State Parks Fills Niagara Gorge With Junk... Or is it "Art"?

A large picnic area, deep in the formerly natural Niagara Gorge, courtesy of the NYS Office of Parks, Wreckreation and Historic Preservation. Hint: when having a cook-out in the Niagara Gorge, don't forget charcoal, lighter fluid and matches. A new stairway in the gorge near Artpark, installed by State Parks, blends in nicely with the gorge scenery, don't you think?

Even though three international bridges, two hydropower dams, an observation tower, a boat yard, the remnants of a railroad and its platforms, jet boats, Homeland Security signage, numerous invasive species and an overhead cable car clutter up the place, it's still possible to experience awe and wonder while hiking through parts of the Niagara Gorge.

Here and there, magical places along its seven-mile length remain unspoiled. Raging rapids, thick forest and soaring rock walls combine to overwhelm the senses and evoke feelings of amazement that such natural beauty exists right here in our own backyard.

Unfortunately, however, ill-considered encroachments on the ancient landscape of the Niagara Gorge being perpetrated by its supposed steward, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Places, threaten to further detract from what's left of nature down there. It seems that they're determined to transform the Niagara Gorge into some kind of domesticated venue resembling a neighborhood park... or is the state agency making a subtle artistic statement?

Outdoor enthusiasts enter the Niagara Gorge at the Artpark trailhead on a lengthy suburban driveway of freshly-laid crushed stone. At the very spot where Niagara Falls got its start 12,000 years ago, a relative trickle only 35 feet high, a large boulder is painted black for reasons unknown, framed at ground-level around its perimeter with two-by-fours.

 Further on, a crude inlaid stone-slab stairway with ugly plywood railing extends just 30 feet or so down off the trail, serving little purpose other than to hasten erosion.

 The piece de resistance, however, is ahead on the upper trail. Ten minutes into the gorge you come upon, inexplicably, surrounded on all sides by nature's glory, a lone charcoal grill situated in the middle of a large gravel (picnic?) area, offset by a garbage can.

Is this tableau another example of Artpark avant-garde? Perhaps a stage for offbeat performance art - we can see it now - as part of their summer internship, art majors grilling burgers in the middle of the Niagara Gorge, entitled "The Banality of Human Activity in the Midst of Nature's Splendor".