We got a Niagara Falls Adventure pass for the day which included three attractions and a bus pass at a discounted price of CAD$49 per person. We hopped on the nice air-conditioned bus to our first stop the Whirlpool Areo Car which is a suspended cable car going over a spot where the Niagara River makes a sharp V shaped turn creating a large semi-permanent whirlpool which is very treacherous to sail through. Due to Covid restrictions the Areo Car had very restricted capacity so the line was almost an hour long and so even though the ride itself only took about 10 minutes this attraction took up most of our morning. It was interesting riding over the whirlpool but not worth the wait.
Next we took the bus a short ways to the White Water Walk which took us down the canyon right next to the river. The attraction is a nice wooden pathway along a section of class 6 white water rapids featuring up to 18 foot high standing waves. For those that do not know white water rapids are classed according to difficulty of running the river ranging from class 1 which is a smooth float down calm waters to class 5 which is not for the faint of heart and requires professional guides. In Colorado we when on a Class 3 river which has a bit of excitement but not much real danger. This section of the Niagara river is class 6 which is considered deadly and un-navigable. Just looking at the river with its huge waves and it was easy to see the power of the water and why it is a Class 6 river. The last commercial white rafting trip down this river in the 1980’s resulted in many people hurt and a number of fatalities before rafting was banned on this stretch. At the end of the huge rapids was the 125 foot deep whirlpool we had gone over on the Areo Car.
Our final destination was the Journey Behind the Falls where we got to go into a tunnel that actually go behind Horseshoe Falls. The viewing areas behind the falls was a bit of a letdown because you really can’t see anything other than a grey swirling storm of very loud water. It was basically a tunnel opening into a very loud wet grey cloud but it did give us an idea of the power of the water under the falls. There was also a viewing area right next to the bottom of the falls where we could see the water rushing down over the cliff and the spray of the water was like a powerful rainstorm soaking everything.
Thinking about it, Niagara Falls is probably one of the world’s deadliest places. First, you would go over a 175 foot waterfall followed by class 6 rapids with 18 foot high waves going 50 miles an hour before finally hitting a 125 foot deep whirlpool. Aquaman would have a hard time surviving that trip.
As a special treat we made a video of this portion of the trip!
On the bus back from the Journey Behind the Falls attraction we met a local man who recommended Chuck’s Roadhouse for dinner and that turned out to be a great suggestion. I had a 20 oz Porterhouse for only CAD$25. Beer was only CAD$4. This was a great deal considering a Whopper Combo meal costs CAD$17. With our bellies full we headed back to Rover for the night.
