The Niagara Gorge: White Water Walk, the 1916 Whirlpool Aero Car & Niagara Glen Hike

What happens to 2,800 cubic metres of water per second after it plunges over the Horseshoe Falls? For the next 11 kilometres north of the waterfalls, the entire volume of the Niagara River is squeezed inside a narrow, 60-metre-deep vertical limestone canyon, the Niagara Gorge, accelerating to 48 km/h (30 mph) and creating one of the wildest stretches of Class 6 white-water rapids in the world. All three gorge stops are connected every 15 to 20 minutes by the WEGO Green Line Bus.

1. The White Water Walk (4 km North of the Falls, WEGO Bus Stop Right Outside)

At the narrowest point of the gorge, ride a lift 70 metres down through the limestone rock and walk out onto a 400-metre-long riverside cedar boardwalk with viewing platforms projecting right over the edge of the Whirlpool Rapids. Here, millions of tonnes of emerald water slam against 410-million-year-old rock ledges to form roaring 3-to-5-metre-high standing waves, rated Class 6 (the highest category in white-water rafting).

2. The 1916 Whirlpool Aero Car (1.5 km North of White Water Walk)

One mile downstream, the Niagara Gorge makes a sudden, violent 90-degree turn to the right, creating the giant swirling basin of the Niagara Whirlpool (up to 38 metres deep). Designed by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo and operating continuously since August 1916 without a single accident, the antique red-and-yellow Whirlpool Aero Car hangs from six sturdy steel cables and glides 1 kilometre back and forth directly across the middle of the swirling turquoise whirlpool 60 metres below your feet. (Because the international border bends inside the whirlpool while the cable car flies in a straight line between two Canadian cliff points, you cross into the United States and back into Canada four times in mid-air during a single 10-minute ride, with no passport needed).

3. Hiking the Niagara Glen Nature Reserve (Free Entry, Metal Stairs into the Gorge)

Two minutes north of the Aero Car, descend the 80-step metal spiral staircase at Niagara Glen into a prehistoric Carolinian forest of house-sized limestone boulders, potholes carved by the ancient waterfall 4,000 years ago, and 4 kilometres of free riverside trails right beside the turquoise rapids.