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Happy summer solstice! Swimming is now open at Robert H. Treman State Park, having opened last weekend! And the parks’ heavy equipment crew is preparing to clear out the winter’s gravel from the pool at Buttermilk Falls to open it to swimming this Friday.

A bulldozer makes way for heavy machinery to get into the Buttermilk Falls pool area to remove winter's deposit of sand and gravel.

It’s quite a job to get ready for swimming at parks that have gorge pool swimming areas. All winter long, high water has washed in sand and gravel at the base of the falls, filling the pool in. The park must remove all this debris and clear out the pool area. To do that, it has to build a temporary ramp for machinery to cross the dam to get at the pool. Now that Buttermilk Creek’s water level is a bit lower they can get access to the area.  Hopefully, another flood won’t undo their work this summer!

Winter floods can fill in the natural pool at the base of Buttermilk Falls with sand and gravel washed from far upstream.

You can see the gravel deposited in the pool by winter floods.

In the picture above, you can see gravel deposited by Buttermilk Creek in the pool area. On the left, the bulldozer prepares the ramp for equipment access to the pool. In the upper center in the distance you can make out an orange object to the left of shrubbery, which is all you can see of an enormous bucket machine that will be moved into the pool area over the ramp to scoop out the gravel and place it into a dump truck.

After missing it last year, it’ll be great to have swimming back at Treman’s sister park, Buttermilk Falls!

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