Niagara Falls Searchers Find the Wrong Body

Yesterday, I wrote about the young woman who had fallen over the safety railing and was swept over Niagara Falls to her presumed death. Searchers are still looking for her remains, but during the search, says a report by CBS News, a male body was found in the water below Horseshoe Falls. At present, authorities did not know the identity of this body.

Authorities told CBS that it was rare to have anywone swept over the falls themselves, but that more people are injured in the Niagara Gorge along the river below the falls. Parks Police Sgt. James Riddle says that people commonly ignore safety precautions in order to get a good photo or a better view. Unfortunately, too many of them end up with a much closer view of the bottom of the gorge than they intended.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time discussing tragedies like this, but I will say that where ever you travel, make sure you research the potential hazards and are prepared for them. Follow posted safety instructions and use common sense. I read about far too many hikers being lost, injured or killed in mountains and forests of New Hampshire. Most of those stories contain the words "...tried to take a shortcut..." and "...wasn't prepared for the weather."

• Hike Safe New Hampshire has everything you need to know to stay safe while visiting the White Mountains.

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Meanwhile, we are just a few days away from leaving for Montana. We've got most of the packing done and are finalizing our lists of things to bring. This afternoon, one of the house-sitters is coming by to get the full instructions package and to go over the responsibilities they'll have while we're gone. I'll also be outfitting the van with new tires and an oil change today. Not only should that help prevent trouble on the way, but it should help maximize gas mileage as well. As it's planned, we expect to spend about 9-10 hours of driving each day. We'll be using the Garmin GPS unit to help find hotels at the end of each day's travel.

We'll be hopping over to Vermont on Thursday night where we'll stay at my mother's house for the night. Bright and early Friday morning we'll all set out for our first destination: Niagara Falls. We expect to reach it in the early afternoon of Friday and we'll spend a few hours there having lunch, enjoying the view, and no doubt learning all about hydro-electric power and the history of Niagara Falls.

I'll post at least one detailed review of our visit to Niagara Falls with tons of photos, probably Friday evening from whatever hotel we reach for the night.  We hope to drive well into the evening on the first day to build up a little mileage buffer so we have the option to spend more time somewhere else later on.