Lover's Leap
Here, you can see the other arch visible from the section of the trail we took, and I find this arch much more dramatic. This is called Lover's Leap, after just the kind of legend all Lover's Leaps everywhere are named. According to local lore, this tale originated with an Ojibwa girl whose betrothed had gone off to fight a battle against the enemy Sioux. The girl stood at the edge of the rock above the arch day after day, waiting for the warriors to return. But when the canoes finally did return and she scanned the faces of the brave warriors, her beloved was not among them. Turns out, he was tied to a tree somewhere with an arrow through his heart, which isn't the kind of thing that gets you dates. Heartbroken, the girl imagined she saw her lover's spirit floating dead in the water among the canoes, so she jumped in after it.
Pretty much all cultures have some version of this story, though, so who knows where the story actually comes from? That's just the story the tour boats tell.
Lover's Leap
Here, you can see the other arch visible from the section of the trail we took, and I find this arch much more dramatic. This is called Lover's Leap, after just the kind of legend all Lover's Leaps everywhere are named. According to local lore, this tale originated with an Ojibwa girl whose betrothed had gone off to fight a battle against the enemy Sioux. The girl stood at the edge of the rock above the arch day after day, waiting for the warriors to return. But when the canoes finally did return and she scanned the faces of the brave warriors, her beloved was not among them. Turns out, he was tied to a tree somewhere with an arrow through his heart, which isn't the kind of thing that gets you dates. Heartbroken, the girl imagined she saw her lover's spirit floating dead in the water among the canoes, so she jumped in after it.
Pretty much all cultures have some version of this story, though, so who knows where the story actually comes from? That's just the story the tour boats tell.