Friday, August 26, 2016
We are outside of Cleveland today, after visiting Niagara
Falls. It is spectacular! The sheer power of the water is awesome.
This is the American Falls to the left with the much
smaller Bridal Veil Falls to the right.
Farther to the right, out of sight, is the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
We decided to take two tours, one on the American side
and then one on the Canadian side.
The Falls are on the Niagara River, which connects Lake
Erie with Lake Ontario and allows water from the Great Lakes to flow to the
Atlantic Ocean. According to Wikipedia,
the average flow of water is 4 million cubic feet of water per minute. The amount of flow depends on many things,
including snow and rainfall in the Midwest and how much water is being diverted
for hydroelectric power. 90% of the
water flows over the falls most of the time, with that decreasing to 50% after
midnight and during the winter months.
The diversion of water has slowed erosion of the falls from 3 feet per
year to one foot per year.
Part of the Horseshoe Falls on the right with the
American and Bridal Veil Falls on the left.
Our Cave of the Winds tour took us next to Bridal Veil
Falls. They gave us ponchos to try and
keep us dry. And sandals so we could
keep our regular shoes dry and to give us some relatively non-slip shoes. The decking we are standing on gets torn
down every fall and rebuilt every spring.
Winter would totally destroy it.
Here’s a close-up of the sandals.
And here’s a picture from the Maid of the Mist (name of
the boat) where we were at Bridal Veil Falls.
It’s probably hard to see, but there are people on the
decking, getting soaked! The Maid of the
Mist has been operating for years from the American side and there is a
different company that operates from the Canadian side. The ponchos on the American boat are blue,
the Canadian, red. Both boats travel
into the mist created by the Horseshoe Falls far enough that you feel like
you’ve been in a storm. And then it’s
back to the dock. It’s a short trip.
On the Canadian side we took a tour “Behind the Falls”
which takes you into some tunnels with openings near and behind the falls. This shot is of the western end of the
Horseshoe Falls.
The American Falls from the top, with Horseshoe Falls in
the background.
American and Bridal Veil Falls from part way down.
And the falls at night.
We took two bus tours, the American side tour, which
included the Cave of the Winds (Bridal Veil Falls) tour and the Maid of the
Mist boat ride and the Canadian side tour, which included the “Behind the
Falls” tour and the trip up the Skylon Tower to the observation deck. We enjoyed our tours, but it would be a very
expensive way to take a family to the falls.
The American side of the falls is all in a state
park. Parking in the park is $10 a day
(the commercial lots are more expensive.) and the views are free. The Cave of the Winds tour is $11 for adults. (The cave no longer exists, but the name
lingers!) The Maid of the Mist boat ride
is $18. None of that requires crossing
into Canada.
The Canadian side is very commercial and to get there you
need a passport. If you like to party,
this is the side for you! The
observation tower is on the Canadian side.
So, if I were taking a family, I’d stay on the American
side and probably just view the falls and take the Cave of the Winds tour. It gives you a chance to feel some of the
power of the falls.
That’s all for now.
We’ll be home on Tuesday, which is rather hard to believe!
Take care,
Deb
