Many waterfalls, great and small, have a breezy space behind the sheet of falling water called a “Cave of the Winds," sometimes regarded in legend as the dwelling place of a thunder god. The problem with these tourist attractions is that the owners don’t often let you actually enter them, for liability reasons. So it is with Niagara Falls, on both sides of the international border. On the American side, behind Bridal Falls, there used to be an actual Cave of the Winds you could enter. Occasionally, however, someone would slip on the wet, mossy stone steps and get swept away by the mighty cataract. And then a huge rock fall occurred, partially obliterating the space. So nowadays, the delights of the American attraction called “Cave of the Winds” largely derives from getting right up close in front of, but not behind, the waterfall itself. Being supplied with a disposable canary-yellow poncho and sandals, but inconveniently carrying your shoes, you take an elevator down a shaft into the bowels of Goat Island, emerging onto a wooden boardwalk, following it up to the Hurricane Deck, right into the spray from the falls.

On the Canadian side, the corresponding attraction is called “Journey Behind the Falls.” Starting from the historic Table Rock House in Queen Victoria Park, garbed in the usual canary poncho, you take an elevator down to the base of the much more impressive Canadian Horseshoe Falls. In addition to the deck area, the nice thing is that two viewing tunnels have been bored through the cliff to come out actually behind the waterfall, something you don’t get to see on the American side.

Written by  Gregory Brick.

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