Thread: Quarries, Gorges and Gaps, - An ongoing TR of exploring VT and finding places to jump

Quarries, Gorges and Gaps, - An ongoing TR of exploring VT and finding places to jump into unfrozen water.


It had been a hot, miserable week as far as weather goes. I’d spent the entire week taking my 20 month old, Bridger, to the local “pool”.



He loves the water so it’s perfect. Wednesday rolls around and hanging out with some friend’s turns into exploring a new swimming hole. The swimming hole trip is successful but leaves me itching for something a bit more exciting, something I haven’t really done much of since my son was born. Jumping off rocks, cliffs, gorges and anything of the like. The higher the better, but jumping is jumping. A brief email exchange with non-mag friend T turns into his 4 hour trip north to VT that evening and an impromptu exploration of some local swimming holes and known jumping areas the next day. Over some cold beers we work out the logistics. It could be tricky since we are bringing along Bridger and Maggie, my 1 year old Newfie. Final decision was to begin this journey close to home and make a loop. Oh, and get Bridger a life jacket before we even start out for his safety and my piece of mind.

Sweet life jacket dude!


Game on. Beers in cooler? Check. Ipod charged and plugged in? Check. Directions to all the spots we plan to hit?? CHECK!

Just around noon we pull into our first spot: an inactive marble quarry not very far from a decent sized town…not a soul or car in sight.



















Spot number 2 is another inactive quarry about 15 minutes away from #1. This place is empty also. Not a great spot for a 20 month old, and a dumb dog who loves to swim, the water wasn’t as clean and personally I was a little freaked out by it. T took a quick jump in and we were onto the next spot.














Stop number 3 was a gorge. Great pools of water and falls carved through big rocks. Great place for Bridger and Maggie and we even got a small jump in. Heisman style.





Stop number 4 was another inactive quarry. It was by far the best jumping and the busiest spot all day. It’s right off the road, so very visible and popular. It was not the best place for a kid but we were able to get a bunch of jumps in just by holding him in our laps while the other person jumped. Biggest jumps of the day were here. They are called the 20 footer and 40 footer so I would imagine that’s pretty accurate for a height guess. They were both awesome.

Swan dive off the 20 footer









Some 40 foot loving (T didn't see the tree in the way of the shot)











T's turn











That was it for Friday. It was an amazing way to spend a day that was about 94 degrees and full on blazing sun.

The plan for Saturday was to head north to visit Thin Cover, adding to our carpool Bluebird and Do Work who drove up Saturday morning. Diamondback was up visiting Mrs. TC, and Fixed Grip and lady friend came down from Burly on Saturday afternoon. It was turning into a great day. No swimming had occurred yet since it rained in the morning but we gathered the troops in the early evening (minus Bluebird and Mrs. TC who were on kiddo duty) for a quick trip in what we now know is The Middlebury Gorge (I think). Nobody took pics except for FG. Those turn out at all dude?

Sunday began with a drive up Lincoln Gap. Since we had TC on crutches the plan was to take it easy. Not far up the gap we made our first and last stop. It was perfect for our needs. Good jumping, an amazing waterfall and a shallow area for the boys and dogs.

TC was our photographer for the day. I failed and left my camera in the car so I could jump and swim. Selfish, I know. I have to say though these pics were taken with TC’s new iphone4 and they are pretty good for a cell phone.

TC perches atop the jumping zone…



Do Work takes the first jump.



Look at the waterfalls. You could go behind them and dive out into the rush of the falls/current. SO AMAZING.



We did some jumping, swimming and exploring.








On the way back from Middlebury DW and I decided we should hit up one the quarry’s T and I hit the other day. It was a no brainer since it was on the way home. Nice to cool off…





















Unfortunately T may have blown an eardrum on one of the rope swing jumps he took on Sunday. He’s off to the doctors Wednesday. ++++VIBES++++ to him as he is one of the two original crusaders in this adventure. Here’s to a swift and speedy return to jumping this summer T. It was a great weekend with friends and it was awesome to get TC out of the house and to the water. I look forward to finding many more new places to swim, jump and have fun this summer. Seems like this state has more than enough to choose from, and you don’t have to look really hard. So in short, summer has been great even though it’s not winter. You’ve just got to enjoy what you’ve been given for the season and it’s actually not bad at all.

More pics to be added as our exploration continues…

That looks like it might smart a bit.

Yeah T needs to land feet first. Heal up dude. Thanks for the cool off D. Love VT swimming holes.

Originally Posted by uppernotmaster

Yeah T needs to land feet first. Heal up dude. Thanks for the cool off D. Love VT swimming holes.

I think if he hadn't twisted he would have gone feet first. That one didn't hurt he said, it was Sunday that did his ear in. A rope swing gone bad. Sucks.

awesome... this heat the last few weeks has sucked, what a great way to cool off.


(...aaaaand my weekends look even more lame now)

sorry i cant get a bigger image, but i broke my nose on this rope swing fuck up in rumney.
protect ya neck. (cause im lucky i didnt break mine)


ps to the jumping crowd: someones gotta do a gainer by the end of the summer and someone else has to shoot a sequence of that bitch.

additional tip to T: look over your forehead not your shoulder. trust me. im a doctor.

Ha. I used to jump at that last quarry. What's the name of that place again? good times.

YEH!!! POINTEDEM THATS THE STOKE! top gun style homos!

Originally Posted by bumpskier

So in short, summer has been great even though it’s not winter. You’ve just got to enjoy what you’ve been given for the season and it’s actually not bad at all.

Agreed... not bad at all (and particularly nice in VT)! Great report ... you and T are covering some serious ground this summer. Hope his hearing returns soon ... that rope was trecherous!

Originally Posted by pointedem

Ha. I used to jump at that last quarry. What's the name of that place again? good times.

thats dorset, I did a running front flip off the 40 footer a few years back and almost blew my eyeballs out of my head when I overrated and impacted face first. Could not see for 2 minutes, thought I was blinded forever. THATS GOOD TIMES

Great weekend, glad you all made it up for the visit, well I see you every week BS
Fun taking pics, but of course I wish I was jumping. In that water fall pic BS, if you look, there is a kid getting inverted over the falls.

I got mine though finally, no mtn biking (or swimming/hiking) means finding something that does not involve using my legs

Sunset on Dunmore


Little Cover enjoying his maiden voyage





I think people were interested in why we were at the boat launch with a kayak
me with my trusted steed


lets do it again soon

Let that last photo be a warning to anyone who thinks they want to f**k with TC.


Heard that someone broke a leg bone on a rope swing in Quechee over the weekend. Hope it wasn't anyone here.

dorset thats right. i never had the front/ backs dialed enough to go from that height-- i would do the same thing you did TC- either under or over. those flips in my pics are best described as front side lincoln loop- never lose sight of the water that way. anyhoo thx for the summer VT stoke.

Badass TR... keepin busy in the NE during the summer.

Can't say I'd be super psyched about jumping into old quarry waters that are probably laden with mercury, cadmium, and other heavy metals though. Cancer is some burly shit. Something to think about the next time you go for a soak...

Originally Posted by BrokeSomeRibs

Can't say I'd be super psyched about jumping into old quarry waters that are probably laden with mercury, cadmium, and other heavy metals though. Cancer is some burly shit. Something to think about the next time you go for a soak...

I might be wrong, but aren't those chemicals only used for leaching minerals (i.e. gold, silver platinum) from the ground? Marble/granite quarries just cut out big blocks of stone with saws AFAIK...

I'd be more worried about submerged objects, but in a few of these pics it looks like you can see pretty far into the water


Sick.

Is that the quarry on the way from Manchester to Wells/Poultney?

JGB - The pics with the big jumps (20 & 40) are at The Dorset Quarry. So yes if you take Route 30 north you end up in Poultney. We started in West Rutland, then Clarendon, then Poultney and final stop was Dorset and headed up 7 back towards home. If it wasn't 6 at night and the kid wasn't hungry and cranky we might have tried to stop at the Danby water slide and the Clarendon Gorge.

As for mercury etc. in the water, I HOPE not. That would ruin it for me. Like KRP said I think quarries are just big cuts of stone without use of chemicals. Now I need to do some research. As for hitting stuff, the water is SO clear you can see so far down...

Nihiles, nice pics!! Love all the added stoke everyone.

TC, glad you got on your 'yak. Nice pics of Dumore.

Originally Posted by thin cover

HEY TC! lou ferrigno called... ah nevermind.

Originally Posted by nihiles

HEY TC! lou ferrigno called... ah nevermind.

Ok, I had to google Lou Ferrigno but once I did I laughed. Funny stuff Nihiles.

that is a sweeet tr, thanks.

Originally Posted by bumpskier

JGB - The pics with the big jumps (20 & 40) are at The Dorset Quarry. So yes if you take Route 30 north you end up in Poultney. We started in West Rutland, then Clarendon, then Poultney and final stop was Dorset and headed up 7 back towards home. If it wasn't 6 at night and the kid wasn't hungry and cranky we might have tried to stop at the Danby water slide and the Clarendon Gorge.

Cool. There are some other good quarries on 30 just north of Poultney on the way to Bomoseen, as well as jumping from the old railroad trestle in Poultney. There's an awesome swimming hole in East Poultney too, I just can't remember exactly where it is. I'm also a huge fan of the swimming hole at Buttermilk Falls in Ludlow.

Sounds like you're having fun this summer!

Originally Posted by bumpskier

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T = JESUS?????

There is no better way to beat the heat than jumping off stuff into clean, refreshing water. Lincoln Gap was the coolest spot ever with multiple jump points, caves that extended behind the waterfalls for dives through the deluge and shallow parts for putting up folding chairs/playing with the kids & dogs. Can't think of a better way to spend a miserably hot weekend, huge thanks to BS, Bluebird, TC & fam, T, DB and FG+1. STILL stoked from the weekend.

TC, so great to see the pics of you on the water. Beyond awesome to give you some damn mobility finally- you're on the same playing field as everyone else in that beast! Keep that life jacket on, though- I hear muscle sinks and safety first Also I think that Golden Corral All-Star in the background at the boat launch always looks that dumbfounded. I'd put money on it.

See you guys soon. The tour must go on!

On another note- The water is so clear in most of these spots that you can see an easy 40 or so feet down, but somebody made a comment about chemicals in the water- is there a simple way or a few signs that you SHOULD NOT go into the water??? It all looks so good, it's hard to imagine it being dangerous due to pollution but I'd rather be on the safe side!

Ruptured Eardrum = no fun. Seen two people end seasons like that. One was a teammate and one was a kid I coached. (I was a diver in college)

TC - Good to see you out and about. That first sunset shot is $$$$.

that water is fine. i spent my summers near the infamous Quincy quarries. 125' drops, which i nevah hit. but the scary part was not knowing if there was a car or log floating around down there. you need to see this shit, crazy south shore kids.