High Falls Gorge on Route 86 — a series of thundering waterfalls the Ausable River pours through a slot of billion-year-old rock, with walkways right out over the water.
Coming up on the roadside you'll see High Falls Gorge, and if you have an hour it's worth the stop — it's a spot where the Ausable River doesn't just tumble, it roars, pouring over seven hundred feet of drop through a tight slot in the rock in a series of thundering waterfalls. They've built walkways and bridges right out over the churning water, so you can stand a few feet above the falls and feel the spray and the thunder of it come up through your boots.
And the rock those falls have cut through is almost unimaginably old — this is anorthosite, a hard, grayish stone that makes up the core of the whole High Peaks, and it's over a billion years old, some of the most ancient rock exposed anywhere in the eastern United States. The river has been sawing down into it for ages to make this gorge.
It's a privately run attraction, open spring through fall, so there's an admission — but a lot of folks call it the highlight of the drive up. Your call; if you'd rather press on to the mountain, no problem. Either way, roll on toward Wilmington.
Photo: André Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 2.0
