Niagara Falls and the Maid of the Mist

Location: Four Mile Creek State Campground; Youngstown, New York

remember, click pictures to enlarge

This adventure was from Monday, so I'm a day late. Also there will be so many pictures from the falls, I decided to split the adventure into two posts. Tomorrows post will be about the trip on the Erie Canal.

I arrived at the Niagara Falls State Park parking lot around 9:00 a.m. and got free parking since I'm camp in a state park. I apparently beat the yahoo with the flag because I didn't see him. My main interest was to see the falls and ride the Maid of the Mist. The first boat leaves at 10:00 a.m. and boats leave about every 30 minutes after that. Each boat will hold about 600 people if they are fully loaded. The one I was on was maybe half full which was still a bit crowded for me. The Maid of the Mist is privately owned and has been for a very long time. The cost of the ticket was $17.00 and includes the elevator ride and rain jacket. I got to the ticket booth about 9:15 and enjoyed watching all the people as we waited in line. It was a good people watching crowd. :).

After you get your ticket you go down the elevators to the rivers edge. They then have you pass through a tent where they give you a disposable plastic rain jacket. They had dozens of boxes in the tents, all labeled, Made in China. After we all looked the same in our fashionable blue garbage bags, we boarded the boat. I got a spot in the back knowing that when we turned around, it would be a good position.

The bridge in some of the pictures is the bridge to Canada. For reference, it is downstream of the falls. On the right as you go to the falls, you pass by an old hydro power plant that was built at river level. I haven't been able to track down the history of this plant. At first I thought it may be what was left of the Schoellkopf  Power Station that collapsed back in 1956, but I think that was farther downstream. There is about 750,000 gallons of water flowing over the falls every minute. That is why hydro-power production is so good here.

The boat takes you right up to the base of the Horseshoe Falls which are on the Canadian side of the river so technically I guess I may have left the country without a passport. After the boat gets close to the Horseshoe Falls, it turns left and faces the Bridal Veil Falls with is the middle fall of the three falls. It is located on the American side of the border so after making the turn I quit looking for the Border Patrol agents. As you complete the turn and head back down river, you see the American Falls. I'll try to match the captions up to the right pictures. Once you return to the dock you unload and go back up the elevator to the observation platform so you can see the falls at a different elevation.

There is no way to match up the pictures with the body of the post because of the large number of pictures, so I'll just post all of the pictures at the end.




I decided to take another selfie. Although I don't like pictures of myself, I think it will be good so that in a couple decades from now, the grandkids will know what the crazy old man looked like.

Line to buy tickets at the Maid of the Mist

rain jacket tent







everyone in their blue garage bags





Old Power plant on the way to the falls

Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the river

Horseshoe Falls on the right, Bridal Veil Falls on left

Bridal and Horseshoe fall, Canada and old power plant

American Falls

American Falls

All three falls and power house and other Mist boat

American Falls with Elevator shaft and bridge in background

Falls from top

Falls from top (I couldn't decide which one to use)

Another one from the top with Rainbow

Last one from top

Selfie at the falls

  
Ya'll take care of each other and I'll Cya down the road.