Being Tourists At Niagara Falls, USA

We spent a hot and hazy week in July at Four Mile Creek State Park on Lake Ontario, which we chose because it has the closest state park camping to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls ranked high on our list of must-visit sites on our “more than just a city” tour of New York. New York has protected the US side of the falls by the creation of Niagara Falls State Park in 1885, the first state park in the country. We were just 20 minutes north of the falls and ended up visiting 4 times!

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The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Along the way, 750,000 gallons of water per second tumble over Niagara Falls and through the Niagara Gorge. Because of erosion, the falls are moving upstream at about one foot per year.

There are actually three waterfalls, Horseshoe, Bridal Veil, and American Falls, which are separated by Goat and Luna Islands. On the US side, you can view the falls from the islands or mainland NY. Across the river, Canada has no doubt the best view, but with the border still closed, we settled for some sideways, neck-twisting views from the US.

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The three photos above were taken from Goat and Luna Islands. The water really is this beautiful green color from the minerals it collects when going over the falls.

Downstream from Niagara Falls and along the gorge are Devil’s Hole and Whirlpool State Parks. They are connected by the ~5-mile round trip Devil’s Hole Trail which we hiked one day.

At first, we couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the air and why it was so hazy. The 95F heat and humidity? Pollution? Then, we heard on the news that it was smoke from the Oregon wildfires! From thousands of miles away!!

Luckily, we had one really nice clear day. Since we couldn’t see those epic Canadian views, we decided to ride the Maid of the Mist (the boat in the Horseshoe Falls photo). And wow, it was the highlight of our week! It was $25 per person for a 20-minute boat ride but so cool. I’m not sure if the rainbows are always there, but in 5:30 pm sunlight, they were out in full force.

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The other good thing about the Maid of the Mist ticket is that you can view the falls from Observation Tower, which is probably the best view on the US side.

I’m pretty sure we ate many more calories than we burned this week. We definitely recommend both DiCamillo’s Italian Bakery (Niagara Falls and Lewiston) and Hibbard’s Custard (Lewiston), which we visited more than once! Lewiston was a much more charming town than Niagara Falls, which has seen better days and is due for a makeover.

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Also, a 1/2hr south of Niagara Falls is Buffalo, the birthplace of Buffalo wings. So we had to make the trek to try the original recipe at The Anchor Bar, followed by another classic at Gabriel’s Gate for dinner one evening.

On the way back to our campground, we stopped at Niagara Falls to watch the nightly LED night show. The best place to watch the show is from Prospect Point on the mainland side of the park.

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Last, we visited the Niagara Power Vista. This is a high-tech and interactive museum at the Niagara Power Project that we just couldn’t believe was free for how nice it was and definitely worth the visit.

The Niagara Power Project is New York state’s largest producer of electricity. Every night for several hours water is diverted from the Niagara River and travels through two underground conduits to a reservoir. Then, releasing water from the reservoir produces hydropower.

Next up, more New York waterfalls at Letchworth State Park.