NIAGARA FALLS WET BUT NOT SO WILD
NIAGARA FALLS, Canada - So I told my wife, Carla, that on our next trip to Canada I wanted to see Niagara Falls up close at its most dangerous. She humored me with an "OK."
A lot of spouses must have gotten an OK. The three main adventures had been put into a pass with frequently running buses carrying crowds of tourists from around the world from one to the next.
The three adventures are the Maid of the Mist boat trip, Journey Behind the Falls and the White Water Walk.
In past visits I had watched the Maid of the Mist take passengers so close to the falls that they disappeared in the mist. My first clue that it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked was when they announced that they had been taking passengers to the falls since 1846 and had yet to lose one. Now what kind of adventure is that?
The next clue was the sheer volume of people crowding into the elevators taking us 230 feet down to the boats. We took longer to work the line to the boat than the boat ride took. My final clue was the nature of my fellow passengers - little children, pregnant women and people even older than I am.
Still, it was exciting. Greeters handed us our one-size-fits-all blue disposable rainwear. Carla prevented me from putting my head through the armhole as I tried to manage my camera and hat. The boat got us up close to both the American and the Canadian falls, and the closer we got, the higher we bounced in the waves and the thicker the mist. The boat went into the crescent of the Canadian Falls, soaking us with its spray. There was just enough adrenaline charging through my body to make it a satisfactory experience.
The Maid of the Mist takes visitors into the mist of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
The Journey Behind the Falls also was special. To control the crowds, we were given times to enter. This time our slickers were yellow and again disposable. The 15-year-old boy who drove the elevator took us down 250 feet in a few seconds. Audio phones where handed out, so we listened to ongoing commentary as we explored the caves under the falls. Plaques on the walls gave further information.
In several places, we entered a tunnel that took us behind the falls so that it was cascading in front of us. Finally we stepped out on the walkway at the bottom of the falls to watch the water cascading down beside us.
This behind-the-scenes tour turned out to be another exciting experience. We went back to the top to view the falls from the usual angles. Nice, lots of water, but not as fascinating as the up-close view.
Viewing the falls from the walkway at the bottom
After lunch we took the last adventure, the White Water Walk. A short distance downriver from the falls there is a narrowing of the river over a rocky bottom. This produces rapids that because of their violence people are forbidden to ride. This appeared to be the best photo opportunity, and many visitors were posing in front of the raging waters.
On the three tours, certain facts began to be repeated: how many people had died going over the falls, how many had lived, who had walked a tightrope over the falls, what happened to people who tried to swim through the raging white water to the other side, how many gallons of water a second dashed over the falls and how many bathtubs that would fill.
The pass includes four sights, the fourth being the butterfly conservatory. We had visited that on a previous trip and skipped it this time. We also skipped several other adventures that seem exciting to me. One is a whirlpool aero car that carries a basket of passengers over the river’s famous whirlpool. We also saw a helicopter giving rides and a hot air balloon over the American side of the falls.
The falls continue to be one of Canada’s and the United State’s major attractions for residents and visitors. Despite the fact that the special tours are not really dangerous, they are still a lot of fun.
The white water walk along the narrow part of the river.
