Adventures in the Adirondacks: High Falls Gorge

On our second morning at the Adirondacks, we drove to High Falls Gorge in Wilmington, around 20 minutes from Lake Placid.

High Falls Gorge is a privately-owned nature park with hiking trails that take you to four waterfalls cascading over rocks and ancient granite cliffs into the chasm that was carved by the river a billion years ago.  This is like a smaller version of the Ausable Chasm.

Okay, I have a confession to make. When we went to the Ausable Chasm the previous day, I was actually thinking of the High Falls Gorge. In fact, I had the latter written down on my trip planning notebook and had all the details listed from my online research – address, distance from the hotel, driving time, opening and closing times, attractions, entrance fee, food availability, description of trails, etc.  But somehow, I got confused.

 I think it was because I picked up the Ausable Chasm brochure from the hotel lobby on our first night. For some reason, I thought that the Ausable Chasm and the High Falls Gorge are one and the same, and for some other reason, I never bothered to check my travel notebook and just referred to the brochure. In my mind, I just saw hiking trails, rocks, and waterfalls…and both locations had all these.

My innocent confusion was passed on to my husband. When I printed the Google Maps driving route to Ausable Chasm at the hotel’s business centre that morning (this was before GPS units and the Google Maps app became the norm), it gave us a driving time of more than an hour. My husband asked if I got the correct information. He recalled that two days earlier, I mentioned that the drive was supposed to be only 20 minutes. And I did remember saying it and even making a comment about how close it was to the hotel.

How did it become an hour? I mumbled something about the weather, or perhaps some road construction…but since we were in a hurry to leave, we just dismissed those thoughts. “Just drive while I read the directions to you,” I said.

On the way back to the hotel in the afternoon, we passed by High Falls Gorge on the left side of the road. For some reason, I did not notice it in the morning, perhaps because it was on the driver’s side then, or maybe I was busy looking at the map.

It was the moment of realization, and this is how our conversation went:

Me         : Honey, look to your right. Do you see what I see?

Hubby  : A sign that says, “High Falls Gorge?”

Me         : Right…and we are about twenty minutes from our hotel, right?

Hubby  : Uh-huh…why am I suddenly suspicious?

Me         : Well…apparently, this is the place we were supposed to visit. 

Hubby  : And you made me drive for more than an hour to go to a different place?

Me         : Apparently. That’s why the map that I printed said one hour, instead of 20 minutes.

Hubby  : And how did that happen?

Me         : Apparently, I got confused. I printed the map for Ausable Chasm. Their brochure looked so much like the High Falls Gorge brochure…you know – hiking, rocks,    waterfalls…same, same.

Hubby  : Except, one was more than an hour away.

Me         : But don’t you think this was a wonderful mistake? We have not even heard about Ausable Chasm before, and now we’ve seen it!

Hubby  : Uh-huh.

Me         : So…can we come back here tomorrow and see High Falls Gorge?

Hubby  : Do I have a choice?

And there we were…back at High Falls Gorge, the place that we originally wanted to see.

The queue was not so bad when we arrived. There were only about 15 people ahead of us. We had to go to the gift shop and get the tickets. The park entrance was just behind the cashier counter.

Our son was handed an activity leaflet along with the tickets. There were five questions on it (multiple choice type) and the lady at the counter said that the answers could be found on the sign boards along the trail. If he could get all the answers right, there would be a prize at the end.

The trail started with a wooden bridge spanning the Ausable River and then continued on the groomed walkways through the forest. The view is very similar to what we saw at Ausable Chasm, but we were closer to the river and the trails were kid and wheelchair friendly.

Hikers have a choice between taking the easy path or the less easy one (I won’t consider it difficult at all, just not navigable by those with mobility issues) that takes you down wooden staircases, wooden bridges, and even two glass walkways.

This was another “A-ha” moment for me. I saw these glass walkways on the High Falls Gorge brochure, and I was looking for them at the Ausable Chasm trail. When I asked one of the guides about them, she stared blankly at me. Of course, she wouldn’t know. There are no glass walkways there because they are here. Duh!

There were also wooden benches and picnic tables if hikers wish to rest or eat. We walked for around 45 minutes, admiring the falls and the gushing waters below.  My boys meticulously read all the wooden signs strategically perched along the paths. They provided botanical and geological facts and figures about the region. My son was able to answer all the questions on the quiz sheet.

At the very end, we stumbled upon another hiking trail with a wooden sign that says, “Intermediate Trail – Uneven Surfaces and Steep Inclines.”

My boys, who are avid hikers, asked if they could check it out…at least the first leg of the trail since they know we wouldn’t have the time to do this all the way to the end. I let them explore for a bit while I climbed a small hill to see the forest trees up close. We also checked the other side where there is a huge picnic/barbecue area by the river. We had been blessed with mild weather that day. Apart from a slight drizzle and the summer humidity, the skies were bright and we didn’t get drenched as we did the previous day.

Back at the Visitor Centre, we walked around the gift shop for a bit and looked at the wonderful array of Adirondack products and mountain-themed décor. They had a lot of bear décor but my boys restrained themselves after I reminded them that we have no more space in the house for more bear knick-knacks. We just picked small souvenir items to give to friends and then walked to the cashier to pay for them and to claim my son’s prize.

The cashier confirmed that he got the right answers and directed him to a corner where he could choose a small item.  There were pencils, stickers, and small novelty toys. My son picked a small dinosaur set that contained a plastic “growing dinosaur,” a dinosaur tattoo, and a dinosaur eraser. The cashier also gave him two extra stickers.

There was a nice cafeteria by the Visitor Centre. I thought the menu looked great and I heard they have an in-house chef (so it’s not the typical cafeteria food) but the prices are of course, tourist prices. There was also a cozy corner decorated like a mountain cottage with a huge glass window overlooking the window where one can sit, read a book (there was a shelf full of books), and enjoy a cup of coffee. But we brought our own lunch, and we did not have the luxury of time, so we quickly gobbled our sandwiches at the parking lot and drove to the Santa place in North Pole, New York.

Yes, there is a North Pole in New York!