Baxter and Deer Leap

Even with the persistent heat and humidity we have found the will to do some short hikes in the Adirondacks. Our first was on Baxter Mountain, a short hike on a well kept trail with new switchbacks. The lookouts gave us a fantastic view of the high peaks looking straight down Keene Valley. We took in the view for quite a while before heading down to Wadhams for an unplanned and fun night with Kevin, Sam and Tobin!

Out next venture was to Deer Leap where we enjoyed the meandering trail even though Lisa was looking intently for rattlesnakes! We enjoyed the overlook of Huletts Landing before heading back to the orchard for a big skillet dinner. Yum!

Indian Pass

We have been traveling around the Adirondacks for roughly two weeks and this post is intended to catch up on our travels.

Our first venture into the blue line was during the Northeast's longest heatwave in recorded history. With the mercury rising above ninety for a full week and the humidity heading into the 80s and 90s as well it was time to head to camp. We spent four days in Atwell, mostly bobbing around in the lake and canoeing and sailing when we got a chance. It was a great way to cool off in the heat and we had some great times with family.

Once the heatwave snapped, we headed to the Orchard for a day of farm chores followed by an evening paddle on Lake Champlain to the bridge.

Then we headed to Newcomb where we quickly unpacked and headed to Henderson Lake for an evening paddle. We met an interesting couple from Moriah and chatted with them while admiring the view of Wallface and Indian Pass.

Our first hike was into OK Slip Falls, one of the tallest in the Adirondacks. The trail was an easy meander to the impressive view and much to our surprise (despite the dry weather) there was water running over the edge. We ate our lunch while admiring the view before making the trek out.

In the afternoon, we headed to Cedar River Flow. We were quite sure that the road was not correct as it seemed to be taking us up a mountain but we ended up in the right destination. We found a secluded area for camping and paddling that we will come back to explore. The northern section of the pond was navigable but we couldn't venture into the southern part of the pond due to the heavy winds. We will be back to finish our exploration of Cedar River Flow.

Without taking the boats off the car for the evening, we headed to South Pond the next morning. It had always been an option for a day trip but we had never been. We were pleasantly surprised to find an area with few motorboats (only camp owners) and many interesting islands to explore. We watched the skies for potential thunderstorms but explored the entire shoreline before heading back when it started to sprinkle.

Our final day in Newcomb was spent on a hike that we had been intending to do for years...Indian Pass from Upper Works. We had read horror stories about the muddy scrambles in this pass and in a wetter season we could easily see them being true. However this season has been so dry that we were able to hop over most of the mud and enjoy the house sized boulders when we entered the pass. There were many caves that demanded exploration and we enjoyed this hike unlike any other in the Adirondacks. We ate our lunch under Wallface Mountain while admiring the view of the Santinoni Range and Henderson Lake to our south. Despite the stories, we would be glad to do this one again!

Moriah Hiking Challenge

After seeing that the town of Moriah was offering a hiking challenge awarded by a patch, we decided that it would be a perfect outing for our nephew. We reattached the backseat to our car and strapped a booster seat on before hitting the road. We made the orchard our base camp to complete the challenge in three days.

On the first afternoon, we headed first to Big Hollow/Coot Hill where we parked at the cemetery (the home of Leafy Winters) and headed up the short trail. We spent quite a while shouting into the hollow to listen to our echo and enjoyed the view of the lake. Ben particularly enjoyed looking at the orchard through his binoculars.

In the evening, we went to Belfry Mountain to climb the fire-tower. Despite the fact that it is possibly the shortest hike in the world, it does have a great view from the top. Ben and I looked for but did not find arrowheads on the descent.

We celebrated our two hikes with milkshakes from Gene's Michigan Stand. The first day.

On our second day we headed to our longest hike of the challenge: Crowfoot Pond. Since this was a 5.5 mile hike, it took a bit of prodding to keep the five-year-old moving. We regaled him with stories of the "Mad Monk of Crowfoot Pond" and he spent the rest of the walk looking and listening for signs of the old hermit. If you are ever back there and see bark missing from trees or hear a "rick-tick-tick-tick-tick" sound, those are sure-fire signs that the Mad Monk is near!

We whiled away the afternoon at Lincoln Pond, playing at the beach.

We celebrated our hike with milkshakes from Gene's Michigan Stand. The second day.

On the third day we finished the challenge by hiking Cheney Mountain. This was a bit steeper than any of the other hikes and Ben did great. We may have been listening for sounds of the ghost of John Cheney as we hiked... We enjoyed the views from the top - especially of Mount Junk as Ben named it (the tailings pile).

Ben beamed with pride when we got back to the Moriah Chamber of Commerce to get our patches. He even got a squirt gun for being cute...makes me wish that I was still cute. Oh well.

We celebrated our hike with milkshakes from Gene's Michigan Stand. The third day.

Long Lake

With a slight window of halfway decent weather for a day, we packed up the car and headed for Long Lake. We headed south, watching sea planes take-off and land among the busy area around the bridge. Ben couldn't resist the beach and convinced Tom to paddle there so that he could swim. Lisa and I continued south to the end of the lake, enjoying the relative calm to the busy launch.

After meeting back up on the return trip, we headed to Hoss's for some ice cream before returning to the cabin in Newcomb.

With questionable weather the next day, we snuck in a walk to the Sananoni farm complex between thunderstorms. We ate our lunch in the creamery before our walk out and a stop for ice cream and donuts at Scoops and Kelly's Farm Stand respectively. 

Pharoah Lake

On a particularly warm February day we (Lisa, Tom and yours truly) packed the car and headed to the trail head on the northern tip of Brant Lake. Thinking that we would finally beat Jeff and Lisa we pulled in ten minutes early to see them completely geared up and conversing with the forest ranger. Better luck next time...

With skis strapped on, we set off on the trail which wound through tall softwoods and over bogs (on skinny bridges) before following the outlet of Pharoah Lake. The snow was a bit sticky and we occasionally had a tough time getting a glide, especially where the sun had been shining. We made it to the lake as the forest ranger was getting ready to leave after his lean-to inspection.

We followed his tracks on the lake to a great view of Treadway Mountain from the number two lean-to. There we ate our sandwiches and compared our ski experiences of the day while drinking in the sunshine.

Following our tracks on the return trip made for an easy ski since we lost a few hundred feet in elevation. The snow seemed less sticky somehow and we managed not to fall off the skinny bridges. This was a very enjoyable ski that we will gladly do again. We were lucky to follow it with a trip to North Creek for dinner followed by an amazing concert by Charles Cornell and the Square One Project at the Tannery Pond Community Center.

Mackenzie Pond

With minimal snow in the valley and an intense desire to ski, we headed to Saranac Lake to try some new trails. My parents decided to join us and luckily seemed to trust our trip planning skills...

Our first destination was the famed "Jackrabbit Trail," a cross country ski trail that connects Saranac Lake to Keene. We strapped on our skis and headed east from the route 33 trailhead. After a few bruises and bumps on the hills, we got the hang of it and enjoyed when the trail widened after a mile or so.

Our destination was Mackenzie Pond and the scenery did not disappoint. With gently falling snowflakes we admired the mountains and ridges surrounding the pond while we snacked. In the winter, breaks don't last long though and we needed to get moving before our teeth began to chatter. The trail back to the car was smooth as we now knew where all the moguls, rocks and steep sections were.

We then headed to Saranac Lake, where the first weekend of the Winter Carnival was taking place. We met the Henrys and Vincents and were happy that our nephew Ben was willing to give us a personalized tour of the Ice Palace. The theme this year was "Adirondack Wildlife," and we even enjoyed the ice lean-to facing the lake. It would be nice to have in the summer for some air-conditioning on those hot nights...

In the afternoon, we wanted to get on the skis one more time before heading home. We went to the John Brown Farm in North Elba and although we had to look closely, we found a ski loop. The fluffy snow was denser now and the trail took us through some nice woods as the sun started to set. It was the perfect bookend to a fine ski day.

As we begrudgingly drove back to the Champlain Valley, noticing the disappearance of snow our stomachs started to grumble. To amend the situation, we capped off the day with a fine meal at George's Italian-American Eatery in Port Henry. Yum.

Whiteface Landing

With just a dusting of snow in the Champlain Valley for weeks, we had been pining for a day on our skis. Lisa checked the North Country Public Radio's ski conditions webpage and with the Lake Placid region listed as "outstanding," we threw the skis in the car and headed to the Connery Pond road.

The day could only be described as perfect. The powdery snow make the skiing absolutely sublime as we meandered through the woods. We stopped briefly to admire Connery Pond from the boat access while making mental notes for a future return with paddle boats when the pond would be a bit more liquid.

Our destination was Whiteface Landing at the belly of Barrel Bay on Lake Placid. We took a brief snapshot of the lake but then ate our lunch in a grove of trees to keep our fingers warm. In winter trips, the breaks are brief and we were soon back on the trail, gliding most of the way. We backtracked except for where we skied across Connery Pond.

With puffy snowflakes falling gently from the sky, we savored our last mile of the trail. We will be keeping this one high on the list for all seasons!

Lake Andrew Tract

On the last day of 2016, we packed the car and headed to the Newcomb cabin in search of snow on which to ski. We were happy to see that as we climbed in elevation from Port Henry to North Hudson and later to Newcomb we went from seeing a dusting on the ground to over a foot of snow. Upon arrival, we shoveled paths and got the wood stove cranking for our New Years Eve in the wilderness. We would be hard pressed to find an experience further from attending the Times Square celebration in New York City!

In the afternoon we headed to the Newcomb ski loop, which we assumed to be a pleasant trail for skiing since it was labeled as a ski trail. What we found was a mile of flat terrain followed by cliffs, river crossings, boulders and borderline impassable "trail." We scrambled up and down the rough terrain, taking off skis to walk in places while breaking trail. We made it back around sunset, exhausted and ready for supper.

We whiled away the evening eating chili cooked over the wood stove and playing Settlers of Catan by firelight. We didn't make it to midnight...not even close.

The next day we parted with Tom who elected to snowshoe around the Hudson River area behind the cabin while we skied the Lake Andrew Tract. We parked at the Bradley Pond trailhead and found that the trail had been tracked by skiers already. This made for a pleasant surprise and an opposite experience of the previous day. The wide road into the hunting camps made for easy skiing. We found ourselves looking directly up at the slides on Santanoni Mountain. It was a breathtaking view and we enjoyed the light snow falling as we admired it.

Our ski out was quick since most of the four miles was downhill! It was a perfect way to ring in the New Year with plenty of sleep and lots of fresh air.

Adirondack Loj

With a car full of winter gear we caught an early ferry intending to spend a weekend at Adirondack Loj. Upon arrival, we convened a committee of all the friends and family in attendance and decided to snowshoe to Marcy Dam. The path had been well tramped and going was easy, even though it seemed that snowshoe bindings and rivets were failing miserably. The walk through the woods was pleasant and upon arrival at the Dam, we happened to see a moose running at the edge of the woods. With a bit of patience, we were greeted with a second moose that came in from the direction of the Van Hovenberg trail. 

It was a magical sight in the light snowy air and upon arrival back at the loj, we were told that "no one EVER sees a moose at Marcy Dam..."

For the afternoon, we strapped skis on and blindly followed some of the cross-country ski trails around Adirondack Loj. With just enough snow cover to glide over most of the rocks and logs, we followed the Rimrock trail to Easy Street, followed by a short jaunt around the campground. We noticed some nice views of Mount Jo and Wright Peak that we had never noticed in the summer.

We spent the evening bookending the delicious meal with an impromptu tuba Christmas with music supplied by maestro Jeff. With flute, piano, cornet and tuba we made our way through some nice Christmas sing-a-longs. We even pulled out the fiddle and guitar later in the evening for an old-time jam.

After breakfast the next morning, we strapped on the skis yet again to follow another nice loop on the Mr. Van trail to Easy Street. It was a chilly morning, but the powdery snow made for glorious skiing!

We spent the rest of the day furiously working to make an Adirondack pack basket in the workshop sponsored by the Adirondack Mountain Club. Our instructor was infinitely patient with each of us and we walked away with raw fingers and a brand new basket at the end of the day. It was a fantastic winter weekend!

Newcomb

With residually full bellies the day after Thanksgiving Tom, Chris and Lisa headed to Newcomb for a night. According to NOAA weather, they had a foot of snow on the ground and we packed the car full of skis, snowshoes and warm clothes in anticipation.

Upon arrival, the wood stove needed a bit of convincing to light, so we spent the afternoon and evening in the cabin stoking (and poking) the stove into an acceptable temperature. We passed the time with multiple games of scrabble.

The next morning, we went to the SUNY-ESF property on the border of Rich Lake armed with our winter gear. Upon arrival, it was apparent that the wet weather overnight would render it all obsolete and we strapped on boots to go for a woods walk. We admired the scenery along the peninsula that juts into the middle of Rich Lake. We saw an eagle, beaver and either a weasel or mink (them varmints move real quick like...). We also inspected all of the canoe access points for warm weather exploration!

After lunch at the cabin, we wanted one more walk before heading home so we drove to the Mt. Adams trailhead on the Tahawus road. We only went as far as Lake Jimmy since the ground was getting particularly muddy. We admired the scenery as the sun was getting low in the sky, waiting for the clouds to offer a view of the fire tower.

We sloshed our way back to the car, happy with our first taste of winter and glad that we were able to take our gear for a ride!

Anthony's Nose

After our hike on Jay Mountain, we wanted to get another view of the peak Adirondack foliage. We headed south on route 9N toward the town of Putnam where we parked the car in the world's most awkward lot to hike Record Hill, also known as Anthony's Nose on the shore of Lake George.

The hike was short, steep and sweet. We had many viewpoints on the ascent but the sandy soil made for some tricky footing. On the top, we could see from Sabbath Day Point to Rogers Rock. We meandered on the summit, soaking in the colors before heading back down the trail. While eating our dinner that night around the campfire, we reminisced about the beautiful autumn views that we had seen.

Jay

Looking for a good hike for my birthday, we decided on Jay Mountain - a mountain range that we had admired for years from the Champlain Valley but never climbed. Fall foliage was abundant and the temperature was mild, the conditions were perfect for an October climb.

We met our friend Elizabeth in Wadhams and she packed up Sam (her son) to start the hike with us. We were dressed in layers, starting from the trailhead. We quickly started losing them as Sam helped guide us by pointing out each DEC marker while munching on a waffle. When we parted ways, we were worried that we might lose the trail without his careful guiding.

Managing to stick to the trail, we found ourselves on the summit of Jay Mountain where we had lunch. The fall colors were brilliant and we could see many of the high peaks to the southwest and Lake Champlain to the east. We gawked at the view for quite a spell before following the ridge trail along the spine of the summit.

The best part of this hike was the rocky ridge trail, which provided views almost the entire time. Following the trail meant mostly staying on rock slabs, guided by rock cairns. It was rugged and beautiful. We made it roughly halfway along the ridge before turning around and making our way back. The return trip gave us views of the high peaks until we finally ducked into the woods. It was a perfect fall hike, and we will be back to continue the ridge!

Moxham

TR weekend (as it is affectionately known in Newcomb) is a big deal for the small central Adirondack community. It celebrates the now famous ride that Teddy Roosevelt took through the north country after finding out about William Mckinley's assassination. The town of Newcomb holds a festival each year in mid-September and this year we decided to attend.

Our first order of business was the pancake breakfast at the school - a feast served by the fire department with huge pancakes, real maple syrup and sausage. After stuffing our faces with flapjacks, we spied a short hike from behind the soccer field to Woodruff Pond. We took the trail which led to a beautiful pond that will have to be a Hornbeck destination at some point. We admired the pristine water and headed back to the car for our day's bigger hike.

We drove to Minerva and found the trailhead for Moxham Mountain. The trail was not steep and offered many scenic vistas along the way. Despite an ominous looking summit, the trail just meandered up the ridge and we were offered spectacular views toward Indian Lake. We could easily see Snowy Mountain and Pillsbury Mountain in the distance.

We couldn't tarry long though because the ice cream social in Newcomb only lasted from 2:00-2:30 and free sweets are a high priority for us. We made it back just in time to snag some chocolate with all the toppings!

The evening was spent cooking stew and chili over the campfire - one could argue that we had two dinners that night. We would imagine that Teddy would have done the same...

The next morning, we headed to the Santanoni preserve to ride on the horse wagon into the camp where we were greeted by Teddy Roosevelt himself. We spent the ride telling stories to our nephew Ben...mostly to distract him from eating all the cookies stored with us. When we arrived at the camp, we ate some lunch and paddled a canoe on Newcomb lake before taking part in an interpretive tour of the camp. As the horses were hitching up, we decided to walk the road out to stretch our legs before the long car ride home.

Vanderwhacker

On a sticky September day, we ventured forth from Newcomb to hike Vanderwhacker Mountain in the town of Minerva. It was a slow and steady drive to the trailhead as we moved slowly over glacial erratics sticking out of the road. When we finally made it to the trailhead, we started past some wetlands on a fairly level path when we arrived at one of the most intact fire tower cabins that we have seen. There was even a refrigerator inside!

After leaving the cabin, the trail got steadily much steeper and our pace slowed. We made our way to the fire tower with the panoramic views of the high peaks. It was a spectacular vista, and must be one of the most stunning views in the park! We loitered on that peak for almost two hours.

We hiked down the steep trail and then made the slow drive out to 28N. After a quick dinner, we couldn't resist a sunset paddle. We car-topped the hornbeck boats and went to Rich Lake. Other than a small group of college students at the beach, we had the lake to ourselves as we watched the sun and moon set. We even brought some apple cobbler to enjoy on the water.

The next morning was spent on a bushwhack to the Hudson River from our cabin in Newcomb. We were able to find some small beaches and ended up walking through the river (with our pants on) to find a scenic oxbow. We mysteriously found many golf balls scattered in the woods on the return trip...

Treadway

While the last days of summer wane in late August we looked for a paddle/hike combination. We found it by launching our kayaks on Putnam Pond. We made our way westward across the pond looking for trail signs, beached our boats and traded the water shoes for hiking boots.

We started up the trail to Treadway Mountain which starts in the woods but soon follows a wetland. Within a short climb from the wetland, the trail opens up to three rocky false summits. The sudden change in landscapes was certainly unusual in the Adirondacks, especially for a peak so low in elevation. 

When we arrived at the summit, we enjoyed views of Pharaoh Lake and Mountain as well as the high peaks to our north. We followed the well marked trail back to our boats and enjoyed the evening on Putnam Pond.

Bulwagga Bay

At the end of the driest summer that we had ever experienced, we couldn't help but wonder how far we could walk across the old rail bed that heads across Bulwagga Bay. Normally, the rocks that were the foundation of the railway are underwater, but we had seen them quite exposed this year.

We started our journey from Fort Crown Point. Armed with GPS, we started following the birding trails on the western side of the peninsula for an access point to the beach. Once we found it, we started following shoreline which went from sand to rocks. We slowly meandered on our path because the footing was tenuous and because we were looking for fossils (of which there were many). I even found a wrought iron rail spike dating from 1869.

Once we looked up from our feet, we noticed that we were halfway into the bay! It was the furthest that we had walked into the middle of a lake! We could see up the lake to the north and into the belly of Bulwagga Bay. After more fossil hunting, we made it back to the fort, satisfied with our small adventure of the day.