A Georgia Girl in Germany

About 700 years ago, Niagara Falls separated into three distinct falls: the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. As time passed, the water roaring over the cliff edge eroded the soft layer of shale beneath the tougher Lockport Dolostone caprock and formed a cave behind the Bridal Veil Falls. This cave was discovered in 1834 and was estimated to be 120 feet wide, 100 feet high and 50 feet deep. In 1920, the ledge of rock that formed the cave broke free of the gorge wall and fell into the river, leaving no trace of the cave. But, visitors can still trek down beside the Bridal Veil Falls. Once again, we were issued disposable raincoats, but this time we were also issued disposable sandals. Hmmmm.

The current Cave of the Winds tour started in 1925 after modern elevators provided access to the lower gorge area. The elevator shaft was hand-chiseled away...from the bottom up. Before the elevator was built, visitors accessed the gorge via stairs. The flora and fauna at the bottom of the falls was very lush and green, as would be expected with that much water running nearby.

Zachary lost his ornery spirit for this tour, and readily wore his raincoat. We managed to stay pretty dry for the first dozen or so yards of the self-paced tour.

We soon came to one corner where the mist and water roared awfully close to the path. The boys didn’t seem to mind though.

More lush landscape at the bottom of the falls. Each winter, the state parks staff takes down the walkways and platforms due to potential damage from ice buildup at the falls, then reconstructs them each spring.

We witnessed a few folks getting doused at this spot, but it came and went as the water surged. I think Zachary was hoping to get wet here...just a little though.

Benjamin enjoyed reaching out to this flow of water as we continued on our trek. He had the silly giggles, and his hair was getting pretty wet. The water was cold!

As we continued forward, we couldn’t see as well from the mist, although the rainbow was a nice touch.

Zachary’s turn for the silly giggles as the wind currents blew water all over him. I no longer had to remind him to wear his hood.

Aha! We discovered the reason behind issuing us the disposable sandals! By this point, we had all rolled up our pants legs, although it doesn’t seem to have done much good for MacKenzie.

We had the option to bypass the Hurricane Deck portion of the trek, but we all figured we could handle it, so we trekked out. From the moment we stepped onto the deck, we certainly felt the mighty spray and turbulent drafts of air from the roaring falls dropping into the Niagara Gorge. It looks like Benjamin’s being attacked by the water -- water at his feet, raincoat sticking to his damp clothes underneath and two hands holding his hood on his head. At least he’s still smiling.

Zachary and Benjamin decided the best way to get closer to the falls was to walk backwards. I was doing likewise so I could keep an eye on them.

WHAM! We were doused with a horrendous wall of water. All that water in the air is water flowing over and around me! Fortunately, I rigged a raincoat for my camera out of one of our previous disposable raincoats to help protect it from the onslaught of water, otherwise I doubt the camera would have survived without becoming extremely water-logged.



More mist and another rainbow -- and a smile on Zachary’s face.

The boys decided they wanted an encore on the Hurricane Deck, so I went off to a (somewhat) safe distance to watch the action. Yes, they’re huddled together -- with Benjamin trying to hide behind Zachary to keep the full force of the waves off him.

The onslaught of water didn’t let up.

Where are my boys!?!! At one point, they got separated from each other -- which worried Benjamin for a bit until he could get his bearings, wipe the water from his eyes and find Zachary again. Whew!

Yup, it certainly looks like Benjamin survived a hurricane!

I think they all got a pretty good soaking -- correction: DRENCHING.

MacKenzie didn’t spend as much quality time on the Hurricane Deck as her brothers did, but it didn’t take much to get the two of us drenched as well.

How well did the raincoats work? I’d hate to see how drenched we’d be if we didn’t have them on -- we’d still be drying out!

Once back on dry ground, Benjamin had to pose with this statue of Nikola Tesia, the Yugoslav inventor whose inventions were incorporated into the Niagara Power Station in 1896 thereby taking the first steps toward the beginning of the use of electric energy. Benjamin didn’t care anything about the significance of the statue; he just thought it was cool to climb on it and ham it up for the camera.

Labels: Benjamin, Canada, MacKenzie, Nana and Papa, Stateside visits, Travel, Zachary