Paddock Mines - Into The Pit

"That was the most fun I'll never have again!" 

- John Egolf, upon climbing out of the Paddock Pit.

This is a story that is two years in the making. The Paddock Pit is a mineshaft on Gardner Mountain in northwest New Hampshire that drops 80-feet straight into the earth, then continues into a large chamber and pair of horizontal shafts, jutting out at two different levels. This is one of several copper mines located on the mountain, all of which were worked at various points in the late 1800s.

I spent 30 hours driving back and forth from this mountain over a series of explorations in the summer of 2017, and although each of the mines were impressive, this particular shaft is one of the largest, and most dangerous, we have explored in New Hampshire. This opening is its only entrance, and having arrived completely unprepared for its size, my first attempt at exploring it I could only stand safely from a distance and imagine what treasures lie hidden within. The day wasn't a wasted trip as we still had another mine to explore, but I realized it was going to take a lot more than some spool of rope to get me down into this hole.

Our first descent into the mine was made possible by Amazon, who really does have everything for sale on its website. We purchased two 30-foot steel caving ladders, linked them together, and after securing them to a large tree took turns descending into the unknown. This ladder might look a little sketchy from a distance, but it has a load rating large enough to hoist a grand piano.

However, we soon realized that this day was going to be good, but it wasn't going to be great. Our ladder got us down to the first level, but it wasn't long enough to reach the bottom. We were stuck at the 60-foot mark, where a precarious ledge provided just enough stability to stand on and have a look back up. An additional 20-feet were going to be needed to reach the bottom of the pit, though.

But even though we couldn't continue vertically, it didn't stop us from exploring what we could horizontally. By holding the ladder and shimmying to the left we were able to access a tunnel jutting out from this ledge, which wound its way through approximately 80 feet of rock.

That side tunnel was a nice bonus, but with our ladder stopping short of the bottom this day's expedition was taking us no further. The remainder of the shaft was a wet slope, and the more sensible people in our group reminded me that even though I could slide down that slope easily enough, I wasn't going to be able to climb back out.

It wouldn't be until we returned a few weeks later with additional rope that we would finally reach the bottom of the mine. Leaving one person up top as a security measure - a position my wife cheerfully volunteered for - our group took turns climbing all the way down into the lowest chamber. This was the view looking back up from the those depths, where sunlight can be seen penetrating the shaft.

This bottom level consisted of one large cavern and three separate tunnels. One of the tunnels was very short, and a second one was very short plus flooded. The cavern itself held lots of rubble, but scant remnants of past explorers - this is an area that has seen very few visitors over its 100+ years of existence.

The third tunnel shooting off from this chamber was the real prize, dry and about 80 feet in length - much like its partner sitting one story above. But though the tunnels look nearly identical, the difference in quality between the photo I took one level up, and this one taken by our friends from WeRmudfun, is what convinced me that if I want to be taken more serious an an explorer, maybe I should be snapping pictures with something a little better quality than a two year old iPhone.

Photo courtesy of WeRmudfun

Here I am at the end of the longest tunnel, off of the lowest chamber. This spot marks the deepest depth, or at least the furthest distance from the surface, of the mine, and after one false start and another partial success, it also marks our completed exploration of the Paddock Pit.

Photo courtesy of WeRmudfun