In the summer, when the weather is extremely hot, the gorge is a wonderful cool shelter for everyone. Then it is covered with a rich foliage canopy. Nevertheless in the winter season, there is something dramatic in this place. The touch of drama, is added by the enormous icicles and the green tones of the ivy, which are echoed in the stream.

The gorge is very interesting also with its erosion, rather than the more common subterranean features. It creates a surface gorge in a limestone landscape. For the more serious visitors, this is a very rare nature example. Therefore How Stean Gorge is famous with its recognition to be a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

In the past, the bigger part of Nidderdale, situated north of the Glasshouses, had been covered with a glacier. Millstone grits and tough permeable rocks were found under the ice. This is a striking example for rock formations- just as it is at Brimham Rocks.

How Stean Gorge is one of the unique places in the world (just like the local place near Blayshaw Gill). This is because it offers to its visitors beautiful scenery of underlying, outcropped, and visible limestone. Originally, this limestone was laid down in layers, situated horizontally. The vertical cracks were later developed by them. The limestone in How Stean Gorge is a hard rock. However, despite that, it can be dissolved by even slightly acidic rainwater or water coming from the ground.

The interesting potholes and caves, are formed by the water. These peculiar forms are a result of enlarged by the water cracks