Ausable Chasm

Ausable Chasm is located just off exit 34 of the Adirondack Northway in Keesville, NY.  Its just short of Plattsburgh.


The Chasm has been a tourist attraction since 1870 but it has existed since the last Ice Age. (Pleistocene) It was 15,000+ years in the making.

As I jumped into my car on my way for picture "A", I wasn't sure what to expect. I haven't even been there in the summer, and now I was in the car headed through the snow covered Adirondack Mountains alone on the road under a very gray sky. My cell signal was long gone and I was headed north to hang over a cliff in the ice and snow! I wondered if this was a good idea.

It was a long drive, but I finally made it. After my $5 admission fee was paid, I was turned out onto the trail for my self guided tour.

Because it is winter, the wild Ausable River is tamed a bit as it churns its way through the Chasm on it's way to Lake Champlain. The frantic summer activity is just a faint memory now, but the winter ice and cold turns this site into a place almost frozen in time. The quiet isolation, daunting views and the overcast sky all give you a chance to put yourself back into prehistoric time even if for a little while.

The first thing I saw was an interesting building and the river well below me.

Next, I came upon a spectacular frozen Waterfall.

I went up the trail a little way in the opposite direction.  This picture was taken very quickly and with a shaky hand.  I'm not good with heights, especially on an iron staircase. I mean, look at that staircase!  This is as far as I was going

The last picture is a formation known for its likeness to an elephant head thus named Elephant Rock.This was the neatest thing. Although I didn't go down into the chasm on a tour below, I doubt I would have seen something I liked better than that.

A little bit closer...

It was quite a place and one I'd advise you to check out. But since I have a little bit of a fear of heights, I was glad when I was back in the car and headed south. I plan on going back to see it in the fall.  Maybe I'll have the courage to go down that staircase!  But....I doubt it.