The South Riding RV Travels

361

08th September 2007 - Niagara Falls ON

Lakes Erie and Ontario are joined by the quite short Niagara River, and the famous falls are part of this river. We took a coach trip to Canada to see the falls, mainly to avoid complications crossing the border with the RV and because they look much better from the Canadian side. This is the American Falls, the smaller of the two main ones!
Even then they are most impressive. One of the best side trips is to go to the 'Cave of the Winds' which is behind the falls. The line of tiny people in yellow plastic macs at the bottom right are going there.
Another view with the comparatively small Bridal Falls now showing more clearly on the far right. It is odd that the best view of the American Falls is from the Canadian side.
The Americans had to build an observation tower to enable the falls to be seen from their side. This shot was taken later in the day and the light is being refracted by the mist to make a rainbow.
A close up of the tower with hundreds of people gazing back at the falls. Makes you realise how insignificant we are in the face of nature.
One of the most famous trips (and a licence to print money) is on one of the five '"Maid of the Mist" boats which take you right up almost under the Canadian or Horseshoe Falls. All the people on these trips have blue raincoats. The boats from Canada were all full but those from the American side had a bit more space.
The Canadian or Horseshoe Falls are truly impressive with over a quarter of a million gallons a second pouring over its 675m width in the quieter times and half as much again at peak. Sometimes they are not so visible because of the spray which rises as a cloud. The falls are 65m high and the pool at the bottom is as deep as the falls are high.
The boats come up right close and hover there with their powerful engines holding them against the current and turbulent waters. The spray certainly soaks those on the upper deck - which is why they come.
You can go behind the Horseshoe Falls through 200m of tunnels, cut in 1939, although the noise is deafening. The spray soaks you here as well. More yellow plastic bag raincoats. The water used to cut through the rock and move the falls westward over a foot each year until the 20th century. Now erosion is less than an inch a year because so much water is diverted to feed the huge hydroelectric power stations which supply most of New York and Ontario. But the original falls were located over seven miles downstream at the Niagara escarpment.
An interesting sideline is the railway and ramps where the Maid of the Mist boats are stored each winter. The lakes are fresh water and freeze in the winter resulting in chunks of ice on the falls and in the river. So the boats only run in the season. Weather conditions in the winter can result in an ice bridge across the river below the falls as high as a ten story building. Since 1964 an ice boom in Lake Erie has reduced the ice and made it less dangerous and damaging.
Downstream are the power stations. This is on the American side and is not operating at full power today (they don't need so much air conditioning.) The Canadian side is being enhanced and will have a 40% increase in output when it is completed.
Besides the power houses, there are huge arrays of switchgear to manage the output as it is carried away. This is the Canadian gantry feeding the switching station from the Sir Adam Beck power station itself. It has been producing clean power since 1958. The first power station to generate power from the Canadian side of the falls was just above the falls and produced 2100hp of dc current to power the electric railway.
A shot of the tour bus. These are common and are made by the same manufacturers who build the RVs. Our tour had twelve passengers but we lost one at the first stop.
The best way to see the falls and especially the rapids on the river is on this jet boat which we spotted hurtling upriver towards the falls. I'm told that on this trip you really do get WET!
The trip stopped at a botanical garden with a floral clock whilst we waited for the chimes. The clock is so densely planted that they weed and clip it from a plank resting on the plants and don't cause significant damage.
The trip lasted over five hours and it was getting to be dusk by the end. The falls are overlooked by an array of hotels and restaurants and casinos for those not so inspired by nature.
We just admired the flowerbeds in the dying sun which brought out the colours in the flowers and foliage really well.
And we end with a rare view of us with the water falling over the Horseshoe Falls behind us and a rainbow arching overhead.