Niagara Falls Day 1 & 2 -- Hiking the Gorge

We had a good 7-8 hour drive up to the house we were renting in Niagara Falls and while we enjoyed the sights out the window along the way we could not wait to arrive!

We found the house a good 30 minutes before check-in time so we headed out to downtown Niagara falls to find a late lunch/ early dinner.  We settled on the Hard Rock cafe and after a wonderful dinner we walked around Niagara Falls State park for a bit.



After seeing some of the falls we checked into the house, explored all the nooks and crannies, and unpacked the car.  My husband and I left the boys with my mother in law while we went to do a quick grocery shopping and then we all settled in for an early evening.

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My husband offered to cook bacon and eggs for everyone on our first morning in Niagara and I offered to make toast.  After breakfast we decided to head back to Niagara Falls State Park and try out a few of their hiking trails.  It was a bit chilly and overcast but that worked to our advantage.



You just can not beat these hiking views!!

We started at Niagara Falls State Park and planned to hike to the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center.


The city of Toronto and the rainbow bridge 

We came to the old Schoellkopf power station elevator and decided to go down the elevator; reading about the old Schoellkopf station and how it crumbled into the Niagara river one day.





Evan snapped this to show just how far down we were! That blue dot was a lady at least 5' 5" tall!


We decided to pick up our hiking from the base of the power house and hiked for a good couple of hours all the way down to Whirlpool State Park. We had to back track a few times and lost the trail a time or two but we did prevail.


We saw quite a few rusted and wrecked cars along the base of the river.



See those two bridges in the background?  We're hiking past those (and we've already hiked over an hour)




Toronto and the rainbow bridge keep getting further and further away

(except when I zoom)

We're now close enough to see and HEAR the whirlpools
You can take a cable car ride over the whirlpool on the Canadian side and we saw quite a few jet boat tours that you can also try out; we weren't  (Okay, I wasn't) brave enough for any of them!

We learned that the Niagara river gorge is considered a class 6 rapids; which basically means it's impassible.  One tour company tried to get a tour going and while proving that the tours would be safe capsized on their first trip down the river loosing 3 members of the crew.  Needless to say they were not allowed to open and operate and no other company has tried since.




After 3 hours of hiking around the trails and walking all the way to Whirlpool state park we hopped on the free Discover Niagara Shuttle.  We got back off on Old Falls Street and went walking around looking for some lunch.  

It was after 2 by this time and we were starving! It was a really cute area to explore and we ended up eating lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.




We went through a few souvenir shops after lunch and headed back to the house for the night. After a whole morning of hiking we were quite content to relax in our pajamas and spent the night playing card games and watching TV.

My husband wanted me to buy this sign:


I almost did too since it does apply to me but knew I wanted to buy a hooded sweatshirt and an ornament and my suitcase was already pretty full.


Other posts about Niagara Falls:

Niagara Falls Day 3; Rainy day fun at the Power Vista, Aquarium, and Discovery Center 
Visiting the Buffalo Zoo
Niagara Falls at Night
Spending a Day in Niagara Falls, Canada
Getting Soaked at Niagara Falls
Old Fort Niagara 
Boat Ride on the Erie Canal
Niagara Falls State Park at Night

Comments

  1. Dawn RebekahSeptember 22, 2018 at 11:44 AM

    Great! I wish we had had more time when we were there.
    Blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3September 22, 2018 at 2:26 PM

      I was afraid that a week was going to be to long and we'd run out of things to do but it seemed like that was just the right amount of time to see and do everything on our list.. plus a few added activities we hadn't planned on.

      Delete
  2. Amy at Ms. Toody Goo ShoesSeptember 26, 2018 at 10:16 PM

    I loved Niagara Falls! We were only there for two days - would have been nice to have more time. Thanks for sharing at Best Of The Weekend@

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3September 27, 2018 at 3:44 PM

      I was afraid that a week was going to be too long and we were going to run out of things to do but it felt like just the right amount of time.

      Delete
  3. Calypso In The CountryOctober 5, 2018 at 8:03 AM

    Wow - I have never been there and I never knew it was classified as level 6 rapids! Looks like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing at this month's Take Me Away Party!

    ReplyDelete

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