WAY back in 1995 this latest 'phase' of my outdoor life began with the desire to seek out the many little (and often insignificant) caves across Massachusetts. The basis was originally the classic cave book "New England's Buried Treasures" by Clay Perry. Primarily, his index reference many caves that Perry did not cover in the narrative portion of his books. Quite soon thereafter, I was adding other sources and even other geologic formations.
But those early years were mostly devoted to Franklin and Hampshire County. Even looking up a few caves I had seen back in my youthful days. So as we move into the present time, I am once again mixing in the old with the new and visiting sites not seen in years! With that in mind, it was back to the Indian Cave in western Franklin County, south of the New Hampshire border.
The trail into Indian Cave used in past years seems to have disappeared. Although on my bushwhack out of the woods, I did run across an old blaze from that trail. But with modern devices like GPS and a newer trail in the vicinity, I did eventually make my goal! Two histories (at least) on this Town mention an overhanging portion of the cave. One says 100 people could fit under it, another says 500! Neither is correct. A nice set of updated photos was obtained since my last visit was 2006. I also examined a number of boulders scattered about the forest including one I humorously labeled Squaw Cave. A perched boulder with some nice shelter space underneath.
My next stop was just a jog to the west where some rugged mountainside was covered trying to add to a past couple of visits for Ice Cave. Nothing really presented itself of any interest except falling a couple of times on the rocky hillside.
My third - and final - stop took me one more town west and over the Connecticut River to land at the Bear's Den. This is a picturesque little cave, at least looking up at it from the stream below. But the short interior is pretty bland. It appears to be the result of some significant weathering, maybe even of a softer bedrock within the ledgy outcrop.
Photography ate up quite a bit of time on this trip. So over 10 hours later, it was back in the Berkshires!
