Caves in Pottersville, NY

Caves are a hot topic these days in our car so when we saw Natural Stone Bridge and Caves in small red print on the map, we decided to check it out.

Winding down a gorgeous tree-lined road for what seemed an eternity, we started to see little signs:



“We’re sorry”
“we couldn’t”
"move the caves”
“closer to the freeway”

Grandma said these people must be from the Burma Shave generation like her. She was tickled. Finally, we arrived – this was a very Mom & Pop attraction. After buying tickets, I noticed a sign that said, “These trails are left natural, safety is your responsibility.” I just knew I was going to love this place!

Millions of years ago (?) a huge boulder fell and created a bridge over a river. Now the ticket office, parking lot and gift shop are built on this rock! The hiking trails, with no logical sequence, take you down to the river, across the river and into some really cool caves. We could hike down and actually go under the bridge which was rather impressive.

I couldn't keep track of the big kids to save my life! Over and over I read them the signs "Hazard Area: Keep children with you at all times" but off they'd go, so thrilled to be free. The trouble was I was glued to Doodle helping her along the trail and mostly down the crooked, steep and narrow stairs. (This was wrecking havoc on my knees.)

At one point I seriously lost sight of them, when suddenly Peanut popped up out of a hole screaming, "Moooom, you just have to come check this out...right away!" We were at "Peter Pan's Peephole" and I could barely fit in the cave to peep! It was nuts. Much more impressive to those under 4 feet tall!

Little Man and Peanut were in their element. While the map made zero sense to Grandma and I, they ran about hiking up and down and back and forth as though it was the most logical place in the world. I asked Little Man to post, since he seemed the most thrilled, and here's what he had to say:

“We were going back in the mountains into caves and we got walking sticks to use on the trails because there were hazard areas. Peanut and I were leading the way on all the trails. The steps were stones and logs and they were wet and slimy. There was a geode that was as tall as me, but it was from Brazil. Hey, remember that one trail that was a hazard? Where all the water was sloshing around us? Write about that one. It was called the Noisy Cave. It was so noisy! ha ha ha ha! We could only stand on one rock at the end, with ropes, and tried not to fall into the rushing river. I loved that place!”