Whirlpool State Park - Niagara Falls, NY
Posted by: 
Rayman
N 43° 07.179 W 079° 03.785
17T E 657570 N 4775922
Whirlpool State Park is one of many state parks along the Niagara Gorge near Niagara Falls.
Waymark Code: WM3348
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 02/02/2008
Views: 55
The following is an excerpt from
New York: A Guide to the Empire State in the Niagara Falls points of interest section:
WHIRLPOOL STATE PARK, Niagara Rapids Blvd. near College Ave., part of the New York State Niagara Reservation, provides splendid views of the swirling waters of the pothole whirlpool, 1,754 feet wide and 126 feet deep. Here the course of the river bends westward, and then, blocked by the jagged mouth of a filled glacial channel, curves back to follow the present gorge to Lake Ontario. Charles Dudley Warner wrote: 'When it [the Niagara River] reaches the whirlpool it is like a hungry animal returning and licking the shores for the prey it has missed.' The whirlpool has its gruesome side, for here Niagara usually gives up its dead; one old riverman has recovered 150 bodies.
Whirlpool State Park is one of the few parks in the New York State system that doesn't have an admission fee. There are several picnic pavilions and tables, each of which have a grill for use. A short walk from the parking area will take you to the rim of the Niagara Gorge, which will provide excellent views of the whirlpool mentioned in the Guide and the rest of the Gorge. A trail runs along the rim of the gorge that heads south towards Niagara Falls and north to Devil's Hole State Park. About 1/4 mile north of the park along the trail, a rocky stairway descends 300' into the gorge to the trail down there.