Monday 13 October 2008

Webster's Falls

It was a gloriously sunny late fall day when we visited the Spencer Gorge/Webster’s Falls Conservation Area on Thanksgiving Sunday.
Webster's Falls is where Spencer Creek plunges 22 metres (72 feet) into the Spencer Gorge. Not on quite as grand a scale as Niagara Falls, but pretty impressive.

The Falls are 30 metres (98 feet) wide. The thunder of the cascading water can be heard from qute a distance.

Local folklore says the princess daughter of an Attiwendaron chieftan lived near here. She was promised in marriage to a young chief of the Erie Nation. But she had fallen in love with a high-ranking Indian from the Seneca Nation.

The girl's father threatened to imprison her unless she agreed to marry the chosen man, so the young lovers decided that life without each other was impossible. Locked in each other's arms, they jumped over the precipice to meet their death in the rock pool below.
When the water level is high and the air is filled with a silvery mist lit by the full moon, the princess and her lover can be seen to rise to the edge of the precipice, where they again pledge their endless love.

The Space Cadet looks like he took the plunge too, but he managed to keep his feet dry.

To get the the bottom of the falls, we had to negotiate this narrow zig-zag staircase down the cliff face. Not for the faint of heart.

I have only one comment to make about this impressive waterfall, surrounded by the glorious autumn colours, and obviously someone else had the same opinion....


WOWZER!

18 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful falls! wow...amazing.

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  2. It's beautiful! Thanks for taking us there! The trees look so nice at this time of year.

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  3. I'm so glad that you're sharing your stunning fall scenery with me, someone who has never experienced a 'real' fall. It looks like you're still having a bit of warm weather, I see several people in shorts.

    Sorry, but I won't be able to help you with learning Chinese. Although I do agree that your blog is sparkling!

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  4. The falls in the fall.. how beautiful! I love the little rainbow that shows up near the bottom of the falls. (last two photos of the falls)

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  5. Looks like you went westward last weekend and we went eastward. ;-) Beautiful falls.

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  6. Lovely; and I love the sound of falling water, especially when it is forceful, as this one is.

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  7. Beautiful! Looks like you had superbe weather to go with your trip. A perfect day, I would say... No? :)

    Funny, but I've been to Niagara Falls quite a few times and yes, it is VERY impressive, but even the first time I saw it, I though: "It's not as special as I thought it would be." I'm guessing it was because of all the advertisement, movies, publicity, etc. But this one is somehow special... Refreshing... and a romantic love story to go with it? Perfect.

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  8. It is stunning!!!! You take the best photos ever!

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  9. What a great post! Beautiful pictures and lovely story. I'd love to see a waterfall like this in person. The roar must have been overwhelming! But here I am in water challenged AZ and this is certainly the next best thing to actually being there!

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  10. it looks so CLEAN and uncrowded. what a lovely part of the world you live in! i really enjoy your photos....

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  11. that's a really neat place, I haven't heard of it before, and its not that far from us, an hour or two.

    Gill

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  12. What awesome photography! You must have had a really good time. Those falls are truly Wowsie!!

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  13. My sentiments exactly...Wowzer....
    Beautiful falls and lovely Thanksgiving Day. A perfect duo.

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  14. Amazing. What a beautiful day you had. I can almost hear the water's roar in the photographs!

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  15. WOWZER adequately sums it up, Sham!!! And OMG, what a story.

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  16. That pretty much says it all -- wowzer!

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  17. Beuatiful! It looks like a Roman bridge in the background! (The Romans never came that far though, I believe.)

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