At The Gilsom Gorge.

OK, so “gorge” might be a stretch to people who live elsewhere, but here in New England we use the word to refer to a narrow watercourse.

The Ashuelot river flowing through Gilsom, NH, fits this bill.  It tumbles through and around boulders deposited millenia ago in the Gilsom Gorge, a short stretch of the Ashuelot river just south of Gilsom, NH.

Upstream of the gorge sits the Gilsom Arch Bridge:

A pre-Civil War structure of some significance, as it’s un-mortared, held together by gravity, and rather large for that sort of thing:

…”dry-laid” meaning that it’s just a pile of stones, and 148 years later, it looks absolutely mahvelous :

and yeah, automobile traffic regularly transits this span.

Downstream, the Ashuelot river wends a tortuous path through a maze of boulders, creating deep pools which attract summer fun seekers:

…the boys sliding down this thirty-foot monster ’till their balls reappeared and they jumped (probably from higher than I would have managed) and the Grrrl taking it from the top:

She soared, she sailed, she splashed down, she emerged smiling.  She was beautiful in her young strength and courage, and left us mere male mortals in the dust.

I am humbled.

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