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Niagara Falls and other wild water

BY JUDITH H. BERNSTEIN | judith.bernstein@newsday.com

2:12 PM EDT, June 8, 2007

Up close at Niagara Falls (AP/David Duprey)

After recent trips to Spain and Ireland, and cruises to Alaska and Panama, I racked my brain for a jaunt worthy of our 35th wedding anniversary. After all, for our 25th, we'd stayed at a seaside resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. How could we top that?

"How about Niagara Falls?" my husband, Paul, suggested. And that idea blossomed into a vacation about a force of nature so powerful it's been a tourist magnet since the early 1800s, when Napoleon's brother visited with his bride, kicking off Niagara's reputation as a honeymoon destination.

We decided we'd immerse ourselves in New York's natural wonders -- the waterfalls that blanket the central and western part of the state. Online, I found Scott A. Ensminger's Western New York Waterfall Survey. Ensminger has written books on Canadian and New York waterfalls, and lists more than 900 on his Web site. And Rich and Sue Freeman's "200 Waterfalls in Central & Western New York: A Finder's Guide" (Footprint Press) contains photos, maps and a one- to four-boot system that rates each falls' accessibility, a necessity since we're not into extreme hiking. It was clear: Niagara Falls was only the beginning.

But what a beginning! We decided to see the three ever-changing falls in Niagara from as many vantage points as possible (although not via barrel or helicopter, thank you!). The view from our hotel room on the Canadian side of the falls was a great start. (One of the benefits of our early May visit was snagging a suite with a fireplace and whirlpool tub for only $115 a night. And that included a complimentary breakfast buffet every morning, plus a $40 dinner voucher, which we used at the hotel's ninth-floor steakhouse. That offered yet another view of the falls, which are illuminated at night in constantly changing colors by 21 spotlights.)

The thunderous din of crashing water was so intense we could hear it in our room, even with the window closed. The spray blanketed our car as we drove along the walkway that skirts the falls, and cooled us when we strolled alongside the rim. Over our three-day stay, the U-shape of the Horseshoe Falls -- the largest of the three cascades -- often resembled a cauldron, with the rising mist looking like steam above a colossal pot.

Among our stops on the Canadian side was the Table Rock Center, where we donned yellow rain slickers as an elevator whisked us 150 feet below street level to Journey Behind the Falls. There, we explored the tunnels and observation decks behind and below Horseshoe Falls. The 520-foot-tall Skylon Tower's open-air observation area swept us up in the other direction, but the falls' power could be felt, their roar heard, even at that distance.

Slowing the flow

Ironically, these massive falls don't cascade at full strength. Our tour guide, George, explained that power companies in New York and Canada harness the falls to produce electricity but also have slowed the flow to alleviate erosion that was moving Horseshoe Falls 3 to 4 feet a year; that erosion is now just 1 foot every 10 years.

We decided to follow the waters north along the Niagara River Recreational Trail. The unique power of rushing water is obvious here, with 30-mph white-water rapids that reach Category 6, the most dangerous level. At the White Water Walk, we took an elevator 230 feet down to a boardwalk that hugs the tumbling rapids and rock cliffs.

Afterward, we drove north along the river to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the Shaw Festival is in residence from April through October. We lucked out: The festival had matinees in two theaters that day. We snagged front-row balcony seats to Shaw's "Saint Joan" at the Festival Theater, and strolled charming village streets lined with shops and restaurants until the play started. After Joan's fire and passion, we had a quiet dinner on the outdoor deck of an Italian restaurant overlooking placid Lake Ontario, where all that sound and fury of Niagara finally, calmly flows.

As part of our tour of Niagara Falls, the lures included attractions devoted to birds and butterflies and flowers. And on another evening, we drove away from the busy, touristy downtown area and visited a winery just south of Niagara-on-the-Lake for dinner punctuated by glasses of local wine.

On our way back to the Finger Lakes, we stopped at Niagara Falls State Park -- New York's first state park, established in 1885. While our Canadian hosts had pooh-poohed the view on the American side, the difference was striking. Being in Canada and seeing the falls is like being in Astoria or Brooklyn and viewing Manhattan's skyline: undeniably breathtaking.

But being on the American side is like being in Manhattan -- you can't get any closer to the falls than this on land. The Maid of the Mist, which sails from both Canadian and U.S. shores, had just started its season that morning. It's a short ride, but stunning, as the boat, rocked by the crashing, tumbling waters, sails straight to Horseshoe Falls and takes you up close to the American and Bridal Veil falls. Running since 1846, when it was a ferry, it's easy to see why the Maid has such longevity among Niagara's tourists.

Serene treasures

But not all of New York's waterfalls are bustling tourist destinations. Some are serene treasures waiting to be discovered.

On the way to Niagara, we'd spent a couple of nights in the Village of Montour Falls, about 3 miles south of Watkins Glen, which is at the southern end of Seneca Lake, one of the largest of the Finger Lakes. As we approached the village via Main Street, the jaw-dropping sight of 156-foot She-qua-ga Falls (it means "tumbling waters") loomed before us. The cascade, just about 30 feet shy of Niagara's highest falls, sports a green welcome mat: a vest-pocket park with benches inviting you to linger. Not content with just a street-level visit, we took the short, steep drive to Falls Bridge on Mill Street for a view of She-qua-ga from above -- along with a panoramic scene of village and countryside. At night, from the front porch of the house we stayed in, we could hear the dancing water in the quiet of the night, when She-qua-ga is lit up.

This is a bountiful place to tour waterfalls -- Ensminger's survey lists 72 cataracts for Schuyler County, which includes Montour Falls and Watkins Glen. All the lakes in the region, plus the falls here and in Niagara, are the result of eons of geological shift, as glaciers advanced and retreated, carving cliffs and gorges, scooping out lakes and sending rivers, creeks and water from lakes over rock ledges and escarpments. The Finger Lakes area boasts so many falls, we actually stumbled over some of them.

Seated at a local diner with a window view at breakfast, for instance, we noticed a long trickle of a waterfall across the road. When we asked if it had a name, our waitress laughed and dubbed it "the cute little waterfall across from Chef's." We later found that this stretch of Route 14 between Montour Falls and Watkins Glen contained five dainty, unnamed waterfalls, one almost hidden behind a mini-storage building. Just south of this quintet, across from the "Welcome to Montour Falls" sign, is the 90-foot high Aunt Sarah's Falls.

A roar by the roadside

And a short drive north of Watkins Glen, we passed another roadside cascade, Hector Falls. Here, we pulled to the shoulder and walked to a roadway bridge for a better view. Hector clocks in at 165 feet and flows down under the roadway and into Seneca Lake. The Freemans suggest viewing Hector from a boat on Seneca; we'll have to try that next time, since no vessels were in the water yet.

These Finger Lakes falls were pretty, but after experiencing the massive Niagara flows, it was going to be harder to impress us.

Taughannock Falls did the trick. Located about 10 miles north of Ithaca, nearly a 25-mile drive through farmland east of Montour Falls, 745-acre Taughannock State Park had one of the prettiest and most utilitarian trails we'd been on, with plenty of signs explaining the area's history, geology, flora and fauna. Another advantage of our early spring visit: We had that trail nearly to ourselves.

We passed several small falls along the creek before we reached Taughannock itself, which, at 215 feet, is easily taller than Niagara's Horseshoe (170 feet) or American falls (180 feet). Like a ballerina dancing before a Wild West canyon, the graceful, slender slide of water is set against rugged 400-foot-high, chiseled rock walls rimmed by trees -- a stunning sight. The only sounds were birds chirping and the roar of the waters.

Taughannock, which legend says was named after a local Indian chief, has another point of view, too. We found the overlook easily, but unlike the peace and calm on the trail, we also found a blonde who had decided the overlook's stone deck, right in front of the falls, was a great place for a loud cell phone conversation. We stood at the top of the stone stairs, just staring, until she somehow caught our vibe and moved along so we could enjoy the spectacular view.

The Finger Lakes waterfalls had undeniable allure, power and beauty, but we also made time for other attractions. Watkins Glen's Main Street features antiques shops; a discount store that sells hiking shoes and casual clothing; restaurants and bars, some featuring live music in the evening; a cozy coffee-and-book shop; and the Glen Theatre, where admission for "Spider-Man 3" on its opening night was $5 each (and we didn't have to order the tickets in advance on Fandango).

Also in Watkins Glen, we toured the Farm Sanctuary for abused or abandoned farm animals run by a nonprofit organization. After a fellow diner at Chef's urged "Don't miss it!" we shopped at the Windmill Craft & Farm Market in Penn Yan, where more than 200 vendors sell potted plants, crafts, Finger Lakes wines, jewelry and food -- either to tote home or eat right there. For lunch, Paul dove into a plate of pierogies and brats from the Polish Princess' Pierogi Palace.

On a rainy afternoon in downtown Ithaca, we browsed an antiques store and a large used-book shop in an enclosed market, and window-shopped along The Commons, a pedestrian mall, before heading to the sprawling Cornell Plantations, a 150-acre arboretum and a botanical garden on the university's campus. After a snack in the school cafeteria, we took in the Cornell Cinema with students and faculty -- and the filmmaker who was there for a Q&A -- to see "Interkosmos," a low-budget, indie flick.

Water world

One of our favorite dinners during this vacation was at a lakeside saloon in Watkins Glen, where the food was good and inexpensive, the service friendly and the view included watching the sun set over Seneca Lake from a back porch. Ensminger's site says Tompkins County, home to Ithaca and Taughannock, has 133 waterfalls. And in Schuyler County, we had to skip a visit to Watkins Glen State Park, which has 19 cascades, because the trail wasn't yet open for the season. We can't wait to get back there.