Beez Neez now Chy Whella - White Water Walk

White Water Walk

Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Mon 16 May 2011 19:37

White Water Walk

After a little lie in it was time to venture once again on the Falls Incline Railway down to the People Mover. These are a series of very efficient shuttle buses that allow tourists to park their cars at some distance preventing 'clogging' in the hub of things; also for the likes of us to use with a coupon supplied by Gloria at the tourist desk in the hotel. The driver announces at each stop what attractions are nearby. We met a really sweet 'Service Dog' who hated water and had had an awful experience on the maid of the Mist. Soundo in seconds.

We got off the bus outside the Buddhist Temple - sadly not open to visitors, crossed the road saying 'hello' to Terry one of the local policemen and into the souvenir shop over the White Water Walk.

We took the lift down some two hundred and fifty feet, walked a tunnel a similar length and out onto the Boardwalk. This quarter of a mile construction beside the rapids and stairs lead to two observation areas at the edge of the River.

The water travels at different speeds along the length of the Niagara River. South of the Falls where the river is wide and slow, the maximum speed is about 40 km/h. Near the brink of the Falls, a speed of 109 km/h has been recorded. As the water travels through the Whirlpool Rapids at White Water Walk, it is traveling at about 30mph, creating the Whirlpool Rapids - "Class 6 white-water rapids".

Rivers are rated on a scale of 1 to 6 in eastern North America, and 1 to 10 in western North America. The Colorado River is the benchmark for white-water, where some sections are Class 5 and 6 and the flow is 60,000cfs.

White Water Rapids - Class Definitions

Class 1: Little to no current. Small waves with no obstacles.
Class 2: More current than Class 1 with bigger waves, but no major obstacles.
Class 3: Rapids are longer and more turbulent. Bigger waves, holes and stronger currents than Class 2. Considered intermediate. Proper guide training is a prerequisite for safe navigation Class 3 and above.
Class 4: Steeper, longer and containing more obstructions than Class 3. Multiple obstacles to maneuver around. Trained guide is necessary.
Class 5: Strong currents and big waves. Several boulders and holes. Has a greater potential to hold and flip boats.
Class 6: Extremely difficult to successfully maneuver due to significantly steeper vertical drops and boulders. Usually considered unrunnable.

The Whirlpool Rapids consist of 4 kilometers of 3-5 meter standing waves, making this stretch of whitewater the largest/finest series of standing waves in North America. These standing waves are thought to be caused not by rock obstructions on the bottom of the river, which is probably swept clean here, but by the sheer force (volume and speed) of the water being forced through the narrowing of the gorge at this point.

From here the water races into a part of the river called the Eddy Basin, which in turn opens out into the Whirlpool.

The 90-degree turn in the river is the point at which a geological catastrophe began 4,500 years ago. Here the Falls intersected the ancient St. David’s Gorge. The Whirlpool Rapids were created in just a few days, possibly hours, by the event that started at the Whirlpool 4,500 years ago. Having turned into the more ancient/pre-existing riverbed, the falls then tore out the glacial debris that filled the older gorge, re-establishing as a falls again only when it reached the area of the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.

Today the 90-degree turn in the river provides a unique view of two world-class whitewater rapids: upriver, the Class 6 Whirlpool Rapids, and downriver, the Class 5 Devil’s Hole Rapids.