Purgatory Chasm (hike with photos)

I've been procrastinating about posting this photo essay because I have been chomping on how Purgatory Chasm even came to exist in the first place.  Purgatory Chasm is located in Sutton, Massachusetts.  I have visited Purgatory many times in my life, and the first time I visited there I was a Brownie!  Until now, I was just fascinated by the concept of caves.  At this point in my life I wonder how the landscape in my surrounding area in New England has come to exist, and have been doing a bit of research since I took my girls here in late April.



This glacial meltwater deposit is believed to have come into existence at the end of the last Ice Age, about 14,000 years ago.  I am left with more questions than I can stand at the end of researching this area.  When it comes to the existence of man and animal, and what meaning this landscape has held over thousands of years, I am perplexed and lost-- there is little information about that.  Instead, the question of how this place came to exist in the first place has been researched thoroughly.



This was what I was hoping to find...a little bit about the history of this area--what meaning it has had for human beings and animals over thousands of years, but this monument confused me more.  To my knowledge there is no research that shows how this geographical landmark has served man and animal.  Mainly I came up with geographical information, and last night I finally came across a bit of lore, which I will share later in this essay.



You really do need to be in O.K. physical shape to come here.  What stumped geologists for a long time was the fact that Purgatory Chasm is situated on a hill, so how could the formation come to exist from a glacier?  Glaciers don't move uphill, they move downhill...



I was not planning this trip at all.  I tend to do things spur of the moment.  It is difficult for my kids to ask anything of me one day in advance.  It's just a "thing".  Into the chasm we went, and I confess that I cringed a bit that my little daughter was wearing shorts, so we all stayed close to her.  Above is the beginning of the journey through the chasm.  We stayed the easy course.



Here was her first little challenge, and for the moment I was glad, after all, that she had worn her favorite knee-high socks with those sandals!  One thing I love about hiking with my kids is that it brings them together.  They are so far apart in age.

Naturalists and geologists were stumped by the formation of Purgatory Chasm for quite a long time.  The first documented discovery of the place was in 1841 by a Dr. Edward Hitchcock, of Amherst, who was the first state geologist of Massachusetts.



Believe it or not, you are looking at the entrance of a decent sized cave, above.  The probability of ocean or water erosion was definitely NOT a factor in the formation of Purgatory Chasm, as is evidenced by the squared, jagged edges of the rocks here.



We decided to be brave and go down, down, down into the dark hole.  Inside it was surprisingly cool, maybe about 66 degrees farenheit (this is a guess)--above, it was 87 degrees farenheit!  As we climbed deeper into the cave it got chilly, and the air was eerily still...the bustle of life above disappeared by the insulation of these great boulders.  I had no opportunity to be anxious about being inside the cave, because I was so fascinated!



Yep, that's my foot and my sandal, stepping on ICE!  Long after the ice had melted from the rivers and lakes, here I was stepping on ICE!  I could feel the icy air rising and it surprised me.



My daughter's friend lead us through the cave--he's grown up in the region and has spent lots of time here, so it was sort of like having a personal guide!  I was disheartened by the graffiti and resented the fact that I wasn't looking at any cave paintings from long ago...




No time to be grumpy, though.  Once inside, the rocks enchanted me.  How is it that these various-sized rocks were holding up the "roof" above my head?  It was awe-inspiring, really.  Big huge boulders rested firmly on smaller sized boulders, and I moved around them to see how else they came to be locked into place.  Incredible!



The kids were out before I was, of course, and they waited patiently for me while I fooled around inside of the cave.  I love that my older daughter instinctively knows that I might be nervous if not close enough to spot my younger daughter...

How to convey the size of Purgatory Chasm?  This posed a challenging photo shoot for me, while I worked with angles, perspective, and distance in order to show the heights of the chasm, which reach up to 70 feet.




Rock climbers love this place, and there is plenty to be challenged by no matter what one's climbing skills are, as you can see!



This little guy found himself in the path of my lens, and I was glad for that, because it provides some perspective...






Don't even THINK about it, I told her!  At Purgatory Chasm, you really need to be cautious of drop-offs, and she was pondering climbing right to the top of this one!  YIKES!  In order to hike here you must be aware...drop-offs come as a surprised and at times you don't see them until you are right up ON them.

So...how did a place like this come to be?  For a week I was still in awe and on a high from visiting this place.  I decided to start researching to see what the internet brought up, but since I am not a geologist I decided to write to Professor Mauri, of Nichols College, since I found a web page which some of his students had worked on...



Dearest Professor Mauri,

I recently visited Purgatory Chasm for the fourth or fifth time in my life.  Now that I near 38 I have many more questions that matter.  I recently came across your page about Purgatory and that is how I obtained your email address.

NOW--can you explain in layman's (or woman's!) terms how you think this formation occurred?  Is your final conclusion that it was along a fault then later affected by glaciers moving?

Also, is there any evidence, other than the rock seen at the right of the entrance, of native american life that has been discovered at Purgatory?

And how long do you think Purgatory has been in existence?

I am writing an article about the place; I am a photographer and writer and enjoy writing about the places I explore. 

Additionally my six-year-old daughter wants to know how in the world something so amazing could exist.  She would also like to know if we can build one in our yard.

What do you think?


Thank you!

Jennifer K

********
Answer:
From :     Pelto, Mauri S
Sent :     Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:02 AM
To :     jennifer k
Subject :     RE: Purgatory Chasm--Sutton, Mass

Jennifer:  I am not familar with the native american evidence at the chasm.  The
formation is straightforward:
1. A fault creates a weakness-crack in the rock at some depth.
2. When the rock on top of this crack is eroded away, the crack begins to open
via erosion.
3.Since the chasm entrance is on a ridge and there is no evidence of water
erosion, water is not the eroding agent.
4. A principal mechanism of glacier erosion is plucking, whereby meltwater at
the base of the glacier freezes around a rock knob and pulls the peice of rock
off.
5.  This like the initial development of a crack in a road, occurs without the
glacier or a tire in the case of a road fitting into the crack.
6. Where the glacier meets the bedrock there is considerable pressure melting of
the ice, particularly against any rock protruding in the way the ice refreezes
fairly quickly in the first lee setting, and then can pluck the boulder out, via
the rock being frozen into the ice.
7 The filling to the chasm is scattered in the valley below.  The pieces frozen
to the glacier base, popped off when scoured on the Purgatory Brook valley
bottom.
8.  Little Purgatory has some potholes and other water smoothed features,
indicating that like today this is where meltwater would have drained, not the
main chasm.

You can only create a scale model at your home.
Mauri



Looking out from the interior of another "cave" I felt wild, like the landscape around me...



Easy there, killer!  (Note right knee-high sock has come down).  I clunked after here with my camera hanging off my neck...it was ridiculous, really, but she was so excited!




I know--it's a miracle we made it out of the chasm without a scrape or even one fall.  Above, we came to the end of the 1/4 mile hike INSIDE of the chasm, and now we could either turn around or work our way back to the beginning from the top, which we did...

I think you'll need to visit Purgatory Chasm, as this is a very long photo essay, indeed, and besides, I don't want to give it ALL away!  Just remember what I said about those drop-offs!

I think, now, it is safe to take these photographs off my memory card and put them onto disc, eh?   Thanks so much for stopping by!  All photos were taken with a Leica V- Lux 1.

OH, and the lore:

According to legend, Hobomoko (the Native American devil) carried a woman to Purgatory Chasm after she had murdered a "white man". When the woman began to fight, Hobomoko hit her head against a boulder and attacked her with a tomahawk. The bowl-like depressions show where her head hit the boulder, the ax-marks where the tomahawk struck, and the footprints in the vein of stone where he carried his victim's body to the edge of the fissure.

xoJ