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No matter where you are in Vermont, there are barns.
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And if you’re traveling with my husband, there is envy.
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Because no matter how much he improves his own Barn Mahal/ man cave, somewhere someone has done more.
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This barn had an apartment.
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This barn was haunted. It’s hard to top that.
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The white barn didn’t really look like a barn, but it was.
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Barns with cows…
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And barns without cows. He loves them all.
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Yes, there really was an end to our visit. Much as I didn’t want to, we had to leave eventually.
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And leaving meant walking the rim trail.
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Which follows the edge of the chasm but from a much higher level.
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The grand flume.
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Most of the trail was through the woods with a few peaks of the water like this.
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When a tree falls in the forest? Doesn’t matter if you hear it or not… let it be. The critters will thank you.
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One more scenic vista..
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One more cross walk…
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And you’re back on the main road bridge.
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Which affords one last beautiful view.
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If you’re ever in Keeseville, New York visit the Grand Canyon of the East at Ausable Chasm.
It really was awesome!
👍
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You thought you were done looking at rocks?
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Not quite.
I forgot one of the best parts of the Inner Sanctum trail at Ausable Chasm….
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The wall of moss.
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The husband went in for a close up… so you know it had to be good.
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A solid wall of perpetually wet moss. It was amazing.
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I loved it.
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Me.
Loving it.
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Thankfully it was a warm late October day and the bridge wasn’t iced.
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And though I didn’t want to leave, we’d reached the end of the trail and it’s giant knee pain inducing stairs.
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A final look at the trail from above.
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Are you tired of rock filled posts?
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Then you’ve come to the wrong blog.
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The Inner Sanctum trail at Ausable Chasm is well named as we were surrounded by cliffs and rushing water …. blissfully alone with the grandeur. A veritable rock sanctuary.
But all good things must end and this staircase was the beginning.
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One last look around before we climbed up.
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And I won’t lie, it was hard to leave this fabulous trail.
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Spending the day here made us feel small, in a good.. we’re just tiny specks in the universe… way.
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Mother Nature is a marvelous architect.
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And we enjoyed every minute.
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I know it feels like I took picture every time I took a step, and okay… maybe I did. But I’m not posting all of them, I promise.
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The rock faces and cliffs were just too spectacular not to share.
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Thankfully we didn’t have to cross this bridge.
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Though my husband sure wanted to.
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I’ve often thought he was part mountain goat.
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The power of water and erosion is hard to miss at Ausable Chasm.
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It’s literally everywhere.
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As was I.
Shown here loving on some rocks… with the sun’s rays giving me a high five.
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A truly glorious place.
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Ausable Chasm is awesome, no doubt about it.
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And the Inner Sanctum trail is one of the most awesome I’ve ever taken.
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It literally hugs the edge of the rocks and affords some fabulous views.
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Bridges cut back and forth across the canyon..
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And even my non picture taking husband was happily snapping away.
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It was stunning.
Gorgeous.
Impressive.
Remarkable.
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And yeah, most definitely awesome.
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Me. Enjoying the rocks and awesomeness.
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Visiting off season was perfect. We almost had the whole place to ourselves.
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Rocks!
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There’s the husband, still upset he couldn’t do the rope bridges and rafting adventure part of the chasm.
😳
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Since 2014, I haven’t done much holiday decorating. My mother adored our house when it was decked out in red, green and gold, but the year she died my heart just wasn’t in it. The following year we started traveling for Christmas… a different destination each time… and there didn’t seem to be any reason to decorate an empty house.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be hitting the road in 2022 and after hearing how much the neighbors missed our displays, I caved and decided to put out a few things to get into the spirit. Wreaths on the windows and doors, white candles and snowflake lights, a lighted deer and tree on the front lawn.
Outdoor finished, I only planned on dressing up the tables. Dining room with Charlie Brown Christmas tree….
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And kitchen with mini tree and snowmen salt and pepper shakers.
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I thought I was done, but I bought a poinsettia.
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And then I thought why not put that garland with the pinecone lights on the kitchen shelf? And while you’re at it add a few reindeer.
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And if I dragged that garland out, I might as well decorate the mantle too.
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And if I did the mantle, I should probably do the hearth.
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So much for just a little decorating.
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A snowman Christmas card box, a few randomly scattered reindeer, tea towels in the guest bathroom, a red jingle bell heart wreath on the kitchen door and I was finished. Yes. Definitely.
Well, except for my line of rampaging, pitchfork wielding snowmen.
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But that was it, really… I was done. Until the husband walked in, looked around and said now we need a tree.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten was ready.
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But once the tree was in the house … I began to worry.
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Please note the little devil is literally licking his lips. That can’t be good.
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Shiny colored balls? Please mom, hang them now!
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Alternating white, red and green lights. Alternating garlands of gold leaves and weeds. Red, green and gold ornaments, a star on the top and it was done.
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I can’t swear to it … but I think Lord Dudley was waiting for us to go to bed.
Day tree –
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Night tree-
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Decorating the tree this way takes a lot of time and effort. But I’m always pleased with the results…
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The problem is…
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So is Lord Dudley.
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And now I’m wondering if I can stay awake every night until the New Year when it’s time to take it down.
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We were really enjoying this hike alongside the chasm.
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There was something stunning around every corner.
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Though at times my knee strongly disagreed.
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Here’s the husband.
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He might be a senior citizen, but he was still upset he couldn’t cross that rope bridge.
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The path that’s cut into the rock alongside the chasm is spectacular.
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And I was loving every minute of it.
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Surrounded by towering rocks. How could I not?
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This open metal bridge was a little hairy. And while I’m not afraid of heights, looking straight down through it was a tad stomach flipping.
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Onward…
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Continuing on the marked path, we came to a fork. We could take the easier, stairless Rim Walk on the left…
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Or the harder, your bad knee will be screaming and make you pay, Inner Sanctum trail to the right.
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You knew there was only one right answer.
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Stairs? Oh yeah. Hundreds of them.
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But the views were totally worth it.
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The farther down you go, the louder the roar of the water.
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And once again I was glad the adventure trail was closed. I love to climb on rocks… but generally need a little more than string when it comes to a bridge.
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Me. Loving the rocks.
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The Inner Sanctum is the only way to see this chasm up close and personal.
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It was truly stunning.
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Our day trip destination in New York was the little town of Keeseville, home to the Grand Canyon of the East.
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We’d driven by this place on a previous vacation and vowed if we were ever back in the area we’d stop and explore.
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In case you can’t zoom in, one of the best tourist attractions of the Adirondacks is under the C in Lake Champlain. Au Sable directly translates to “of the sand” which makes sense since the chasm is a giant sandstone gorge.
Looking forward to taking some good pictures, I was extremely glad cameras are smaller and lighter than they used to be.
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After buying tickets and taking a quick look at the little history museum, we headed out over the bridge which was impressive in and of itself.
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Entering the site, it felt like they knew I was coming.
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There are multiple paths and trails but they all start here.
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And like good tourists, we followed the yellow brick road.
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Okay, we followed the yellow wooden squares… so sue me.
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The first open outcropping looked back toward the bridge. And after that?
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I knew my knee would not be happy.
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It’s a shame they even have to post warnings like that, but you know some bozo bonked someone on the head down below at one time or another.
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This was our first look at the chasm.
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And I have to say I was hooked.
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I was also glad it was off season and the “adventure trail” was closed.
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Because that’s a bridge I had no interest in crossing.
😳
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River's world..... 