Logbook entry № 8 · Duncan Macleod
Fog from the lake, Saturday queues, and when to skip the upper pod
First noted
Honest, slightly contrarian notes about weather, queues, and the days when a tower visit is better postponed to a different hour.
When a friend from out of town asks whether to climb the tower, I ask them three questions before I give any advice. What day of the week? What hour of that day? And what did the lake look like when they left the hotel?
Fog from Lake Ontario is the single biggest reason a visitor comes away disappointed. It drifts in from the south-west, often fastest in the shoulder seasons, and on the worst days it rises to the height of the main deck without any warning in the morning forecast. There is no point climbing through fog you can see from the ground. The city is visible for ten metres in each direction and the horizon disappears. If the top of the tower is already lost in grey when you step out of Union Station, drink a coffee for an hour and watch what the wind does. Fog that arrives on a south wind usually leaves on a north wind, and you can be standing at the window two hours later with the whole lake visible.
Queues are the second honest topic. The Saturday afternoon line to the lifts is longer than most visitors expect. Arriving at the lobby at four o’clock in June means a comfortable climb; arriving at two o’clock on a sunny Saturday means a twenty-minute wait at the ticket hall and a second wait at the lift door. The same principle applies on long weekends. I usually recommend the first ninety minutes after opening for weekend visitors with a flight the same day.
The upper pod is a divisive subject among my former colleagues. Several of my old shift partners thought the pod was the signature experience of the building. I have always preferred the main deck. The pod is smaller, the wind changes are harder on sensitive ears, and the lighting makes photographs through the inner windows harder to capture. If your time is tight, choose the main deck and the glass floor and leave the upper pod for a second visit. If you plan an extended afternoon, go to the pod last. You will enjoy the main deck more if your legs are not yet tired.
Avoid the outdoor terrace in cold rain. The grating is not slippery in the engineering sense, but the drops gather at the edges of your coat and most visitors drift back inside within five minutes. The deck windows will serve you better on a cold wet day.
About cameras: the glass behind which you stand is thick and double-glazed. Phones in good light produce fine photographs. Small mirrorless cameras do well. Full-frame cameras with large lenses sometimes catch reflections of the ceiling in the glass; a dark cloth or jacket held against the lens for the moment of the shot is the easy fix. Tripods are not allowed in the public areas, which is probably a courtesy to the other visitors rather than a technical restriction.
Finally, a personal note. The best visits I have watched from behind the service doors were the slow ones. A group of three friends who took two hours to walk a full circle of the main deck remembered more than a pair of tourists who ticked the pod, the floor, and a souvenir on a hurried forty minutes. The building rewards patience in the same way a long book does. If your schedule permits, give it the extra half hour.
— D.M.