Polar Caves, New Hampshire Wonder
Explore Glacial Caves for Family Fun in NH’s White Mountains
Aug 29, 2008
Looking for a destination that the whole family will enjoy? Kids won’t even know they are learning about geology as they crawl through these dimly lit caves created by the glaciers in central New Hampshire, in the heart of New England and close to upstate New York.
Glaciers Formed Caves
Polar Caves Park is in Rumney, a small town just west of Plymouth, NH off I-93 in the southern White Mountains. Glaciers fifty thousand years ago destroyed the entire side of a mountain, leaving a sheer cliff with a jumble of huge boulders at its base. Hawk’s Cliff towers high above visitors as they explore the natural world below. Polar Caves Park is more than the caves, and there is enough so a family could spend hours here.
Kids and adults will enjoy watching and feeding a huge flock of ducks and geese that roam free and swim in a large woodland pond. An illustrated sign helps kids identify the variety of birds – including that strange bird with the dust mop on its head. Fallow deer will eat from their hands and the kids will want to be photographed with the big white polar bear (fiberglass, of course).
Trails Through the Boulders
A series of natural trails wend their way through the tall pines and hemlocks. Stop at the Sugar House Maple Museum or at the Sugar House shop. The far end of this trail winds uphill to the Rainbow Cascades, tumbling down off the mountain.
At the foot of the caves is the Rock Garden, a series of trails easier to navigate than the steeper trails among the caves, as they wander among huge rocks strewn on the forest floor. This is a good place to study the native plant life, and for kids to get a hint of the caves to come.
Kids will be eager to climb the wooden stairs to the upper level, and explore the caves. While not caves in the sense of a hole running straight into a mountainside, these were formed when the granite of Hawk’s Cliff shattered and tumbled into the valley floor. Pay attention to the warning sign at the entrance, wear solid flat-soled shoes that will not slide on stone and be prepared for moderate exercise. You will be climbing and descending wooden and stone steps that may be uneven and slippery, and you will be twisting, turning and stooping to get through some passages.
Native Americans and Escaping Slaves
Try your skill at Needle’s Eye and Key Hole, then continue up to the others, such as the narrow Bear’s Den, the Indian Council Chamber (Native Americans did indeed use these caves, as did smugglers and escaping slaves) and the Fluorescent Cave. Some are challenging, like the Lemon Squeezer, where spaces between surfaces are tight. The descent into Bear’s Den, for example, is narrow and quite steep.
Be sure to stop at the viewing platforms, particularly the Top Walk and Raven’s Roost, for views out over the forest to the mountains, and down into the rock jumble you just came up through. From one of the platforms you’ll see a pair of stone profiles shaped like a Pointer and a St. Bernard.
If someone in your group is not up to the tougher or narrower caves, each cave has a bypass route, and there are plenty of less strenuous things for them to do while others explore the caves.
To reach Polar Caves Park, take Exit 26 from I-93 at Plymouth, and follow Rte 25 west.
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