Ausable Chasm at Night

Explore the wonders of the chasm on a lantern-guided night tour.

Story by Meg Griswold 

     Dusk has just fallen as the group gathers in a line at the Gatehouse Entrance into Ausable Chasm for a nightly tour of one of the earliest attractions in The United States. The coolness of the air and the sound of the rushing water set the tone for how the next couple of hours would turn out. The raised-voices chattering echoing through the night proved the excitement of the group.

Although everyone was excited to see how the night would progress, there were a few complaints for the price of admission. Twenty dollars to see a natural piece of land was absurd, a few people said. According to one of the tour guides, Jeff, there has always been a price of admission into the chasm. The money that we spend to see the natural-carved, vertical-walled canyon goes toward the maintenance of the natural phenomenon. Everyone had the same thought in mind, is twenty dollars a person really necessary for the up-keep of a natural structure?

At the start of the tour, lanterns are given out to light the way through the dark-wooded abyss. Although a night-guided tour of the chasm sounds like a great experience, I would not recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen the chasm during the day. We all look down into the chasm as the guides point in the direction of the “astonishing” walls and depth. All I see is a black hole. I was disappointed because I had no idea what I was looking at since I had not previously seen the sights in daylight.

The entire tour, which lasted for about two and half hours, was very repetitive since it was dark outside. Everything looked the same — the natural stone jutting out from the sides as we walked through the canyon, the blackness at our feet and the blackness down below. The parts of the tour that were worth seeing by lantern at night were the ripples in the stone that we walked on, and the water that we touched after descending to the bottom of the canyon. There are historical facts, myths, and ghost stories surrounding the chasm that the knowledgeable guides told throughout the duration of the walk. One other positive thing about taking the tour at night is that all of the stories feel as if they come alive.

My hopes of how stunning the chasm would look at night were not completely fulfilled; however, I did have fun. The guides were set to show us a good time and they were enthusiastic about the history. The lantern-tour is the only guided tour offered at Ausable Chasm. My advice is to see it on your own during the day, and then come back at night to experience what the guides have to say. Although the cost of admission seems too high, it is a great experience in the end.

What did you think of the Night Tours at Ausable Chasm?

Have you ever taken the guided night tour?