Events of Friday, October 8, 2010

          Many dream of going to New England in autumn, but few ever visit this colorful wonderland. In New York and Vermont we started viewing beautiful colors, and now all the trees are blooming with colorful leaves. Almost every road in Vermont and New Hampshire is a scenic route, and we are now quite used to spending days driving throughout the beautiful country seeing sights that have brought tears to my eyes. It is so gorgeous! The other day, at the visitor center, somebody was telling us the weather and said that although right now it was raining, but Friday and the weekend would be “simply gageous”. In my opinion, our weather predictor, even with his eastern accent, was exactly correct. Although it rained a few times, it was just as he said, the weather and especially the view was simply gorgeous.

          This gorgeous day started out with an adventurous breakfast consisting of Cheerios, yogurt, and Orange Peach Mango juice. Our plan today was to visit the Lost River Valley and Boulder Caves. We had read many brochures and information booklets on them, and were quite interested in the descriptions. Once, the land that is now the Lost River Valley and Boulder Caves was covered in a glacier that was a mile thick. This glacier receded, and blocked drainage, redirecting the Lost River whose rushing waters caused a gorge 50 feet deep to form. Melting water carried sediment that eroded the walls until many were curved and smooth. This sediment also created many potholes, some twenty feet deep. Throughout long, harsh winters, the freezing and thawing of the rocks caused huge boulders to break off. As the boulders fell off, they created caves, found in the spaces and cracks between the boulders. Since it was this extended avalanche that formed the caves, they were named Boulder Caves. Thousands of years later, brothers Royal and Lyman Jackman were fishing in a nearby beaver pond. They explored the area, and found it a divine place to play hide and seek. They began playing among the rock ledges and boulders, when suddenly Lyman fell about 15 feet into waist deep water, ending up completely unharmed. He had discovered Shadow Cave, so named for the black iron markings on the walls that looked like shadows. Frequently they explored the gorge, and started giving tours 31 years later.

          Driving into the parking lot of this historic place, we donned hiking boots and gear, and tramped to the visitor center. We bought our tickets and headed into the gorge. Although the path was only ¾ of a mile long, it descended some 300 feet and had over 1000 steps. Soon enough, we were at the bottom of the gorge and ready to start exploring caves. The first cave that we went into was called the Sun Altar. I could hardly call this a cave, considering that there was a big opening with light pouring in the middle. Eventually, I grew to understand the meaning of Sun Altar. After that, the caves grew to be more difficult, and soon, we came to the hardest cave of all, called the Lemon Squeezer. Directly following this cave was a cave called The Dungeon, both of which were difficult. The Lemon Squeezer required you to squeeze through a 12 inch space, and The Dungeon requires you to belly crawl through an 18 inch space. Ben and I went through both of these twice, as we did with many of the other caves. Some of the caves had beautiful waterfalls flowing in them while others were completely quiet. In one we were encouraged to “listen to the silence”; an odd thing to do when you really think about it. Finally we had had enough to please our adventurous spirits, and climbed out of the gorge. We drove to a lunch destination by a small stream and started to have an enjoyable lunch. Unfortunately, we were at a severe tilt, and just the slightest motion could cause disaster. During this meal, we spilled my milk and the bag of pretzels. The milk spill was more dramatic, and we cleaned it up with towels, but wound up with a bunch of milky towels. So, after lunch, Mom climbed down to the stream and “washed” our towels, just like they did in the old days.

          After lunch, we drove on a scenic drive, complete with waterfalls and great views of colored hillsides, to our campsite. Mommy made us a delicious dinner of tacos, and then we came to a predicament. We didn’t have anything for dessert. So our brave Daddy went off in the rain to the store by the RV camp office. He came back with separate ice cream desserts for all of us – ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cones and a Snicker ice cream bar. After this especially delicious dessert, we planned what we would see in Maine, prepared a little for Daddy’s and Ben big hike up Mt. Washington tomorrow, and headed off to bed.