Niagara Falls (NY)

The next day (October 14) was gorgeous and spent mostly on the U.S. side, and I have to say the landscape there was far friendlier for general carousing. Instead of hotels and casinos marching in unison toward the rim of the gorge, much of the U.S. side is preserved within a large state park with much to see and miles to ramble. It’s true that the views of the falls are somewhat more panoramic on the Canadian side, but it’s really no less dramatic on the American side. We took the one-dollar elevator down to the river path and walkway to the base of American Falls, and later enjoyed eagle-eye views looking over the brinks at several locations.

In hindsight, I think I’d rather stay on the U.S. side, then make a wandering foray across the Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian side for the added views, assuming those pesky high-rise developers haven’t consumed the rest of the greenspace. I shouldn’t be so critical, since the Canadians also seem to have preserved a bit of a green strip along the gorge. And the giant elevator shaft on the American side, I’ll admit, is a distraction as well. The high platform provides a nice overlook, but I might have preferred a shaft sunk down through the rock with a boardwalk below. I suppose I’m a little late with that idea. For Ontarian Niagara, the problem may be more about building heights than location (as in way too many stories), which one would think could easily be solved by lopping off the upper half of the ten tallest buildings. How hard can that be? Saw ‘em though the middle and set the tops down on new foundations, say, a kilometer from the falls. It would be like two hotel-casinos for the price of one.

Rainbow Bridge.

 

Lake Ontario.

Niagara Falls, eh? (Ontario)

I know of only two people east of the Mississippi who hadn’t been to Niagara Falls yet—Kris and me. It was high on our list of regional see-sights to sightsee, so we sallied forth to see it, or them, as a main course of our four-day, mid-October New York adventure. Mostly New York. Friends insisted the views were better on the Canadian side so we booked a Motel 6 there for two nights and I got my expired passport renewed in the nick of time. We burned up so much of Day 1 (October 12) at the Corning Glass Museum (below) that we ended up arriving at the M-6 after dark, which turned out to be just fine. The evening was still warm and the walk over to the thunderous falls was a perfect way to stretch out the car legs. We passed through the amusement mecca of Clifton Hill and descended to the river, where a wide promenade passes along the rim of the gorge to the falls. Arriving at night seemed to be a pretty special way to first experience the famous falls. One could almost sense one vast Great Lake falling into another.

We returned to the gorge in the morning and bought our tickets for the Maid of the Mist, a not-be-missed boat ride to the base of the falls. We put on our freebie, pink rain ponchos (for Breast Cancer Awareness Day) and boarded the Mist. Ten minutes later, we were in the actual midst of the mist, a roaring, swirling, churning spectacle that would clearly be the highlight of the entire visit. Kris cleverly renamed the boat the Damsel of the Drench, and she looked like one too. For that matter, so did I.

Clifton Hill.

You'll have to imagine the roaring sound.

Rapids downriver.

Aboard the Maid of the Mist.

Damsel of the Drench.

 

The rest of the day, cloudy and cooler now, was spent walking along paths near falls and rapids, visiting a so-so tunnel view behind the falls, the platform in blowing spray below, the cool, cozy restaurant above, and otherwise puttering around the Canadian side of Niagara marveling at the excess of casinos jutting skyward (as if the falls were not entertainment enough). We took an evening drive over to Niagara on the Lake for some last minute browsing and a dinner downtown.

The next morning's mist.

Corning Museum of Glass (NY)

What a treat this place was. Kris and I stopped here on October 12, on our way to Niagara Falls for a mini-holiday. On display are glass artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years, plus modern glass and everything between. Curious exhibits and demonstrations add considerable depth to the experience—we spent five hours there and it still felt rushed. Situated in southwestern New York state, the quaintly historic city of Corning is pretty fabulous as well. We’re definitely going back.

Life sized glass tire.

Glass-blowing demo.

Learning about the heat reflectivity of Low E glass.

Mount Mitchell (NC)

I somehow ended up in another dive motel in Asheville on the night of October 5th. It was too late to do the town and I’d eaten so many bagels and whatnot, I decided to turn in early and scoot out the door at dawn.  Everyone tells me Asheville is a nice place. I’ll have to return and find out. The day’s menu, however, called for an easy jaunt up to the highest summit east of the Mississippi—Mount Mitchell in the Black Mountains. The second highest, Mount Craig, is just up the ridge, and a third, Big Tom, was only a tad farther. Mitchell was named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a North Carolina botanist, who in the 1840s determined that the peak was the highest in the range. He estimated the height at 6,672 feet, missing the true elevation (6,684) by only twelve feet. While exploring the area in 1857, his life abruptly ended in a tragic fall at a waterfall. His friends buried him on the summit.

33. Mount Mitchell: Though already aloft in mile-high country, the Blue Ridge Parkway intercepts the scenic road to Mitchell, which climbs a good deal more in a handful of miles into the state park. I seemed to be the first car in the parking lot when I checked in at the ranger station to grab a trail map. From there, I followed the Old Mount Mitchell Trail that preceded today’s modern two-lane highway to the top. It was a good stroll, two miles with about 500 feet of gain. Along the way, the trail skirts another wooded summit, but the scrub forest there was as dense and impenetrable as a hairbrush. I skipped the prospect of an extra summit. I’m not sure I could have found it anyway with the limited visibility. The trail meandered in woods a bit before breaking out at a park restaurant, where I stopped for a cup of joe, then deftly carried it with me up the trail, careful to sip and not trip.

The woodsy trail met a paved walkway near the upper parking lot that took me the final 200 feet to the big overlook above. The peak was only lightly peopled with morning visitors. Views were far and wide and magnanimous, as one might expect. There was definitely a feeling of being up pretty doggone high, though it wasn’t quite the Rockies. Even the Great Smokies sprawl across a larger area than these here Blacks, but the Blacks are higher. It was fun to contemplate the world for a thousand miles in every direction being lower than me.

Morning on the Blue Ridge on the way up to Mitchell.

Hairbrush forest.

Mount Mitchell overlook.

North Carolina. The dot is the high point.

Final resting place.

34. Mount Craig: I skipped off Mount Mitchell, skirted the parking lot on a nature trail, and enjoyed a very pleasant hike on a good path to Mount Craig. There must have been over 200 stone steps leading down (mostly), then up to the second-highest peak in the eastern U.S., which at 6,648 feet is just a few feet shorter than Mitch. A survey monument marked the tallest rock. Another great view was had from this mountain named for a visionary governor, Locke Craig, who was instrumental in securing the area as a state park in 1915.

 

35. Big Tom: A final short trek along the ridge led to a wooded bump and another marker for Big Tom (6,581 feet). Tom is apparently the fellow who found Mitchell’s body where he had apparently slipped over a waterfall. No view this time, but I’d bagged three new summits for the day. Thirty-five down, twenty-five to go.

Miles (RT):  9.0 miles; elevation gain: 1,200 feet

Cumulative mileage and gain:  141.8 miles / 38,500 feet

On the way to Big Tom.

 

 

 

Back over Mount Craig.

 

 

 

Near the overlook, learning about critters.

 

Some prior view towers on Mount Mitchell.

 

Back on the gorgeous Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

Sign marking the eastern (Appalachian) Continental Divide.

 

 

Craggy Pinnacle (NC)

After leaving Grandfather Mountain (below), I’d hoped to find a campsite on the way south along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But no luck. I passed a trailhead to Craggy Pinnacle just before sunset and stopped to bag one more wee summit for the day.  

32. Craggy Pinnacle: This one was even easier than Rough Ridge, but it was an actual named summit, though not very craggy and definitely no pinnacle. To be sure, I consulted Section 2.E(z) of my Sixty Summits rule book and determined that a special exemption applied herewith and thereupon granted myself credit for the summit once climbed. I wandered up, soaked in the sunset views with about 20 other folks and shuffled back down. Check.

Miles (RT):  1.4 mile; elevation gain: 150 feet
Cumulative mileage and gain:  132.8 miles / 37,300 feet

View from the not so craggy top.

On the way to Asheville.