thought looked like the Space Needle, but it ended up just being Casino Niagara.
I was not to be disappointed however, as Niagara Falls City does have something like the Space Needle - The Skylon.
*Note: for those of you paying attention, there was a mystery building in Cologne Germany that looked like the Space Needle.
Sadly, I did not go into it. I just looked it up on the internet. "Colossus" is a TV tower, but does have a revolving restaurant and an observation deck so I totally missed out.
**Interesting fact: I have been up into the Space Needle.
Then, in 2002 when I was in New Zealand, I went into their Space Needle-like tower, Sky Tower.
ANYWAY, from this mecca of tourism I was able to get my first glimpse of the falls. The American Falls...
I wish I could put into words how incredibly awesome the falls were. Right down from them are the Horseshoe Falls....
Since I was there, I decided to jump on The Maid of The Mist cruise boat and see what all the rage was about. The ship takes you up close to the American Falls, and then you can see the smaller Bridal Veil Falls just to its left. Then, the boat actually goes INTO it Horseshoe Falls. Everyone on the boat got little blue ponchos but we all just got soaked. The absolute power of the falls is just amazing. I took some videos of it if you want to check them out. After that, it was getting dark, so I decided to trek back to my hostel and see more of the falls the next day.
NFC Day 2 was jam packed. I left my place at 9am and didn't return until midnight or so! I wandered around a bit down by my hostel, which was north of the falls, to see what could be seen. I had seen a tourist sign for Whirlpools and thought it was worth investigating. Niagara River runs between Canada and the US and most of its length from the falls area to where it goes into Lake Ontario is white water.
Apparently the rapids are classified at a class 6 and is one of the few places in the world where the white water isn't caused by the water going over rocks. The water is up to 40 feet deep and the rapids come purely from the large volume of water from the falls being pushed through a relatively small gorge. I borrowed some aerial shots of the area so you can get a feel for it.
This is an aerial shot of the entire area.
You will need to make it bigger to get a full sense of it. The Whirlpool is in the foreground. The US is on the right and Canada on the left, with the falls in the top right. Niagra River runs south to north from the falls to Lake Ontario.
At the end of the river is where I found the Whirlpool. I was expecting crazy swirling water, but that isn't really how it is! There was a little car you could take over the whirlpool and as soon as I read it was the only Spanish Aero Car like it in the world, I had to.
The strangest thing about the Whirlpool is how it was formed. The Niagara Falls have been moving up the Niagara River at a rate of 5 feet a year for the last 12,500 years but that changed when it got to this location, because this section consisted of soft sediment rather than rocks. So, it's thought that the entire Whirlpool area was cleared out in just a few days or perhaps even a few hours. The resulting pool is 125 feet deep. Ironically, the mile long Glens immediately above the Whirlpool were much harder rock than anywhere else in the area and took almost 5,000 years to erode.
As I walked back towards the falls, I came across a marker for where the falls use to be around the 1600s. Now it has moved almost 4 km south of that location. This is what it looks like now...
When I got back to the falls, I decided to hike up to Horseshoe falls and do a trip called "Journey Behind the Falls" where you actually get to go 150 down through bedrock to tunnels behind the falls. Again, we got ponchos, but this time yellow! There were 2 portals behind the falls we could look out but the water going by is so intense all you really see is white. Then, there was a platform where we got to go out and look right into the water. It was crazy! Again, I borrowed a pic to give you a feel for it, look at my album to see my pics. [Look to the lower right for the little yellow people.]
Completely drenched, but not detoured; I decided I couldn't miss the opportunity to go up into the Skylon. Plus, they had a buffet... They have bright yellow elevators they call "Yellow Bugs"...precious. Unlike the Space Needle, the food was good! The view wasn't too bad either...I could see both falls! I think the guy felt bad for me eating by myself as he gave me a window seat for 1.
I lucked out as the evening firework shows over the falls had just started the weekend before and they were only Friday and Sunday nights. Sunday night was about 7 hours after when I was done eating so I wandered about and did more touristy stuff to kill time. I went to the Hershey Store, Casino Niagara, rode on the HUGE ferris wheel, etc...
The fireworks were amazing! And if fireworks aren't enough, they shine lights on Rainbow Falls to make it look like a giant rainbow!
Despite the HUGE wait going back across the border the next morning, I would say the Canada side of the falls is definitely all that people say it is and more.
If you want to see more of my pics, click on the album below.
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| Niagra Falls |
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