Vacation Excursions: Niagara Falls State Park

I’m on vacation from my “day” job this week which gave me the opportunity to take brief weekend trip to Upstate New York to see perhaps one of the most well known water falls in all of North America.

Fun fact: Niagara Falls claims to be the oldest state park in the United States and was established in 1885 in response to industrial activity along the river. There are some other parks that predate the formation of the Niagara Falls State park and I will include a link to that at the end of the article.

Prior to becoming a state park the land surrounding the falls was held by various private interest. What’s amazing is considering that the whole area was overrun with pollution but people were able to restore the natural beauty to this area for everyone to enjoy today and hopefully for generations to come.

Fun Fact 2: Niagara Falls is actually made up of 3 waterfalls. The Horseshoe Falls which is the largest of the 3 and is also sometimes called the Canadian Falls, The American Falls, and the Bridal Veil Falls which you can view the base of by visiting the Cave of the Winds which is where most of these images were captured.

What was nice about visiting the Cave of the Winds is that both ponchos and sandals are provided to visitors who wish to get a closer view. It’s a good thing to because without it your shoes and clothes will get drenched.

On my first night in the area i attempted to hike the Niagara Gorge Hiking Trail but access of the trail was closed off due to falling rocks. I suppose this is just another excuse to visit the area again sometime in the future when the rocks are more stable.

For more information about Niagara Falls State Park please visit: https://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/

For more information about the history of the state park system visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_park#History