bikingfrancis2011: Niagara Region

If we love one another, God will live in us in perfect love.
1 John 4:12

Horseshoe Falls (from Canadian side)

Visitors Center flowers in bloom

Self Portrait near Horseshoe Falls

A downriver dam on the Niagara River

Niagara Falls has been the highlight of my travels so far. Excellent weather has helped but I must say that the natural wonder of the Falls 'takes the cake'. Lot's of history about this area at the Visitor's Center on the Ontario side. I can understand why this is such a popular destination for people on their 'honeymoon'...tremendous forces of nature with easy accessibility.

I think the Canadian side is more spectacular because it's higher in elevation and that makes it easier to see. It's like a 'bird's eye view'. Additionally, the sun's rays tend to be at your back more on the Canadian side and sighting a 'Rainbow' is common. Geologists say the Canadian side is younger, perhaps it hasn't eroded as much.

There is a ridge of land indigenous to the Great Lakes area called the escarpment. This terrain is abruptly higher than than the water level of the Lakes and Niagara Falls is one of the areas where water cascades to a lower elevation, quickly. The elevation changes remind me of 'The Bluffs' along the banks of the Mississippi River in southwestern Wisconsin, but this (in Ontario) is wooded and lacks the visible rock stratification of the Bluffs. This escarpment begins in western New York and ends northwest of Chicago. It's not a lot of fun to try to get up it on a bike with a trailer (like mine). I needed to walk it.