Use the Schoelkopf elevator

The Niagara Falls National Heritage Area posted the above photo to promote the Schoellkopf Elevator.

The elevator is accessed from the free parking lot by the Niagara Discovery Center parking lot.

You can go down, look around and come straight up again. It is even wheelchair friendly and there are spectacular signs and displays explaining the Schoellkopf Power plant disaster.

If you want a more challenging adventure, park and walk north. After about a ¼ mile, you will see a path to the left into the gorge, along the old Great Gorge Railway bed.

After a time, you will hit another left, marked with a state trail sign. It will lead you down toward the water and through industrial ruins and even a junkyard to the Maid of the Mist winter docks and the elevator back to your car.