I remember this day like it was yesterday. The first roller coaster I ever went on. I was about 8 or 9 years old; barely scraping four feet tall by the ends of my buzzcut. My cousin told me to stand on his feet when they went to check my height; thank god I was just tall enough and didn’t need to do that. I distinctly remember the butterflies in my stomach getting stronger and stronger as we got closer to the ride. Getting into the car, I was quaking with excitement and fear, as I looked ahead at the wooden behemoth that climbed up the hill and into the tree line out of view. This is Boulder Dash; one of the best wooden coasters ever made.
Located at Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut, this mountain coaster brings thousands to the park every year. The park is rather small; it only has three roller coasters and several small attractions. Because I’m from Long Island, this park is the perfect place to go on the fourth of July just for the day, spend all day in the park, watch a firework display, and head home late that night. Boulder Dash was completed in May 2000 by a not so well-known company, Custom Coasters International. The company used Southern Yellow Pine wood to build the ride. Boulder Dash was the number one wooden coaster in the world by the Golden Ticket Awards in the years 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. This track spans almost an entire mile as it zips in and out of trees on the side of a mountain. The ride boasts a ton of hills that give riders the best airtime they will ever experience.
The ride experience is rather simple yet thrilling. It starts with a 110-foot climb to the top of the hill. Once it gets to the top, it turns right and picks up a little speed before dropping 115 feet and reaching a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour. The first half of the rest of the ride is flying through the tree line with airtime hill after airtime hill. Once it nears the end of this series, it turns down the mountain and goes back towards the station doing the same thing, with a view of the lake and the rest of the park on the right and the uphill to the left. After another series of airtime hills, it hits a brake run and pulls into the station.
My rating is going to be highly biased because this is the first ever coaster I ever went on, so it holds a near and dear place in my heart. Nevertheless, you cannot argue with statistics. This ride won best wooden roller coaster in the world 5 times since its completion and it has remained a legendary ride in the roller coaster community ever since. I will give this ride a 9 out of 10 because it is so highly regarded, but one point off because as technology improves more and more rides are being made that are simply more impressive than rides like this.
