Niagara Falls, New York: American Falls

In front of the American Falls - Niagara Falls, NY

After my family and I spent one night in Buffalo, which is literally falling apart, we hopped in the rental car and headed to Niagara Falls, NY. Although we had heard that the Canadian side is spectacular, we still wanted to see the US side before crossing the boarder.

We first headed to the American Falls. Walking up to the falls and seeing the raging river was awesome. The power of the river and the thunder of the falling water nearly stopped me in my tracks. Of course, since we were on the American side we weren't able to see the falls head on, but we sure could hear them crashing down below us!

Slickline at Niagara Falls, NY

Russell and I saw some trees and decided that the park in front of the American Falls would be the perfect place to slackline, so we took he opportunity to set up the line and take a few photos and some video. Of course a large group of people quickly surrounded us to watch and take their own photos and video... I wonder how many videos of us slacklining are up on youtube by now? Oh and Russell took another jumping photo - this time it's a  slackline jump over Niagara Falls!

Besides seeing the American Falls and slacklining at them, I have also learned some interesting facts:

• American Falls receives only 10% of the water flow of the Niagara River - the rest flows over Horseshoe Falls.
• The flow over the American Falls has only been stopped twice. Once on March 29, 1848 due to an ice jam that occurred in the upper river - this lasted for only a few hours - and again for several months in 1969. The stoppage in 1969 was man made and the idea was to determine the feasibility of removing the large rock pile from underneath the falls to increase aesthetics. In the end it was decided that the cost would be too great to do this.
• The crest of American Falls is 130 feet and it has a max height of 110 feet.
• This may not be a fact, but in my opinion the American Falls looks better from the Canadian side but sounds better from the US side.