At The Gilsom Gorge. July 10, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Love and Death.Tags: Ashuelot river, Gilsum Arch Bridge, Gilsum gorge, Godesses
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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.
Beautiful shots, smashing alliteration, and a lovely glimpse of a kind of life that not many get to lead.
It seems that everything in New England is on a smaller scale than out west, except the house lots. (Everyone we knew in our NH town had 3 acres+; out here in the wide open Southwest many houses are crammed together, with each on 1/4 acre).
Anyway, love the sparkles and action in the last shot. And, oh, just for comparison, a gorge on another scale: http://www.sangres.com/cimages/notc/nmstateparkimages/riogrande/11big.jpg (the Rio Grande Gorge in Taos, NM).
Claire, we’ll take our personal space large and put up with our puny landscapes, thank you. Though both your gorges and your mountains are spectacular beyond our Eastern imaginings!
Gotta go there.
Gorge-us pictures!
And I love the bridge! Do people with the skill to dry-lay for the eons still exist?
Awesome bridge and water goddess. Thanks for the pics.