Niagara Glen--Off the Beaten Track at Niagara Falls
Today's (Sunday) Buffalo News has a nice story about Niagara Glen, https://buffalonews.com/2019/11/23/in-canadas-niagara-glen-an-inspiring-view-of-a-familiar-river/
If you are visiting Niagara Falls, as a local I highly recommend this hike down into the gorge (North of the Falls). It's free, but you do have to climb down 80 steps...
Hiking into Canada's Niagara Glen, as they call it, is a vastly different experience than hiking the American Devil's Hole trail. While the one New York trail follows an old railroad bed along the narrow base of the gorge for a loop of about 2 miles, Canadians can hike nine trails that meander for nearly 4 miles through their much wider river terrace.
And on these trails, you encounter a maze of boulders the size of cottages, centuries-old trees nearly as tall as Niagara Falls, deep potholes formed by a much younger Niagara River, rock shelters that stir the imagination and vistas that demonstrate the power and beauty of the river.
[...] These boulders cracked off from the top of the cliff thousands of years ago as the river cut its way through the escarpment. Many of the formations have been given names, like Fat Man's Misery, Tangerine Squeeze and Balancing Rocks.
[...] Bruce Kershner, the forest ecologist from the University at Buffalo, studied this 60-acre hardwood forest (the tallest in Ontario) and the nearby 10-acre cedar zone, shortly before his death in 2007. Among his discoveries:
" Canada's tallest tulip tree, at 134 feet (Niagara Falls is 167 feet) and 225 years old
" Canada's tallest Chinkapin Oak, 100 feet and 150 years old
" A black cherry, 150 feet and 200 years old
" Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood), 15-inch diameter, 300 years oldAnd those are the young ones in this glen's forest. The white cedar is gramps.
"Northern white cedar (20-32 inch diameter) up to 500 years old, possibly older!" Kercschner wrote for his study. "They grow in fantastic shapes on boulders and cliffs in the glen ... The old growth northern white cedars of the Niagara Gorge can safely be called a nationally significant discovery. Hundreds of ultra-ancient cedars populate Canada's side of the Niagara Gorge."
[...] There are two unfortunate distractions, though. This is an international tourist destination, and with that comes the sounds of helicopters above and the jet boats roaring up the river to Devil's Hole. These rides may be thrilling for the tourists, but they're a noisy obscenity to those who prefer the natural beauty of the gorge.
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