Sep 18 – Rockway Falls and Welland Canal

When we got here yesterday we kept hearing loud popping noises in the distance. The would be somewhat random but occur around every 30 seconds, some close and some far away. At first we thought someone was blasting. We finally realized that it was the vineyards using air cannons to scare away the birds. They are as loud as a real cannon when they are close. It continued on and off all evening. Thankfully it stopped during the night. This morning they started again with a vengeance, with one going off every second or 2. They slacked off again but no matter where you are in the are you will hear then once in a while. I guess people that live here can somehow block them out but they sure annoyed us.

Today was a nice sunny cool day so we first went to Rockland Conservation Are to see the falls. What we ended up seeing were gorges because, here as well, there was no water flowing. We did the short loop trail in the map below.

We parked at the Rockland Community Center. The first “falls” were right next to the parking lot.

It was a tough day for pictures with the bright sunshine and dark shadows. You really have to see it for yourself to appreciate the wide views.

Since there was no water I could easily climb down into the gorge above the falls.

I didn’t get too close to the edge because the rocks were mossy and very slippery. It was a long way down.

Jennie stayed up top.

The trail left from the back of the parking lot. It was only about 1 km in to the lower falls. We never did see the middle falls. I read somewhere that it was obscured by vegetation.

This is the creek that normally feeds the falls.

Here is a close up of what remains of the lower falls.

But the setting was beautiful.

We had our lunch even though we really weren’t hungry yet.

Here is a picture from a web site with the spring flow.

We completed the trail loop but I should have looked closer at the map because most of the rest was walking along a road. We should have just backtracked the way we came in.

Here is what is left of Martin’s Falls (see the map) just across the road.

I wanted to see a ship go through a Welland Canal Lock. I found a website that said the next ship was due through at around 4 pm. It was only about 1:15 so I dropped Jennie off to satisfy her Wal-Mart withdrawal while I went back to the RV. I picked her up later and we headed to the Lock 3 Visitors Center.

The ship was a bit late. It came into sight at about 4:30. Lucky for us it was a large, empty iron ore freighter that just fits in the locks.

They make it look so easy as they glide into the lock with very little room on each side.

I was surprised at how fast they can pump the water to get the ship to rise so quickly.

Being empty it sat a lot higher in the water.

Jennie’s shadow up on the viewing platform.

Big / gigantic things are cool.

And so ends this year’s journey. We are heading home tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed following along and a special thanks to my friend Mike for all the comments.

As usual I will put together a summary post once I get back to the fast internet at home.

The current possibilities for next year are south western Canada and Vancouver Island or the the canyon lands of Utah and Arizona but that could easily change.