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Published: October 15th 2006
On July 9 1960, Roger Woodward inadvertently became the first person to go over the falls unaided and survive; he was protected only by a lifejacket and an embarrassingly large amount of luck. He had been upstream in a small boat with his sister Deanne and his uncle Jim when their vessel had developed engine trouble. Though he rowed frantically Jim was no match for the current and they were soon rushing towards the falls at a trouser-staining pace. Fate and Lady Luck must have had a soft spot for children that day as Deanne was rescued a mere six metres from the edge of the Horseshoe Falls. Both Roger and Jim however went over the edge where Fate delivered the ultimate kick in the teeth to Jim by robbing him of this process of existence we call life. Roger, miraculously, was rescued from the pools beneath the falls with no injuries save for getting his hair wet. He remains to this day the only person to survive the fall unaided, all the others who survived used specially designed barrels, wimps. But before we get to one of the natural wonders of the world let us take a few steps back
Fall Colours
Beautiful. This is kind of a cop out as this was taken from the top of Mont Royal as I had no good photos of the colours from the road trip.to a couple of days before.
Being that it was the Thanksgiving w/e in Canada me and nine others had decided that the best way to give thanks was to rent two cars and spend our four days off driving down to Niagara to see the falls. The logistics involved in organising ten people, split evenly down gender lines, is daunting and it made me pine for the “care-free” days of ferry chasing with Joel and JC! That said though as soon as we left the confines of Montreal island and got out into the open country I relaxed as I watched the truly stunning fall colours* float on by and the easy listening charm of Paul Simons “You Can Call Me Al” blasted from our bottom of the line stereo system and poured forth in all its out of tune glory from us. It was brilliant, I felt better than I had in weeks and I had a huge smile stapled to my face.
* I have, to some extent, starting using the local lingo, there are however limits to how far this will go. For example I am saying fall instead of autumn and pitcher instead
of jug. However as long as I live colour will always have a “u” in it and words like realise will NEVER have a “z” in them.
Let us slow for a minute and have a better look at the fall colours as they whistle past my window at speeds that mothers would not be pleased at. It is had to comprehend how a few basic oranges, yellows and greens can put on such an impressive display until you look a little closer and notice all the varied hues, shades and pastels that these colours can create. No tree is the same colour as the ones on either side and this, combined with the number of trees creates a patchwork effect that is truly enchanting. I hope the photos do it justice.
After arriving in Toronto and getting 10 people into a 6 person room we headed out and tried to find a cheap pub. We were not successful but had a few drinks anyway and then got up far too early the next day for the hour and a half drive to Niagara. As the weather was almost too good to be true we went straight down
All ten of us
Matt, Ryan, Me, Nick, Vasudha, Sophie, Jacqui, Dave, Ari, Eliza towards the falls to have a look at them. You can see evidence of the sheer power of the falls before you get anywhere near them, a white tower of mist that soaks the surrounding area and keeps everything a lush shade of green. Niagara Falls is split into 3 separate falls with the most famous, most powerful and, depending on your opinion the most impressive, being the Horseshoe Falls, which I am sure you will be surprised to hear is in the shape of a horseshoe. The American Falls are about 500 metres downstream with the Bridal Veil Falls just to the right. To be honest I only realised that the Bridal Veil Falls were deemed a separate entity until I was doing a little fact checking to write this.
The Horseshoe Falls plunge into a churning, seething pool that is constantly raging. From this a white plume of mist rises up and drenches the best viewing areas on the Canadian side, no doubt skeptical folks would suggest some type of American conspiracy😉 It is very hard to describe the massive amount of water that cascades over the falls, it is truly daunting and incredibly impressive, right up
The Boys
Dave, Nick, Matt and Ryan there with Vic Falls in Zim. It is even more astonishing when you think that on average between 50 and 75% of the water is diverted upstream and used for power generation and then released into the river far downstream of the falls. The American Falls have less volume going over them but are no less impressive due in part to the large boulders and debris that have accumulated at the base. Incredibly these falls were shut off for a period of months during 1969 to shore up the cliff face to prevent erosion. Wikipedia has a great article on the Falls so check it out. The Falls are definitely better on the Canadian side though so to anyone going, I suggest crossing the border into Canada.
That day we went on the Maid of the Mist, which has been taking people up to the base of the falls since the 1800’s. Though it is a little expensive it is worth doing it just to get close up to the American and Horseshoe Falls. Luckily they give you a super-stylish poncho as you get absolutely drenched by the spray. Remember Roger, the miracle kid, he returned to the falls
The Horseshoe Falls
Taken from the Maid of the Mist in 1980 and went on the Maid of the Mist during his honeymoon, so obviously he suffered no permanent mental fear of falling water. Afterwards I danced a merry postcard jig😊
The town of Niagara is a 15-20minute walk from the falls and it is truly horrible. Messer’s Meadows and Chelvam would have hated it and so did I. It is a complete contrast to the natural beauty of the area around the falls and I applaud the efforts of the Niagara Parks Commission in keeping development under control. Think a poor mans Vegas, bright, brash, loud, tactless and crass, an explosion of flashing neon and pure, unadulterated touristy gimmicks. Urrrggggghhhhh. We only spent the one night there which was more than enough for me, this time it was 10 people in a 4 person room😊
The next day we went to the lovely little town of Niagara-on-the-lake where we all just hung out down by Lake Ontario, played some Frisbee and generally relaxed. The main street is a bustling tourist strip of little shops and small time bakeries. Down by the Lake was a nice park with great views across the water and the small fort on
the other side. This was possibly my favourite bit of the w/e as it reminded me of the good times I had in Europe. That night we found an all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant courtesy of LP and proceeded to gorge ourselves silly. Feeling a little the worse for went back to the hotel, 10 people in a 6 person room, and then headed out for some nighttime shenanigans.
The rest of the trip was a little hectic for various reasons as we had to try and get back to Montreal. We stopped in the university town of Kingston for some grub but couldn’t stay long which pissed me off as it looked really beautiful. All in all it was a good w/e and it was just brilliant to get out of the big city and into the countryside. Note to self: Get out of big city more often so you can write on travelblog and people won’t winge about lack of blogging.
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Brilliant
Fantastic blog Dan, I was laughing out loud... especially at the oh-so cleverly subtle public inclusion of the infamous Postcard Jig. And "pticher"? Please retain your Australian/British-ism... I would rather be long dead in the cold ground before I EVER hear one of us using Nth American terminology...