My final detour before heading back home takes me to a two part hike to see Tory's Den and Falls. That said though, my lack of paying attention to the sign actually turns this into a three part hike, but luckily of very little distance. When I pulled into the parking area, I noticed the trail departing the left side and saw mention of Tory's Falls on it, but failed to notice an arrow pointing to the other side of the parking area. Luckily, I though better of my route based on what I was seeing after only about a quarter-mile and turned back, quickly seeing my error.
The real trail to leads from the right side of the parking lot down a little hill and then out onto an exposed cliff with a dribble of a waterfall on the far side of the narrow canyon. When I get there, I step onto the rocks only to find a couple of ladies enjoying a picnic. We chat for a couple of minutes, while I try to find a good spot for a picture, but never really get a great one, as there is very little water flowing.
Cutting back the way I came, I follow the other side of a fork I passed on the way in, which leads me down and around to Tory's Den, which is a small cave in the natural rock formations here. Apparently, a group of about 100 British sympathizers (Tories) took refuge in this cave in 1778 after they had raided the house of a Whig (colonists) Colonel. There were captured a short time later by that same Colonel. I really can't imagine 100 people in this cave though. While it does have a wide mouth, there isn't much to it beyond that that would bring comfort to anywhere near that many people.
With the extra mileage at the beginning, I managed to get in almost exactly 1 mile a this site. While the waterfall was a disappointment, the collision of history and nature at the cave made it well worth the stop.
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