Niagara Falls: the falls

The day after we arrived back in Canada, we went to see the massive landmark that is shared by two countries. I've heard it said by many sources, and I must agree - The Canadian side of the river definitely provides a better view of Niagara Falls, as it looks face on at both the American & Horseshoe Falls. If you want to get up close & personal to the Horseshoe Falls, the (Table Rock) Welcome Center is the place to be. For a more balanced view of both falls, a walk up the street from the Center is in order. And for a different perspective of the whole area, a trip up Skylon Tower is a must do. 

For our visit, we decided to purchase a Niagara Parks WonderPass, which at this time of year got us two days transit (right from our campground), a 4D ride, a journey behind Horseshoe Falls, and a trip out to the Butterfly Conservatory (all for $20 per adult).

The 4D ride was a bit silly, and made less enjoyable by the fact that Lily now freaks out every time she hears the words “4D ride” (thank you California Adventure for that), but the Journey behind the Falls was really neat. An elevator ride took us down to a tunnel carved through the rock near the falls. The tunnel splits a little ways from the elevator, with one direction leading to a viewing platform right near the edge of the falls, about halfway down the cliff. The mist sprays in your face, the water roars, and you look up to see the massive river spilling over the edge of the cliff. It is impressive.

Directly across is the other side of Horseshoe Falls and the middle is this swirl of spray that makes it impossible to tell how deep that horseshoe really is. If you turn to look downstream you can see the American Falls and farther along, the Rainbow Bridge. To my surprise, there was still a fair bit of ice and snow pack along the edges of both of the falls, and it looked like the pack would be there for a while yet. (Information panels inside the tunnels told us that before human intervention, the ice dam would build up as high as a ten story building!).

The brightness in front is all water

The other tunnel takes you past several interpretive panels (ice dams, daredevils, geology) and then to two viewing windows directly behind the waterfall, about a third of the way across. All you can see outside these tunnels is water pounding down. The force of the water can be felt all around – a constant vibration – and it’s easy to understand how all that water can erode away solid rock. 

The present location of the falls is actually several kilometers upstream from where they were when first discovered  in the 1600’s (9 km, I think), and the falls are still on the move. The rate is slower now, due to water controls upstream, but inevitably, the face of the falls as we know it will continue to change as the river flows.

The falls are amazing during the day, but at night they become beautiful artwork, as well.  After dark, both falls are lit up in a display of color. We chose to go up Skylon Tower the following evening to see this. We could have easily just watched from the sidewalk (in a variety of spots) but I’m glad we went up as we were treated to a spectacular sunset and excellent view of the surrounding city (cities, really, as we could see Buffalo, Toronto, Hamilton, and more) before twilight set in. 

Both falls started out lit up white, but once it was truly dark, they turned colorful. Yellow, green, blue, red, and more. For a while, the American Falls were lit red, white & blue, while the Canadian Falls were red & white (the colors of our respective flags). 

Then, both were rainbow. Very pretty, and just another great example of why this continent is such an awesome place to live and travel in.

The intrepid photographer pausing to get his own pic taken. He's part of the reason these blog posts take so long to do (sorting through pictures) and also the reason I actually have pictures to share!