Niagara : an overwhelming flood
-- From the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
It is officially a word in the English language. The Niagara falls are not the world's highest waterfalls. By far. The height of the falls is about 175 feet. Compare that to the world's highest waterfalls - Angel falls in Venezuela - 3212 feet or even to the Jog falls in Karnataka, India - 830 feet. Why then, does Niagara become synonymous with a torrent? "Flood" is certainly the operative word here. The water hits the rocks and the mist rises HUNDREDS of feet and is visible for miles. To look up from the base of the falls and see all that water crashing down is certainly a to-do for life. This is inspite of a good amount of the water being chanelled away for hydroelectric purposes. In fact the US and Canada had to sign a treaty to ensure that they did not divert so much water than the falls ceased being scenic any more.
Niagara Falls State Park is free. There is actually free parking on the roads around the area and also right next to the falls. Heck! Even a huge parking lot not a 100 yards from the park entrance is only $5 a day which to my California wallet looked like a steal. I have paid $20 right in San Francisco to spend a few hours in a commercial outlet. You can walk right into the falls area and see the American falls and get a somewhat obstructed view of the Canadian falls. There is a balloon ride that takes you up several hundred feet for a real panaromic view of the entire area. The charge is $18 a pop and the lines are very long so it better to get here as early as possible.
There are two sections to the Niagara Falls - the American side and the Canadian side. The American side is the less spectacular of the two and is divided into two sections - the main falls and a smaller portion called the Bridal Veil falls. The length of the ridge of the waterfall is smaller on the US side. The Canadian side is longer and shaped like an arc - therefore the name Horseshoe falls. With an American/Canadian passport it is easy to cross back and forth. Otherwise you need to get a Canadian visa which is fairly straightforward to get.
While the initial thrill of seeing all that water cascade is satisfying, there is little else to see and so, you must do one or preferably both the main attractions there. The Cave of the Winds tour and the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The Cave queue was about 300 people long so we passed and did the Maid of the Mist ( which was equally long but snaked and twisted so that it wasnt so discouraging ). The Maid of the Mist is a boat ride that leaves from the Observation deck and goes past the American falls and takes you all the way to the base of the Horseshoe falls. And what a ride! At the base I realized that being at that point was certainly something that anyone with the opportunity to do must do.
And many people do. Upwards of 10 millions tourists come here each year and a third of all Americans visit the falls in their lifetime. Outside of Mystery Point, Santa Cruz this is also one of the strongest magnets for tourists from India. There was a Hungarian lady ahead of us who asked us if there was a spiritual significance in India for waterfalls seeing that there were so many tourists from there!
At night the falls are lit from both sides with colorful lights and it makes for very pretty photographs even if I didnt succeed in getting any good ones.
There is also a nice park around the main falls area where you walk around, see the rapids before they crash over the falls and read about the history of the place at the Visitor Center.
