The GC is way better, but it’s also way more of a pain in the ass to get to and to stay at. Sort of a risk/reward thing. If I had a weekend to go see something I’d go to Niagra. You can bang out the falls, take the boat tour, hit the casino and have some nice meals. If I had a week or more I’d go to the GC and hike, raft and camp. It’s much cooler to see and do, but it’ll take you almost a full day to get there. Niagra most of the US could be at before the sun goes down.
That’s pretty much it for me too. Although I like waterfalls, I find them really peaceful and majestic. But what can you do at one?
Also, it would mean for me the difference between a quick 300 mile trip to a warm climate or a 3000 mile flight to a cold one. I’m a homebody, so I’d want to get it over with as quick as possible
I never really wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but lately I’ve been flying over it a lot*, and had a chance to watch it for a while before we get out of range. It’s pretty freakin’ impressive from a plane, probably much more so in person. Oddly enough, it just looks kind of strange from Google Maps.
Now that I’ve seen it from above a few times I’d really like to take a week long trip on a raft down the river through there.
*For purposes of the poll, I didn’t count this as having been there.
I have been to both, but voted anyway because I didn’t read the rules.
I originally read the title as “A bunch of water in a big hole”, which made sense because they are both essentially big holes with water in them. There’s just more water and less hole at Niagara. Remember: the Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River, which is quite substantial in its own right.
It was a difficult decision. I think Niagara Falls is more spectacular as a one-stop attraction, but Grand Canyon just barely edged it out by sheer quantity of awesome.
Size isn’t necessarily an advantage, as Duke pointed out, and I am definitely not a big fan of hiking long distances over rough terrain in hot weather. However, there’s always rafting, helicopter tours, or just driving to the viewing platforms on the rim.
Maybe it was an off day, or the heat exhaustion left a bad taste in my mouth, but it was one of the worst steaks I’ve ever had.
That said, it’s damn near heroic that you can get a hot meal, a shower, a bed, and make a phone call from the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You can not appreciate the size of the thing until you walk to the bottom and back.
Both are on my list of places to see one day and my answer would vary according to season but for the purposes of this poll, I assumed the season was ok for either and I had a choice between only going to one or the other. I went with the Grand Canyon as the option I would kick myself more for missing.
Attempting to do this is probably my version of hell. And I speak from experience. I have done this before, and I assure you, I hated every second of it. I’m shaking just remembering it. As you can tell, I hate, hate, hate nature. One or maybe two views from the ridge is enough. Although, I am intrigued by the volcano idea. That I think I could do. Foggy, why can’t you go to Hawaii?
Anyway, to the OP, your question is what interests you more? A lot of water with few rocks, or a lot of rocks with few water? Something you can see all at once, or something that you can’t? Something in the middle of nowhere or something conveniently located?
We have beautiful waterfalls here, Niagra is just bigger. Snoqualmie Falls is fine for me.
I’m not sure I’d really like the Grand Canyon either. I’m afraid of heights.
There’s something intangibly awesome about the GC. Looking out and down, taking in the depth. Looking miles to your left and right taking in its sheer magnitude. You can almost feel the eons of erosion and set yourself against a natural scale that I think only mountaineers can appreciate when they summit.
I don’t desire to remove myself from the city, travel somewhere remote, especially to a natural wonder, only to seek out hotels, shops and touristy events (zzzzzzz). I want to soak in the real world for a bit, and get away from it all.
If I get the chance to go again, I’d love to hike down. There’s just nothing quite like it.