NE Caves and other curiosities.....

[Pete_Hickey]

Noting the ambigous nature of NE (NE is in the NE), I'm still not sure if I live in the NE. Guerss it depends on your perspective.

There is an interesting cave around here. You crawl through small spaces, twist on your back, go through water sections to come out in larger rooms, etc. Kind of like a real cave. Far from your normal hiking areas, but if your're ever in the region:

http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/gatineau/nature/luskcaves_e.asp

a few mile walk from the beach brings you to the lusk caves. Lights essential, helmet HIGHLY recomended. Those narrow rock chanels are murder on the head. If you think bumping your head on a piece of high-ish blowdown makes you see stars, try it on marble.

 

[RoySwkr]

There are two Cave Mountains in NH, ...both times we searched in vain for any sign of a cave.

I haven't found a cave in either of those, either

As previously mentioned, both NY and VT have limestone caves, there are also a few in W MA - the PeakMaster and I found one near Pittsfield while climbing MA 100 that had an open gate

NH has talus caves, there is a huge system with over a mile of mapped passage NE of Kinsman Notch (not the Lost R commercial system which is lower down). There is even a register in a bathroom-size underground room.

ME has a few real caves including one near Allagash Pond which was written up in Northeast Caver magazine

There are also plenty of old mines including one near Mascot Pond in Gorham NH which was gated to protect bats

 

[sierra]

The Devils Den on MT. Willard is a great cave in a spectacliar location. I rapped off the summitt and swung into it. You can see it clearly driving north about 3/4 of the way up the face. The rock around is fatelly loose though becarefull, I tried twice to get to from below but almost killed my belayer.

 

[king tut]

sopposedly the cave near allagash has ice in it year round. It would be cool to check out if i am ever in the middle of nowhere sometimes.

 

[Fitz]

Allagash ice cave

The cave near Allagash Lake is not a limestone cave but fractured volcanic bedrock. It is deep and opens up near the bottom and I hear there's more than one entrance - although I've never crawled on my belly to find the smaller entrance/exit. I've been to it several times in the summer months and never found ice. If you go, bring a flashlight.

 

[AMF]

There is a cave that is fenced off on Mt. Aeolus near Dorset, VT. I read somewhere that it is gated off because some sort of rare bat lives in there. Also on that same mountain is ,if I remember correctly ,the remains of the oldest quarry in the US? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

The whole Dorset area is VT's largest "cave belt", with a number of true solutional caves. The Aeolus Bat Cave contains the state's largest bat hibernaculum, hence its closure much of the year. The cave noted behind the Tabor town dump is one of the states largest, but is tighter than tight. Much of Dorset Mtn contains what I believe is the oldest active underground quarry (marble) in the US. Had a tour of it a few years back - truly impressive. The local highschool baseball team actually has pitching & batting practice cages inside the quarry for use in the winter!

 

[prino]

Freddy.... I remember an outdoor club in Montreal I was a member of back in the early 80's taking a trip down to the Schenactady/Schoharie region of NY. West of Albany I believe.... There are quite a few opportunities for Spelunking in that area.

Try these links....

Caves

Nice shots of 'Mites and 'Tites here...

cave pics Port Jervis NY

Close to the NY/NJ border.

 

[prino]

Here is another good link.... NCC

Check out the pictures, there are a surprising number of large caves in the Schoharie district. Clarksville cave being about the biggest at 4,800 ft long with 3 entrances.

There is an excerpt from "The Helderbergs" by Verplanck Colvin of Adirondack fame.... Colvin

 

[Nessmuk]

Years back on our drive back from Niagara falls we stopped at Howes Caverns off I90 in NY State. New York does have enough limestone in some areas for "real caves" to form and this sure was a real one.

Howe Caverns is alive and well http://howecaverns.com.

Schoharie county (west of Albany) is practically hollow with caves. I spent nearly every weekend there during my college years. There are some caves that have several miles of passage, and more miles of passage and more caves yet to be discovered (we did quite a bit of that back then). It was all wet suit and mud activity, with plenty of vertical rope work. We did it professionally and safely, by the book and learned the hard stuff directly from experts.

These days don't expect to go poking your head into caves of any significance unless you have proper contacts. They are all closed and gated. Stupidity and a litigious sue happy society has ended that. To do any real "exploring" you have to belong to a recognized group, usually associated with the National Speological Society.

In the Northeast there are a number of caving groups, Northeast Regional Organization for one: http://www.caves.org/region/nro Look under members and grottos for contacts.

Also try http://www.metgrotto.com/resources
Photos here: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/simeon/vpp/photos/index-ne-caving.html and
http://www.bostongrotto.org/

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Some New York Caves

Cobleskill and Helderberg limestone caves. The commercial Howe Caverns which TDawg mentioned and the nearby Secret Cavern are both are in the Cobleskill Plateau which like the Helderberg Plateau contains Devonian limestone caves. In the Helderbergs there are about 40 caves in Thatcher State Park and numerous others elsewhere. Some of these caves are described:

• Northeastern Cave Conservancy
• National Cave and Karst
• NY Showcaves

Shawangunk crevice caves. The former commercially operated "Ice Caves Mountain" is now part of the Sam's Point Preserve. It is a short hike through narrow crevices on ladders and stairs. More interesting are the "Greater Ice Caves" a.k.a. "Shingle Gully Ice Caves" which require a permit to access. The permit is obtained from the Sam's Point Preserve visitors center, or by mail with sufficient lead time by contacting the Sam's Point Preserve office by phone or mail. The general location of the Greater Ice Cave location is shown on this map. Click on "Ice Caves" for a photo of the Sunken Valley. Some of the wider crevices were created by the massive "Ellenville block slides" during the Wisconsin deglaciation. Large sections of the conglomerate sandstone slid in mass down the slope opening chasms up to 100' wide and 100' deep. Common names of some features include: Grand Canyon, Sunken Forest, Labyrinth, Flume. There are many other ice crevices elsewhere in the Shawangunks, and another small block slide at the Table Rocks in the Mohonk Preserve.

Ice Cave at LeFever Falls. Located east of Rosendale, north of Creek Locks Road, and in a 100 acre state forest preserve. It requires permission from the DEC New Paltz office to enter. A 450 million year old coral reef has been found in the cave.

 

[Lawn Sale]

Near Bethel, Maine there is an ice cave, it's on the Gold Mine trail, but I haven't been on it since '98. It's said there is also ice all year, but the few times I went to it there was no ice, just very cold water.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Not exactly up in the mountains, but there is also a cave near High Falls called Pompey's cave. It's actually an underground stream. I'm not sure if it's on private property, so I'll stop there.

 

[askus3]

Go back to the Fifth Edition of the New York Walk Book, (when CT was still in it!) and turn to page 193-194. "Tories Cave, whose several rooms should not be explored without lights and ropes." This is a terrific 8 mile hike, but I haven't been back there since the late 80s. However, living in NYC and the hike being only a bit north of Danbury, you might find this a fun place to explore. If you choose to go there, get back to me, maybe we can pick a day in spring after things dry out a little.

 

[funkyfreddy]

Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the amazing information that was posted. Guess what I'm going to be doing this spring? Aaron, I would love to visit Tories Cave, keep in touch! If anyone else is interested in exploring some of these please contact me as well.

One caveat - I would be careful about exploring some of these caves in winter or cold weather months. I've been told by very reliable people that some of these caves are home to rare species of hibernating bats. Disturbing them while they hibernate can kill them, so I would recommend waiting for warmer weather to explore a lot of them. Thanks, Fred

 

[professor]

There is a cave in Weybridge, VT on (surprise, surprise) Cave Road. Never been in it, but I know someone who has. Apparently, it takes a rapel to get into it safely.

 

[marty]

There are a series of caves on the Maine AT, just north of Piazza Rock near Rangeley. There is a blue blaze trail off the AT to the caves. Some of the caves are blazed so that you can follow them without getting lost and some are not.

 

[Chip]

This is a good article about caves in CT.
The "caves" at Kelly's Slide in New Milford are belly scrambles. Not exactly Howe Caverns. But it's a good hike around there on that ridge up to where the AT comes into CT.

 

[brianW]

Purgatory Chasm south of Worcester, MA on rt 146. More like crawling through large boulders but still fun.

 

[cavewine]

Caves, etc.

Thank you "funkyfreddy" for adding the message about hibernating bats to your last post.

That is something we all need to be aware of, if exploring caves during the winter. Not just rare bats, but all bats up here hibernate, and have a very good chance of dying if disturbed during hibernation. Please consider waiting until the warmer months to examine the great underground.

Additional important information:

wear a helmet! if not a climbing one, at least a bike helmet, or construction with a chinstrap.

bring at least 3 sources of light with you. It's no fun when your one flashlight goes out and you're stuck waiting for someone to rescue you.

get in touch with a local grotto - they can lend you gear, teach you cave skills, and show you where the cool caves are. It benefits everyone.

taking (formations) or leaving(trash, feces, urine, graffiti) is a big no no! Please leave only footprints, take only pictures, kill only time.

Diatribe off.

 

[Rugger]

In southern VT, there is the Devil's Den which isn't that big but definitely qualifies as a cave.

and there's the bat caves in Plymouth near the lakes, but I think it is closed to the public to protect the bats. They might be open part of the year, not sure.

Wow, I haven't thought about Devil's Den in many years. I think I was probably 6-7 years old when my father took us to visit it (43 years ago). Are the Plymouth caves you are talking about on the West side of Rt 100, North of the lakes? If so, we explored those maybe 2-3 years later. There is also the Plymouth Gold mine on the far side of the lake that had the Boy Scout Camp on it's shores (Echo Lake?). I think it was up the Buffalo Brook.