Ruggles Mine – Grafton, NH

I’ve wanted to visit Ruggles Mine for quite some time but it has been shut down for a while during a change of ownership.

It recently re-opened so Steph and I decided to take a drive up to Grafton, NH to check out this unique New Hampshire Gem.

I’m becoming familiar with the roads up near Grafton after doing a bit of hiking in the area. As we got closer the road becomes a lot more rural and is dirt in some sections. You feel like you may be on the wrong road but you are indeed on the right one.

As it goes along there are some signs as you keep climbing up the mountain. Finally you reach the top and there is a beautiful view of Mt. Cardigan, a large parking lot and a few buildings.

There is a $30 cost to explore the mines. Included in that cost is the ability to haul out 1 five gallon bucket of rocks. You can buy buckets there. You can also rent mining tool if you like.  

We grabbed some shoves and rakes and bucket and headed into the mine. The first thing we saw was a large tunnel and some glowing green rocks. Ruggles is famous for its glowing uranium.

We continued and were in awe at the size of some of the mines. The first one we went into had large pool of water in it. Everything was sparkling with mica and other minerals.

 We continued down the path stopping at different piles of dirt and rock and sifting through.

It was a hot and humid day even in the mountains. When the sun was beating down on you it was a bit oppressive. Inside some of the mines it was very cool.

The last tunnel had a few off shoots that lead into some chambers where there was a lot of mica and other rocks.

There were a number of people there that seemed to know what they were looking for but to me it was anything that looked cool.

Of course, when we reached the bottom of the trail that is where the cool rocks were so hauling them back up was a bit of a challenge.

Instead of looping around the trail we decided to go back up through the mine and see if we missed anything in there.

Once back at the top we checked out the giftshop and some of the camping sites. There is a lot to explore here but I’ll have to brush up on my rocks and minerals.

On the way back home off Route 4 we stopped at a small farm stand on the side of the road called the Crow Tree Farm. They had a wonderful selection of veggies and desserts, but their sour dough bread was what made me stop. Delicious!!