Day 73: Finding Niagara Falls

Day 73:  Sunday August 17th, 2014.

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  0 miles.

Taking a day off from riding to check out the falls of Niagara, I headed out from the hostel, a couple of miles downstream of the falls, on foot to gain some perspective.

Over thousands of years, the falls, through a process called plunge-pool recession, have eroded away at the escarpment they flow over.  A result of this erosion has been the migration of the  location of these cascades upstream over time.

In the absence of the falls, the tree-lined, steep-walled Niagara River gorge is beautiful, and peaceful.  Away from the crowds, I enjoyed this section of the morning walk immensely.

The pedestrian walkway ducks underneath the main bridge crossing between USA and Canada, just downstream of the falls.  Arched bridge abutments provided a nice frame for the view in the distance. 

An occasional vantage point along my walk would capture a view of nature, a glimpse into the peaceful natural beauty absent of buildings, neon lights, artificial noise, traffic, and people, a hint to what it may have been like when the falls were first discovered.

My intention for the day was to try and expose my mind and senses to the various scales and vantage points of the falls, seeing them up close, from a distance, and to view them from the front, side, and to watch the river moments before it leaps into it's greatest performance.

My introduction to the falls yesterday was on the Canadian side.  So, I decided to start by crossing the bridge, entering the United States.  As I started across the bridge, I could see the "American Falls" to my left, and the "Horseshoe Falls" in the distance.  Beteween the two on the U.S. side is "Goat Island", accessible by footbridge.

Just downstream of American Falls, a massive tower/elevator structure with a horizontal viewing platform extending out over the river provided yet another vantage point for tourists.

At the center of the bridge span, the International boundary of Canada and the United States was marked with a white line and flags on either side.

Almost over the bridge heading into the U.S., the viewing platform blocked a portion of American Falls from my line of sight.  My free view from the bridge I was on was taken away in exchange for a pay-per-view of the falls from the platform.  If you look closely at the photo below, you can see hundreds of people on the platform.  At the base of the tower, more hundreds of people exiting the elevator, headed to the "Maid of the Mist" boat for a cruise into the mist of horseshoe falls.  Like car parts on an assembly line passinig through a blue paint sprayer, the huge line of people dressed in plain clothes passed through a small white tent, emerging from the exit dressed in blue panchos as they prepared to get wet.

I passed through immigration at the end of the bridge and headed straight for the top of American Falls.  Along the river, the sounds were typical of a roaring, rushing river.  From my position, this massive river, a small segment of the larger river, with the majority flowing over horseshoe falls, seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth, it's mysterious misty destiny below marked with all the colors of the rainbow.

As I approached the edge of the falls, leaning my head as far over as possible to peer down, following the flow of water in it's 90 degree turn to vertical, the river sounds were drowned out by a much deeper, louder, more pervasive roar.

It was similar to the pounding sound of a 20+ foot winter storm wave in the Pacific crashing against the shore, only unlike that one instant delivery of power, this was constant.

I then paid the fee to gain access to the observation deck, and made my way out to the end.  From here, I could see the American Falls in profile view, the contents of the river above firing off the rocks below, then cascading the rest of the way to the gorge bottom.

Wanting to get closer, I traversed over the river feeding into American Falls along the footbridge to Goat Island.  I then worked my way down toward the cliff face, and found a short footbridge that placed me in a small rock island that separates the American Falls into two cascades.  To my left, the edge of the smallest of the cascades (by no way was it small in comparison to other waterfalls I have seen), with a beautiful display of wildflowers in the foreground trying to compete with the overly-impressive falls for attention.

To my right, and right in my face, the rest of the American Falls.  I was so close I could feel it, the wind occasionally returning some of the water back up to the top in the form of mist wafting against my face and arms.

I used the panoramic feature of my camera to try and capture my position relative to the expanse of cascading water all around me.  A rainbow provided a conceptual bridge connecting the falls together as one, and I was in the middle.

I stared for quite a while at the interface between river and waterfall, trying to understand the sheer magnitude of this 90 degree change in flow direction.

Then, I leaned my head over the edge.  As if the DJ turned the volume, bass, and treble controls of the stereo surround-sound up all at once, the roar of the crushing and pounding of hydraulic forces gave me chills, and overwhelmed my senses.  As the water reached the base of the falls, it shot out horizontally with hurricane force, reminding me of weather reporters on-scene during hurricane events on the Atlantic Coast with rain being blown horizontally at 50+ mph.

Prying myself away from this viewing platform, I made my way across the rest of Goat Island to the edge of Horseshoe Falls.  The incredible display of power here, with the falls wrapping around in a "U" or horseshoe shape, confusingly made the grand American falls suddenly seem to be not the most impressive of natural displays.  I decided to hold off on taking photos here, as the mist from the falls was so intense that it was almost blinding, and the sheer size of the river and falls too big to capture in a photograph.  I was too close for photography.  This was a place to be experienced only by being here.

I then followed my footsteps back across the island, and then over the gorge via the span, passed through immigration, and re-entered Canada.  I then walked upstream towards Horseshoe Falls.

En route, immediately in front of me perpendicular to my sight line, was a grand display of American Falls, including the small island on the right side between the major section of falls, and the smaller waterfall at the right edge of the cascades, where I stood up close a short while ago.  This view helped me gain a greater perspective of where I was, and just how massive the falls are.

I then continued my journey upstream, now with the massive Horseshoe Falls demanding my undivided attention.

I found an elevated shady spot in the grass of Niagara Park that overlooked a portion of these falls.  From there I sat and stared for a long while, just watching the cascade and the shifting dance of mist extending vertically up away from the surface of the Earth.  I was mesmerized.

I tried to think about what I was missing from my experience here.  Do I need to get shoulder-to-shoulder with the blue smurfs on the boat and get wet to complete my exposure to Niagara?  Should I go on a tour behind the waterfall to round out my set of observations?  None of these things felt like they were the missing piece.  But, I was still looking for something.  That something was an even more grand, zoomed-out view of the landscape.

I could take a ride in the annoying helicoptor that had been buzzing over my head all day long, to position me further away and higher up.  "Too ostentatious and expensive.", I thought to myself.  Then, as I stood up and turned around, I saw it.  Amidst the tall buildings of hotels and casinos with common names such as "Sheraton" and "Embassy Suites", I saw a tall observation tower, comparable in shape to "The Stratosphere" in Las Vegas.  "Skylon" was it's name, and for $12.50, the elevator of this concrete spire shot me to the top.

At the top, I experienced the dizzying perspective I was looking for.  Not only could I get a better sense of just how massive Horseshoe Falls was, but I could see for miles into the expanse of calm river flow that was oblivious to its future violent state.  In fact, I could see all the way to Lake Erie, where the Niagara River first takes shape, taking water from places like Buffalo NY, Erie PA, Cleveland and Huron OH.

The many days of riding along Erie's shore, all the water I passed, every drop possibly having a chance at becoming famous, becoming part of the Niagara River and falls.

Zooming out a bit more, I also gained the fantastic perspective of Niagara Falls as a whole, both the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls, their one source split into two by Goat Island, then reuniting downstream of the dramatic water show.

On the way back through the beautiful gardens and floral displays of the park on the Canadian side, I searched for more unique and interesting vantage points to showcase her beauty.

While in no way can one visit, one glimpse, one set of photographs, fully convey the sheer awesomeness of nature that is on display at a place called Niagara Falls, I felt as though I made a noble first attempt at understanding it.

In the evening, I sat with other hostel guests around a table sharing stories and experiences of the day.  Alex, from England, took the Maid of the Mist boat ride.  He said it was fun, but incredibly wet.  "You couldn't take a picture or really see much.", he commented with his accent.  

Tanya, from Perth in Western Australia, told me of her search for the pristine, undistracted beauty of the falls.  She struggled to find it amongst the "rubbish" of commercialism, with blaring music, flashing lights from casinos, and other distractions competing for attention, and for the dollar.  But, she finally got what she was looking for.  She went on to explain that she stuck around for the evening fireworks show over the falls.  "The fireworks show, with the falls illuminated below by way of special lighting, lasted all of 5 minutes.", she explained with a degree of disappointment.  "But, the most spectacular event of all was after it was over."

When the fireworks show ended, within minutes, the throngs of tourists left.  "Ten minutes later, it was a ghost town.", she explained.  She couldn't believe it.  Everyone went back to their fancy hotels, to the bar, to the casino, to the arcade, to the movie theater, etc.

She stood in front of the falls along the empty boardwalk alone.  She had the entire display, the most spectacular of displays, the reason behind why she, and everyone else, was here, all to herself.  She found a place to sit in front of Horseshoe Falls to take it all in.  "It was breathtaking.", she said with a sense of fulfillment. "The sound of the falls came alive when I was out there by myself.", she went on to explain.  She described the crushing, pounding awesomeness of what she was hearing.  And, she heard great variations in sound with fluctuations in the wind and water flow.  She hadn't been able to hear any of this earlier in the day with the background noise drowning out the melodies.

A short while later, a lone man walking on the boardwalk came up and sat next to her.  He was a bus driver, who just finished his shift.  "Pretty awesome now, isn't it", he said to Tanya.  He told her that he sits and takes in the beauty and sounds of the falls every night after his shift.  And most of the time, he's the only one around.  "I don't understand it - everyone comes here to see the falls, and you would think people would be out around the clock observing it.", he said.  "This is the best time to experience it.", he went on.  They both sat quietly for some time, Tanya appreciating the Niagara Falls she had been looking for.