{"id":14249,"date":"2017-04-30T23:09:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T03:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=14249"},"modified":"2021-08-31T13:12:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:12:37","slug":"2021-the-great-falls-have-risen-thanks-henri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=14249","title":{"rendered":"2021 – The Great Falls Have Risen (thanks, Henri)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The waterfalls in Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park – ten miles from where I live – are always a treat to view, but some days are juicier than others – especially after big rainstorms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tropical Storm Henri dumped a TON of rain on New Jersey, New York and New England on the weekend of August 21 and 22. This was no ordinary rainstorm, so I headed for Paterson the first chance I got: August 25.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t you know that that was the first of three days of mid-90s temperatures with high humidity – two things I can\u2019t stand – but this volume of rain doesn\u2019t occur here more than once or twice a year, so it was time to go out and sweat-soak a shirt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve been to the Falls many times since the 1970s (you can find other posts about them on this blog) and the water volume hasn\u2019t always been great. I took this picture the last time I was there – 12-28-19 – and I\u2019d have to say the flow was about average that day:<\/span><\/p>\n

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SIDE NOTE: That statue is of Alexander Hamilton. Legend has it that he stood on or near that very spot, observed the falls and imagined America\u2019s first industrialized city, powered by those falls. That\u2019s why AH is considered the founder of Paterson, New Jersey.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The expanded story is that Hamilton, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette stopped there following the Battle of Monmouth for a picnic on July 10, 1778. That picnic proved pivotal in the history of Paterson and the nation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for me to picture those three gentlemen going on a picnic together. Were they skipping along and singing songs too? Who carried the picnic basket?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back to the Henri Effect\u2026\u2026\u2026.in this picture, the flow has greatly increased and the mist is kicking up mightily:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Great Falls have truly risen in volume.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This wider view shows the old power plant, the falls and the recently-installed amphitheater seating stones (looks semi-ancient, doesn\u2019t it?):<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Passaic River is what flows over the cliffs. A lot of refuse and who-knows-what collects in the corner nearest me while the river continues onward (upper right):<\/span><\/p>\n

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In each of the previous shots, you saw a pedestrian footbridge above the falls. In these two shots, I\u2019m on that bridge shooting down on the falls (and a rainbow or two). You can also see the bridge’s shadow in the first pic:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019m now off the footbridge and heading north on a path around the park. How does anything grow on that cliff and not get swept away by the constant, furious water flow?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The path turns and I\u2019m slightly parallel with the footbridge, which is barely visible through the mist. Looking at this picture, I feel like I\u2019m about to go over the falls:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I didn\u2019t take a lot more pictures this day because I was annoyed that I forgot to bring my iPhone with the panoramic camera setting – about the only thing I do with that phone – so I decided to come back the next day to take those pix.<\/span><\/p>\n

I DID, however, take video this day. There were more than a dozen little vidbits I stitched together and they DO jump around a bit. For instance, I started it on the footbridge over the falls and then jumped to something I didn\u2019t even take stills of that day: the pre-falls, which are smaller and are about a block before the actual falls.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I go around in front of the falls, you can see the little pre-falls in the distance, right in front of the Wayne Ave bridge, which is being repaired. You’ll see that better on Day 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the very shaky vidbit of the old man sitting on the Hamilton statue: I\u2019m standing on the footbridge at least a block away on the other side of the river and the zoom is at digital maxout, which is impossible to hold steady (excuses, excuses).<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the 8-25 video: <\/span><\/p>\n