New Hampshire,  Outdoor Adventures

Amazing Caves to Explore at Polar Caves Park in Rumney, NH

September 2, 2020 /

Polar Caves, in Rumney NH, is one of our favorite places to go explore caves! It is a family owned attraction with 9 AMAZING caves, as well as a rock garden and a little animal park. As a little girl, my parents took me to Polar Caves Park and I love that I can now take my kids there. We took L a few years ago, so when she recently asked to go to Polar Caves again, we set a date and off we went!

**Polar Caves did provide us with tickets in return for this post. Thank you Polar Caves!!**

Because of Covid, Polar Caves is asking that you reserve tickets online; it’s super easy to do from the website. Then, when you get to the park, you just go into the gift shop (make sure you are wearing your mask – it’s required!),

Polar Caves entrance

and you get your ticket with your two hour window listed. There are cute paw prints on the floor to mark traffic patterns, as well.

Polar Caves Ticket

Polar Caves is requiring that everyone wear a mask throughout the park and there were plenty of signs reminding guests to wear masks and to socially distance.

Mask Signs

Upon entering the park, the little animal area is the first thing you see.

Polar Caves animals

We chose to explore the caves first, so we continued up the path toward the cave entrance.

walk to caves

You get to cross the covered Kissing Bridge,

kissing bridge

and also learn about the history of the park.

Polar Caves Park History

Once you get up to the caves, you hand in your ticket and follow the walkway to the first cave.

Cave signs

The caves all have fun names,

Polar Cave King Tut

and even the directional signs are clever!

signs

We really enjoy exploring the caves here because you truly feel that you are inside of a mountain.

Polar caves

There are some small lights for safety so that you can see where you are going, but they don’t ruin the experience at all. In fact, they help you read the interesting fact signs!

From reading my posts, you know that we love integrating a little learning into all of our adventures. Part of our learning here came in this cave:

Indian Cave

The sign above reads “A stone axe-head and arrowheads were found in this corner of the cave. It is believed that this chamber served as a secret hiding place for the women and children of the Pemigewasset Tribe of Indians.” How cool is that? It’s even more interesting and impactful when you are in the cave, having navigated the rocks and tunnels to reach this point.

The caves all have different feels, as well. Some are a little more narrow,

Polar Caves

while others are a bit more open. Make sure to check out the video of our adventure to see more of the caves! (It’s also embedded at the end of this post.)

Inside cave

L’s favorite cave is the Lemon Squeeze.

Lemon Squeeze

This was my favorite cave as a child, as well; I vividly remember my dad getting stuck in it! It’s a tight squeeze and there are signs recommending a certain technique to make it through. L was super excited to try it this year, as she wasn’t able to get through on our previous visit! This is just the entrance to the cave, not the narrow part!

Polar Caves Lemon Squeeze

L made it through (with a little help from Dad) and was so thrilled. Little Man and I took the Orange Crush, as the Lemon Squeeze was just a bit tough for him; it was just as much fun, though! (Sorry there are no pictures… I’m not coordinated enough to get pictures and help Little Man navigate tight rocky spaces!)

Along the walkway between caves, there are many stairs,

Polar Caves stairs

and some nice views, as well.

mountain view

There is also one of the signs we love showing what mountains you can see!

mountian sign

After we finished exploring the 9 caves, we took a stroll through the Rock Garden.

rock garden

This is a series of walkways around some big boulders and through some of New Hampshire’s natural vegetation. It was set up as a one-way route to ensure that guests could appropriately social distance.

Polar Caves Rock garden

We then headed back down to the animal area to say hi to the ducks,

ducks

and the deer.

deer

The animal area is fun because you can buy little bags of food and feed the deer and ducks. Interestingly, we were told that the mallard ducks (the brown ones) actually just fly in for the season! They come back every year and hang out until it’s time to go back south; those are some smart ducks!

If you and your family love truly unique adventures, you MUST visit Polar Caves! I think I heard my kids say “this is so fun!!!” about a million times during our trek through the caves.

To see more of our adventure to Polar Caves, check out our video!

If you’re looking for additional adventures in New Hampshire, make sure to check out my post on Things to do in New Hampshire with Kids!

Do you think your family would like this adventure? Let me know in the comments!

I hope that our adventure inspires you to have your own adventure!

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