Adirondacks

Camp is not only for the young

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We just spent a remarkable, relaxing respite at White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks.

Tea house on Osgood Pond

Tim has undertaken a quest to swim 3/4 mile in 47 lakes in the Adirondacks and we took dips in Lake Colby, Lower St. Regis Lake and Osgood Pond. I finally shed my wetsuit and breathed deeply.

We kayaked the Osgood River one day with friends,

and through a canal system to get to Church Pond and a short walk to Paul Smiths college.

Canal and footbridge

We had to shimmy ourselves off some shallow spots in the canals.

We hiked to the St. Regis Mountain fire tower, where the views of the Adirondacks were stunning. A young boy told us he could see Canada, but I think he was dreaming.

Not Canada
Tim’s rock

Tim recalled taking cover under this ledge 30 years ago when he was caught in lightning near the summit. We dodged a few ourselves this trip.

We took time to smell the roses.

We never had to pick up a kayak, they slid into the water from the boathouse.

We went bowling, on an ancient alley, reset the pins by hand, played pool, ping-pong, and took lots of naps.

Camp is good for all ages.

A Memorable Trip

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Memorable largely because I will be scratching deer and black fly bites for days.

The fun began with getting the kayaks on the car. My vehicles get taller, the kayaks get heavier, and I get weaker.

Loaded

My blue kayak is very strong. How do I know. I’ve had it for 24 years and yesterday it sustained a fall from the roof to the ground with no damage. I may not be worthy of a lighter model.

We have to rethink our method. Part of the problem is the roof racks change every time one switches cars and my favorite system doesn’t work with my current racks.

Enough said. We drove an hour south to check out the recently opened access road, which runs most of the way to Boreas Ponds, in the high peaks wilderness.

Gaia image of Boreas Ponds

We parked at Four Corners and put in at Boreas River, a very shallow, rocky, muddy water that shortened the carry by four tenths of a mile. But Tim got sucked into the mud getting out and it looked like he was wearing brown socks. He had to recover his crocs once or twice as well. Most importantly though, he found a better spot for me to get out.

Then we walked the kayaks a half mile to the First Pond. The paddle part was lovely, although the thought of getting the kayaks back on the SUV hovered in the background.

Wind picked up and a dark cloud passed overhead but all was good.

Nice clouds
Tim

The water temperature was a tad cool but we never saw an easy place to get out and swim.

We wandered through the three ponds, watching out for tree branches rising out of the water and rocks below us.

Happy me

Then it was time to head home.

The takeout

We walked the whole way to avoid the muddy river.

I missed, but Tim saw, moose tracks on the road.

Luckily noone was in the parking area while we worked out a scheme to get the boats back on the car. It was peak bug feeding time and I can assure you, they feasted, on me! With Tim shouting at me not to shout at him, we got the job done and hightailed it out of there.

Dinner and a beer at Paradox brewery completed the day.

Scene outdoors

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Glorious weather has arrived in the Adirondacks. It’s time to play outdoors. We took two ferries to ride our bikes on the causeway in Lake Champlain. It’s a great ride spanning several miles on a narrow strip of roadway that was an old railroad line. A bike ferry takes you across a small gap in the path. We made it a 30 mile round trip ride by starting at the Plattsburgh ferry.

Tim is on a “Swim 47 Adk Lakes” quest and we headed down to Blue Mountain Lake, where we also visited the oddly named, Adirondack Experience. They have a great boat exhibit with a fully restored Idem class boat.

One of my favorite exhibits was found in an outdoor gazebo. It was an empty picture frame with a view of the lush scenery.

After the museum we swam in Blue Mountain Lake, where the water temp was 70 degrees. I’m still wearing a wetsuit and the swim was lovely. We had dinner in reverse. First, ice cream at Hosses in Long Lake, then pizza and a beer at Paradox brewery. So much for burning off calories!

During a fairly big rainstorm, the beaver dam on the mountain next to our house failed. Tim thought he heard an engine running and went to check it out. This is usually a small stream. It became a raging river. We did not swim in it.

I keep trying to grow peonies to no avail.

I did not grow this one. My sister in law gave me a cutting. I forgot I had left it in my 88 degrees car, while I worked all day. I put it in a little water and it has been in full bloom for over a week. I transplanted my patch of peonies because Tim always threatened to mow them down. Time will tell if they like their new spot.

I like my spot.

Home is the place to be

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We have been lucky to be able to experience stellar sky events right from the comfort of home, sometimes without even leaving the couch. This could become dangerous.

The total solar eclipse was visible right here. Tim considered climbing a local mountain to view it, but I was confident we would have a clear display, right in the comfort of our own driveway. And we did.

Glasses made all the difference. In the past, I had only used a pinhole camera. Glasses were a game changer because we could look directly at the Sun as it was obliterated. The sky darkened, the wind picked up, animals quieted and it became cool. Eerie. For those who traveled here, however, traffic was horrendous.

This image was captured down the road a piece. I have no Astronomy photo skills.

We could clearly see the flare at 7:00
Solar eclipse?

Then out of the blue, a major solar flare occurred and the Aurora Borealis could be seen here.

After watching outdoors for a while, I came inside, sat on my easy chair and viewed the show from a cozy spot. I have traveled to Iceland and Manitoba for these displays. And here they were, right out my window.

This cozy spot

A Phoebe also thinks it is a cozy spot and has been pecking the windows. I posted owl deterrents. Her nest building continues but tapping is slightly reduced.

We’ll continue to travel as much as we are able but will always be happy to return home.

Winter fun in the sun

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I probably don’t spend enough time playing outdoors in the winter. Sitting near the wood stove is so cozy.

Because I’m a princess, conditions have to be just right: not too cold (above -10 f); not too icy (this could keep me in all season); and a chance to spend time with family.

Grandkids drew me to Vermont, where I skied with my son’s family. Conditions met all my criteria and, for some reason, there were no crowds. I even went tubing! Our faces show it all.

This week Tim and I stayed at White Pine Camp. He had high hopes to cross country ski, but there wasn’t enough snow. So instead we walked and hiked.

First to Debar Pond Lodge, which is in a beautiful wilderness setting. The buildings themselves are in disrepair and there is some controversy over what NY State should do with the property. I hope we the voters decide to keep it as is.

The wind picked up ahead of a cold front and we could see how it funneled down the pond by the lean of the trees.

It was an easy walk with microspikes although my dendrophobia (fear of trees) kicked in. I don’t fear trees, just the possibility of them falling on me.

So I kept my head down and examined the pond.

These reflections morphed from a hawk flying overhead to a large goose.

At least to me.

Back at the Camp, we played pool, ping pong, and Tim tried his hand at bowling on what must be one of the oldest “functioning” bowling alleys. There was a sharp curve to the right but the ball return worked.

He had big plans for us the next day. The temperature had plummeted and the strong winds continued, creating a windchill that barely met my criteria. We walked from Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center, the VIC, to the summit of Jenkins Mountain.

A good part of the walk is along a part of the 85 mile long Rainbow Esker in the St. Regis area. An esker is a narrow ridge, formed by an underground ice tunnel when glaciers covered the land. Very cool.

Trees squeaked, groaned, and scraped but I only saw one branch actively fall. Active fall?

Then we headed home to our house, which had lost power due to – fallen trees!

Now for the birds

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We keep feeders out for the birds until some other animal knocks them down. I’m imagining a small, overzealous chipmunk, but I could be wrong.

This morning, a male Northern Cardinal was hanging around and collecting the discards from the birds above. Both feeders are on very fragile limbs and only the Blue Jay is daring enough to try it.

The Cardinal was much more discreet, first hiding in the rhododendron.

Should I consider this a harbinger of Spring?

Busy bees

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A lot of wood has gone into the stove since my last post. We had snow, then a melt and torrential rains and finally, flooding. I couldn’t get home from work for several hours because the road was flooded and then washed away. I had to walk over the bridge but the road was repaired the next day.

We travelled near and far. First to White Pine Camp, where we plan to spend a lot of time in the next several years. We spent three days at President’s cabin, where the fireplace was blazing.

Our bedroom had a quilt pieced by former President of the USA, Calvin Coolidge. How many of our former presidents were quilters, I wonder.

We were reminded that Adirondack black bears look sweet when compared to those of Manitoba. They do not stand taller than me and like to dress up for holidays.

Christmas quickly approached and we spent a few days in Kittery, Maine with family. A good time was had by all. I received this knife, to add to my collection, and now it looks like we have the makings of a murder mystery in the kitchen.

I did not walk away from this holiday season uninjured. First I burnt my finger on the new wood stove, which is much less forgiving from the old one. Then it became infected and entailed an ER and doctor visit. That finally healed but then we went ice skating with the grand kids, and I decided to show off and demonstrate speed skating form. Well, I fell and broke at least one rib, maybe two. You would never know it from my happy smile taken after the fact.

It’s been two weeks now and I no longer tense up for a sneeze or cough, but I still hold on.

On the home front, a friend had a new baby and I got to make baby things. I tried out my new to me standard gauge knitting machine and made a cute little fair isle sweater. Note to self, it needs more contrast in the bands.

The event that will dominate 2024 is my daughter’s wedding. I already took a trip to DC and she found the perfect wedding dress. I am working on linens for the newlyweds, so can’t preview them, but here is a shot of my weaving area, where I will be spending plenty of time.

I’m going to try downhill skiing again in a few weeks. Hope it doesn’t slow me down!

Line up

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Weather turned colder and we had our first snow. We decided to upgrade the wood stove in the cabin so we don’t wake up with chilled noses.

We were inspired after we visited our friends’ cabin up on high. We had a cozy lunch with views that could not be beat. Photos courtesy of Amy.

We found a new, efficient, soapstone stove that came with tax credits, which was what convinced Tim. We planned to install it to our existing stove pipe. This turned out to be a real head scratcher. First of all it weighed 200 lbs and there was a short window when the snow would remain firm enough to drive on. Then we had to find the strongest people, or person! (Amy), we know to help carry it from the car to the cabin. True friends came in a flash and made easy work of it.

Then it took us longer than I care to mention to get the stove pipe hooked up.

But we persevered and finally connected both ends of pipe. We lit our first small fire to break it in and are looking forward to warm nights that last all night instead of when we just get under the covers.

Best dam, beavers

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Someone has busy around here. We took a walk up the hill out back and saw an amazing engineering project. It raised the pond level by 5 feet. These were no small branches used to shore it up. They must have had help.

Lady of the Lake

The next day we took a walk up the hill across the road. The path seems to have grown longer and steeper than I remember. So I distracted myself, and Tim, by looking down. And here is what I saw.

And then this.

In a flash

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We enjoyed a fabulous afternoon listening to Paul Winter Consort at Hill and Hollow, a stunning property in the Adirondacks. He played music inspired by and with wolves, whales, and a wood thrush. His soloist, Theresa Thomason, and ensemble were world class. We laughed, we cried, then we almost died.

Helicopter arriving at crash site

We were headed home on the Northway when we saw police lights fast approaching. At first, we thought they were where they should be, on the other side of the highway. Then we realized they were coming straight at us, while we were all driving 65 mph. And they were chasing another car.

Tim slammed on the brakes and pulled over. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, but we avoided it. A head on collision occurred between two pick up trucks right next to us.

Two troopers jumped out of their cars, one with his gun drawn, as he approached the wrong way truck and got a man out of it. Sheriffs and EMS were on the scene immediately. One of the trucks caught on fire a few times.

It did not turn out well. A helicopter arrived, but then was not needed, because a passenger in the truck next to us succumbed to her injuries.

We sat for several hours while they cleared the stopped traffic behind us and eventually let us turn around, and drive the wrong way for miles on the Northway to the first crossover to the other side.

We bought two lottery tickets on our way home.

Today, I plan to listen to nature songs. Life can change in a flash.