The Cataclysmic Chasm of the Awesome Ausable

The currents of the Ausable River flow steadily between the towering cliff walls of this popular Adirondack chasm, providing an array of activity for solace-starved summer tourists.

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What northern New York lacks in seething urban pop-life, it makes up for in its abundance of natural Adirondack glory and outdoor recreation.

Rustically popular Adirondack locations such as the Ausable Chasm, in addition to other northern attractions, provide rest and relief to many Northeasterners seeking solace.

From late spring to mid-autumn, the Ausable Chasm, located just outside the small Adirondack town of Keeseville, has been reeling in tourists with its geological splendor since the late 1800s.

The chasm, which carries the current of the Ausable River, constitutes a 150-foot cleft in the earth, two miles long, running northeast toward its final destination: Lake Champlain.

This "Grand Canyon of the East" provides a unique viewing experience for both the land and water-bound tourist; the walls of the chasm tower over 100 feet in certain sections, while supporting an impressive selection of geological phenomena and lush flora.

The Ausable Chasm Company, which opens the park to tourists on May 17, has been tending to the chasm for well over a century, although it currently subcontracts the Hudson River Rafting Company to handle its boating affairs (see below). In addition, bridges and trails that span the high walls of the chasm provide impressive vistas into the deep rift below.

Elephant's Head at Ausable Chasm

Elephants Head, as seen from a hiking outlook.

Witness "Elephant's Head," the first, and perhaps most unique, natural rock formation in the chasm. Its closely spaced vertical joints give it the illusion of an elephant's head and trunk. A little further downstream, you will encounter the dubiously named "Devil's Oven," a cave that sits high above the current water level. It was excavated by a surge of annual flood waters long ago; this gives the spectator a sense of how truly ancient the chasm is.

Benchmarked at an estimated 500 million years, the chasm was formed by natural faults in the earth's surface being slowly eroded by glacial movement. As the millennia passed, the chasm cut deeper into the indigenous Potsdam sandstone, morphing the Ausable into what geologists now refer to as a "Western-style river."

This means, according to Patrick Cunningham, the owner of the Hudson River Rafting Company in North Creek, New York, that the Ausable Chasm is actually a canyon. Unlike a gorge, which is a valley formed during a mountain's formation, a canyon is formed solely by water erosion--a geological rarity in the East.

"As rare as it is," explains Cunningham, "the Black River Chasm, outside Watertown, New York, is also considered a Western-style canyon, although the one out there is carved out of shale."

Cunningham has been the owner of the rafting company for the last 25 years. However, it has only been six years since Cunningham and company set up shop upon the mighty Ausable. The HRRC currently provides rafting and tubing services on the Hudson, Sacandaga, Black and Moose Rivers.

Until 1996, as General Manager Patricia Stone of the Ausable Chasm Company explains, circumstances had been different. That January, temperatures rose from 20 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit in just 12 hours. Massive flooding and ice damage caused the steel bridges that spanned the chasm to collapse and destroyed the cable system that was used to tow the bateaux upstream.

"The flood took out all of our accommodations, but we were able to rebuild everything by May," explains Stone.

Then, in November, another flood--far worse than the last--tore through the chasm, destroying the newly constructed bridges and cable systems.

"The November flood almost balded the inside of the canyon," Stone recalls. She has been the general manager of the chasm since 1969, and her memory seems photographic. "It took out all of our new repairs and nearly washed out the entire chasm, scouring rock walls, uprooting trees, tearing out mosses and snapping our tour bridges like old twigs."

Geologically, the November flood of 1996 was considered to be a "500-year event," which means that a flood of that magnitude had not been watermarked in the Ausable Chasm for at least five centuries. The scouring damages can still be seen today--grim heiroglyphics representing the fury of nature.

Now, under the professional boatmanship of the HRRC, the Ausable Chasm has been perpetuating its business effectively for the past six years. "Since we only use inflatable kayaks and tubes during our tours, we have the advantage of accessing the water when it's high or low," explains Cunningham.

The Ausable Chasm, which currently closes its gates to tourists in mid-October, provides a full day of entertainment for the traveling tourist.

Also, the Chasm offers 132 campsites complete with RV hookup, water, electricity, and sewer utilities. And, if you're not prepared to camp, the Chasm touts a small, unscrupulous eight-room motel, although no room service or catering is available (see sidebar).

If you seek an economically feasible outdoor retreat this summer, complete with astounding scenery and natural effects, take a few days off and roll on up to the Ausable Chasm.

Any questions? Email us.