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In the first section of the upper gorge at Robert H. Treman State Park, this odd pool in the side of the gorge begs explanation.

When we walk by the beautiful waterfalls in our gorges, they seem as permanent as the rocks they pour over. I suppose that is true. But if you look closely at the formations in our gorges, you can see the ancient history of waterfalls long gone. The photo above is of a strange pool just down from the first little waterfall in the upper gorge at Robert H. Treman State Park. The pool clearly was worn out from the bedrock by some waterfall pouring there long ago, but is no longer there. Perhaps what is even more interesting are the scalloped marks in the rock wall above the pool. They are all that remains of the side of the ancient waterfall’s plunge pool cavity at a level above the remaining relic pool. If you mentally extrapolate the rest of the pothole that these marks were the side of, perhaps you can imagine the waterfall that was once there, maybe thousands of years ago! Enfield Creek long ago quarried out the rock over which the falls once poured, along pre-existing fractures called “joints.”

Our next Friends of Treman meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 3, at the picnic shelter at the end of the parking lot in the upper park at 4:30 p.m. Should the shelter be rented, look for us on the porch of the Old Mill. All members are welcome to attend.

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