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.

Port Henry

After spending a morning on some light agriculture at the orchard, we decided that an afternoon paddle would be a delight. We strapped our kayaks on the car and headed to the nearby Port Henry boat launch. There was a slight breeze from the south with overcast skies, but we packed some sandwiches and started following the shoreline north.

The signs of Port Henry's industrial past were evident and we admired many natural rock formations as well. North of Cheever, we felt the wind picking up behind us and some light rain. We decided to turn around before we blew up to Rouses Point!

The wind was steady from the south and the whitecaps were breaking over our bows. We each took water in our cockpits, but we kept paddling steadily. Often, we would check over our starboard sides to see if we were making progress against the shore. Little by little we did and found ourselves back at the boat launch with sore arms and soggy butts. A fun paddle for sure!

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.