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1 2 3   UER Forum > Archived Canada: Ontario > Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission (Viewed 1989 times) mcrae44  Gender: Male  |  Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission < on 6/4/2007 10:25 AM >   So, I heard that people were going to one of Niagara Fall's tailraces tonight. I was quite envious as I live here, and rounded up some buddies to go tomorrow night. But then... sitting around the house got reaaaaally boring, and I figured hey, maybe I'll go scout out the location a bit to see what the three of us will do tomorrow. In my kit: car keys, $3.66 Time of departure: 12:00 am Weather: rainy (more fun!) So it's about 12:15 when I pull up and park. I head over to the Tim Hortons that is on the way, and oh! shit, forgot money. Back to the car, grab all my change, then go get a large Ice-Cap. mmmmmm-mmmmmm. Anyways, it gave me something to do while walking around. So I get to the area of the Maid of the Mist where I'm told the access road is the ideal descending point. There are two workers unlocking their bikes to go home, I approach them and ask where this road goes (though I already know) with the intentions to go down it. They were apparently cleaners just finishing the restaurant, and no one else was down there, however as they were leaving they mentioned a guard. really, a guard? I'm still not sure I believe it, but best to be safe. I've heard from a reliable source the Parks commission had installed a bunch of new cameras, I saw 3 at the base, and another 3 at the top near the observation tower, as well as a few older ones scattered around. I walk around up top, looking partly for the group of people I heard was going down, and partly scouting what I could see of the road... not much. Should I wait and look around in the daylight when it is open tomorrow? Obviously not! Maybe I'll just see how to get to the bottom, then go back home for sleep. First thing I put down the flashlight, incase I do get caught I don’t want it on my person, and I’ll get it on my way back, after all, I’m only going to do a little scouting…. I stare down the road to the Maid of the Mist, a fitting name at the time as the entire area was covered in mist, and while contemplating I noticed a gate off to the side.. and then stairs. jackpot!. Hopping a few gates and down some stairs and I come out at the old incline transportation for the Maid of the Mist. Now they use elevators, and the old carts just sit on the ramp. someone made a thread with some nice pictures before, though I cannot find it now, and I just saw a HUGE spider on my wall, fuck. I start down it, and immediately notice a camera. *quick, think!* and I just sit there staring at it, wondering if its night vision or what, then realize I should get moving, haha. I don't think it as operational, simply because there was no response and it looks older. I got to the bottom, scanned around, decided what the hell and started going further. I saw two cars that could be security, but they were in the exact same place when I came back 2 hours later so I highly doubt it. I also saw four cameras, two of which were on the road and there were probably more. I was glad that I came this way, and wondered what the other group was doing. Would I meet them at the tailrace? Hopefully.... but I had to get there first. I slithered down some overgrown rocks, staring at the boats and thinking how nice and peaceful it was down there, a thought that recurred many times in the next while. Across a launching dock, throw a garden (sorry flowers!), over 3 railings, a big rock, and back into the bush. That was a rush... No sign of the security guard, all is good. I proceed through the undergrowth, near the fringe of the bushes. There’s a camera that is either looking at a road, or at an old dirt access I need to cross.. fuck, more going out of the way, oh well. after nearly crawling over the driveway as far away as I could, I was finally 'safe'... as safe as you can be when you need to traverse 800 metres of slimy, slippery rocks besides currents roughly forceful as sperm whale ejaculate. It was nice going at first, just some good ole' hiking. Soon enough however I had to climb up a good thirty feet, nearly falling along the way, and then on the way back down, I decided sliding would work.. it did... but from now on I'll choose a method that doesn't involve 5 pound rocks rolling over my hands. Moving on. A little more walking, and I've arrived at the Toronto Power Generating Station. It’s huge, and has about a dozen little inlets, some full some not. I try to walk along the ridge of the inlets but wimp out, and move back down along the rocks. There’s a pipe gushing water which seems easy to pass... As I'm just above the stream the flow doubles! Oh fuck! But lucky it was just a surge.. then I noticed it was a rhythmic surge, so whatever, I'm not going to die yet, I'm happy. Moving on. I see a huge tunnel, I wonder if this is the Tailrace? I stand around, looking, and decide definitely not, as it is not aligned properly with the Canadian falls, cause it directly faces the Canadian falls. So I climb up and over it (read: the extra long way) and keep going. I eventually get to within 10 metres from the bring of the falls, and was getting pounded so hard by the spray I had to turn back, disappointed and feeling like a partially drowned cat, I begin the return journey. Then I realize that the place I'd ignored actually was the tailrace! I'm an idiot, Awesome! To bad I put down my flashlight though, because I couldn't go in. So I got my feet wet and walked across in front of it, and kept on my way. Approaching the Generating station again, I decide it would be great to walk on top of it. Dumb idea. First, the thorns. Full grown thorn bushes were attacking me left and right with a vengeance, the little bastards. After them I encountered thick, overgrown and intertwined bare-stick bushes, which I ended up getting on my hands and knees to crawl under, eventually on my belly. This is ok as my clothes are already filthy from all the sliding and sneaking I’d done. I get out of the bushes and … fuck. A rock wall on one side, two concrete walls on the other, and then the bushes again…. Testing the rock wall proves unsafe, so I suppose the top of the power station will wait for another day. I huge the wall and continue around to the bottom, and I see a rope ladder! Score! I climb up it, and am encountered with a ladder on the other side, and a dark window facing me. Some sort of water holding tank? We’ll see tomorrow. On the way back I say fuck it and tight-rope walk the ridge of water intake areas, self-consciously looking around to see who was watching this dirty teenager prance around like a modern Blondin. No one was watching. Moving on. On the way back I decided to go through the more forested area, thinking I’d head to the roadway and exit from that route, to see how viable it was. Turned out is was so overgrown I just ended up taking the exact same way out as I did to get in. However…. I did seem to stumble upon a path that seemed recently used, and lasted for a good 150 feet or so, I found it very neat. The trip back up wasn’t special, though it was extremely tiring. Imagine climbing a ladder on a 50 degree angle with the bars spaced out at 4 foot intervals. Anyways I cautiously peeked my head above the wall, grabbed what was left of my ice-cap and strolled happily away. Got back home at 3:30 am… whooo what a night! Longest 2k of my life! The Haul: 1 fat sandal 1 partially deflated soccer ball 1 very nice football I might take tomorrow 1 air filled ball 1 DEAD SEAGULL! I nearly stepped on it, then I did cry out, then I nearly puked. It was disgusting. I know, long post, and I know, shouldn't have gone alone, but tomorrow I'm going with two buddies, and likely a camera! and flashlights! so that means pictures... I'm excited. Some people are like slinkies - They don't serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs Stewie  Location: Hamilton, Ontario Gender: Male kill your idols  |  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 1 on 6/4/2007 5:45 PM >   Interesting story. Indeed it was a crappy night, I got soaked within 5 minutes of walking along the parkway. Thank god the clifton hill tourist trap is always open for wet people to go dry off. Of course I pussied out from the tailrace... the group that went was exhausted and thoroughly soaked and the first thing they told me was that it was good I didn't go. After hearing their stories, I agreed. > The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. mortimer  Location: teronno  |  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 2 on 6/4/2007 6:23 PM >   How was the water level? Every time I've tried, it's been too high to get in. yep. mcrae44  Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 3 on 6/4/2007 6:30 PM >   It looked like it was high enough that the current would make it difficult, and that you would get absolutely soaked for where you'd have to jump up (unless you're really tall) but still possible. Some people are like slinkies - They don't serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs Jef  This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information. Gender: Male Hey Look at me....  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 4 on 6/4/2007 8:59 PM >   Posted by mortimer How was the water level? Every time I've tried, it's been too high to get in. WE checked it out and it was pretty high, We sat and had a cigarette and then checked it again and it was at lest 5' lower...... We must also go out and meet the enemy before he reaches our shores. We must defeat him before he attacks us, before our cities are laid to waste. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada from 1921-1926, 1926-1930 and 1935-1948 HairyTheTaco  Location: The Hammer, Ontario Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 5 on 6/4/2007 10:22 PM >   I didn't look at the time, but I know we were close to the Toronto Generation Station on the way there when the fireworks started -whatever time that is at. As for what time we got back, I have no idea. I'm sure we were already back by 12:30. I'm kinda interested about this rope ladder, was this at the Toronto Generating Station? As for the questions about the water level -go after the fireworks, I think thats when they start diverting the water from the falls. By the tailrace, the water must have been waist deep, after 20 minutes it dropped close to 5 feet. On the way back it was at least a full 15 feet lower! [last edit 6/4/2007 10:24 PM by HairyTheTaco - edited 2 times] Stewie  Location: Hamilton, Ontario Gender: Male kill your idols  |  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 6 on 6/4/2007 10:30 PM >   Fireworks were at 10. > The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. mcrae44  Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 7 on 6/15/2007 2:48 AM >   So this took a while, lol. The pictures turned out much worse than I'd hoped, so I wasn't as pumped to post them, but the adventure was just as fun. We went the same way as I had earlier in the week, but we saw a guard, then another, then a third one, which meant we had to walk up the hill through the brush and we ended up near the gate. As i was inching along the side of the road behind the camera we could see, my buddy puts his legs over the small wall and all of a sudden we hear this intense buzzing.... motion sensor? alarm? nah, it was just the gate opening from a truck coming up from the Maid area. but the timing was impeccable for scaring (me, at least) shitless, haha. So then we had a pretty much uneventful walk the rest of the way there and back, though those guards made us take about a 40 minutes detour. Which sucked. Anyways, heres a picture from the shoreline This is one of the mouth for reference a 6' tall guy only reaches up to the top of the third block on the right side (standing in the tunnel), the size is awing after about 300m theres a drain in the roof after another 150 or so, they become more frequent, maybe about 1 every 10 metres for the next 100 until the end Theres a catwalk, with an open ladder to the roof, with light shining through the opening. IF you had a grappling hook you could probably get into the rankine generating station. We saw a signature up there on the ceiling, 'jean & pierre' this picture gives you another idea of the size of the thing and one last picture of the outflow, just because it's colorful: the flow, near the end of the pipe when it starts heading downhill is FAST, even though its only two inches deep. throw a stick, or even a rock in and its gone 30 feet in 2 seconds p.s. sorry the pictures weren't better, kinda pissed off myself. [last edit 6/15/2007 2:51 AM by mcrae44 - edited 3 times] Some people are like slinkies - They don't serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs Air  Location: Canada  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 8 on 6/15/2007 2:55 AM >   I think you should get full user status !! Congrats! "The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist Jef  This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information. Gender: Male Hey Look at me....  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 9 on 6/15/2007 4:03 AM >   Mcrae44 cheers. Don't apologize about the quality. Some excellent work in those extreme conditions. We must also go out and meet the enemy before he reaches our shores. We must defeat him before he attacks us, before our cities are laid to waste. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada from 1921-1926, 1926-1930 and 1935-1948 micro  Gender: Male Slowly I turned  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 10 on 6/16/2007 8:42 PM >   Hey, nice work. I always love reading about other people's experiences in Niagara Falls. Just to clarify though, the station located along the lower shoreline is the Ontario Power Generating Station. You should still be able to get inside it easily enough, though there's little to see at this point since they've gutted it out entirely. Also, the Toronto Power station is the one located further upstream. See www.vanishingpoint.ca for more than enough details. mcrae44  Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 11 on 6/17/2007 3:03 AM >   Gutted you say micro? Where do you get this information from? It looks as though theres lots to see when you look in through the windows Some people are like slinkies - They don't serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs Air  Location: Canada  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 12 on 6/17/2007 4:59 AM >   Posted by micro Hey, nice work. I always love reading about other people's experiences in Niagara Falls. Just to clarify though, the station located along the lower shoreline is the Ontario Power Generating Station. You should still be able to get inside it easily enough, though there's little to see at this point since they've gutted it out entirely. Also, the Toronto Power station is the one located further upstream. See www.vanishingpoint.ca for more than enough details. There is a guard parked there now on the regular. I guess he learned his lesson ;) "The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist micro  Gender: Male Slowly I turned  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 13 on 6/17/2007 11:00 AM >   Posted by mcrae44 Gutted you say micro? Where do you get this information from? It looks as though theres lots to see when you look in through the windows Well, I get a lot of my information from going to these places. This was taken back in February. At that point everything had been cleared out. Compared to what the place used to look like, it's now essentially a hollow shell. By all means, go in and have a look, but compared to the way it was before, it's now quite boring. There is a guard parked there now on the regular. I guess he learned his lesson ;) I kind of doubt they have a guard sitting down at the station 24/7 or that new cameras have been installed anywhere. It wouldn't make any sense to introduce such things at this point in time, especially now that the bulk of the work has ended. It sounds to me like Mcrae took the road straight down to the Maid of the Mist docks and followed the shoreline from there. There always were guards that showed up down there at the docks periodically over the course of the evening only did so to keep an eye on the boats and things. They never had anything to do with the Ontario station. Air  Location: Canada  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 14 on 6/17/2007 2:28 PM >   Posted by micro I kind of doubt they have a guard sitting down at the station 24/7 or that new cameras have been installed anywhere. It wouldn't make any sense to introduce such things at this point in time, especially now that the bulk of the work has ended. It sounds to me like Mcrae took the road straight down to the Maid of the Mist docks and followed the shoreline from there. There always were guards that showed up down there at the docks periodically over the course of the evening only did so to keep an eye on the boats and things. They never had anything to do with the Ontario station. No, I meant a guard at TPC, parked outside the *still* open side. I have however seen the police parking down by the maid of the mist ramp, having doughnuts and such - only during the day tho. [last edit 6/17/2007 2:28 PM by Air - edited 1 times] "The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist Stewie  Location: Hamilton, Ontario Gender: Male kill your idols  |  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 15 on 6/17/2007 2:30 PM >   The guard just sits there. It's not a problem, cause that's not the only entry. > The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. mcrae44  Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 16 on 6/17/2007 8:51 PM >   I was looking in the windows of building 1, it seems to be a lot of stuff in there, and the layout doesn't seem to match the picture you threw up, micro. That is the plant I was theorizing about using a grappling hook to enter from below. The one they were doing construction on, number 2, now has huge metal 'windows' along the south-east side, all along where the hole used to be.. this is as of either 1 or 2 days ago. also, there ARE new cameras both along the maid of the mist area, and the building #1 from that pic, but nothing near the building at the bottom of the falls, and the guards I was talking about were only in the maid of the mist area, not the area of the building. [last edit 6/17/2007 8:53 PM by mcrae44 - edited 1 times] Some people are like slinkies - They don't serve a purpose, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down stairs Stewie  Location: Hamilton, Ontario Gender: Male kill your idols  |  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 17 on 6/17/2007 9:46 PM >   Building 1 is Rankine GS. It was in use up to 5 or so years ago. Fortis Energy is now getting paid for the power it would have produced, by the Niagara Parks Auth. #2 is Toronto Power Corp. It was recently gutted over last summer and is owned by Niagara Parks. I found a way into both of them, but I'm kinda worried about doing #1 as it is still frequently patrolled and may be skeleton staffed. The machinery is kept in a condition in which it could be started up again if needed. [last edit 6/17/2007 9:47 PM by Stewie - edited 1 times] > The hierarchy of power dictates that the person with the most power does the least amount of work and retains the highest benefit. Air  Location: Canada  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 18 on 6/17/2007 10:21 PM >   Posted by Roygbiv Building 1 is Rankine GS. It was in use up to 5 or so years ago. Fortis Energy is now getting paid for the power it would have produced, by the Niagara Parks Auth. #2 is Toronto Power Corp. It was recently gutted over last summer and is owned by Niagara Parks. I found a way into both of them, but I'm kinda worried about doing #1 as it is still frequently patrolled and may be skeleton staffed. The machinery is kept in a condition in which it could be started up again if needed. Rankine was just shut down last year, although I don't know the specific time. They have no intention of starting it up again, because there is a mis-alignment problem (just like TPC had), which is why it was shut down earlier then had been planned. It will be transfered from Fortis to Niagara Parks who have no idea what they will do with it in late 2008. It is indeed monitored, remotely and staff do work there. The control room and the plant have power, which they purchase externally, lol. McRae, you must have been looking in here: not TPC, which has nothing, booooo: [last edit 6/17/2007 10:23 PM by Air - edited 2 times] "The extraordinary beauty of things that fail." - Heinrich von Kleist Voodoo  Gender: Male  |  Re: Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission <Reply # 19 on 7/27/2007 3:29 AM >   Posted by Air 33 Rankine was just shut down last year, although I don't know the specific time. They have no intention of starting it up again, because there is a mis-alignment problem (just like TPC had), which is why it was shut down earlier then had been planned. It will be transfered from Fortis to Niagara Parks who have no idea what they will do with it in late 2008. Just out of curiousity, what is the nature of the misalignment problem at TPC and Rankine? Is it with the shafts from the turbines to the generators? Eugene UER Forum > Archived Canada: Ontario > Mcrae's tailrace scouting mission (Viewed 1989 times) 1 2 3   All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire. To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site: UER CONTACT View Terms of Service | View Privacy Policy | Server colocation provided by Beanfield This page was generated for you in 46 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 740871877 pages have been generated.