"It wasn't car camping, but it wasn't exactly backpacking either. It was true Adirondacks wilderness camping, but the mode of travel would probably be the major difference in the way I want to describe this past weekend. I have never camped out where the only way to get to my site was by water, so this was novel for myself and Mapleleaf. We started out after the work whistle blew at 5 PM on Thursday. Saranac Lakes are located about 40 miles south of Quebec and about 10 miles past Lake Placid. We left that night so we wouldn't have to use most of Friday for traveling. So, what we did was get ourselves up to Albany on Thursday night and figured we could do the other 2 to 3 hours of traveling the next morning. This way, we would have more of Friday to get our canoe and start paddling. Mapleleaf had great intentions on getting us a discounted hotel room on Thursday night and in the car, we joked about ending up at the Red Crappit Inn. Well, we fell right into it. This place was a dump! The night guy on there was a real jerk. "No, you don't need a reservation for a discounted room", they said over the phone. No rooms for us at that price either. He told Maple they didn't have extra blankets when she asked for one. I called the front desk and said "Do you have an ice machine anywhere?" He said, "Yes". I finally had to pipe up and say "Could you tell me where?" Well, this kinda stuff went on and on but I won't dwell anymore on that. The next morning, we awoke and got on the road (hit the stores for a few pieces of gear we wanted) and proceeded north. In a few hours, we were up in Lake Placid where we saw some of the cool Olympic Training areas. The Ski Jump towers and the bobsled runs and that kind of stuff was very interesting. Everything was going well at this point and would continue to do so through the weekend. We got our bear canister and strapped our canoe to the top of the car and went to check in for our camp site. A few miles to the boat launch and we were in. We went through a small canal type entry and then onto breathtaking Middle Saranac Lake. It wasn't far from the camp site, so unloaded our gear and had a wonderful time boating, then mellowing out for the evening. The next day, we headed out after breakfast for the biggest part of the canoe trip. We toured around Middle Saranac for a while and then proceeded to find the connecting point between Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes. It was hard to find but there it was, a narrow sharp right turn between two rows of grass and reeds. This was like entering paradise, my friends. The only thing ruining that image was the occasional passing motorboat (they had to go 5 mph through this long stretch). But, the absolute beauty of this place was ever present on either side of us. I will leave the wildlife descriptions for Maple to go into in her report. There were no designated spots to pull off and stop, so finding a place for lunch that was conducive to that was hard. We found one area, docked the boat and sat on a rock and started eating. Then, some mosquitos dive bombed us and started biting, so we wrapped it up and hightailed back into the boat. We came up on an interesting feature that connected the two bodies of water, called the Upper State Lock. The lock is manually controlled. They put your boat inside and close the doors on the front and back sides while the water level takes you down 2 1/2 feet before opening up and letting you out onto the other side. This compensates for the level difference in the two bodies of water. Way Cool!! We toodled along at a slow pace, observing the wildlife and scenery and shortly, dumped out onto Lower Saranac Bay. At this point, the wind was kicking up (getting dark clouds too) and we saw we were going to be going into a stronger head wind on the return. We could see by the patches of rippling water where the stronger winds were coming up and made our way back through the lock and getting closer to the entrance to Middle Lake again. Coming around that last corner, we caught a good head wind. That, combined with the warning from some other boaters who just came from there, we surmised that we were in for a little struggle here. Let me tell you, the choppy water and the wind that hit us around the last bend came within a hair of throwing us over. It knocked my paddle out of my hand and blew the boat right into the thick reeds that were on either side if us. We retrieved the paddle (with a bit of a struggle) and then got blown back into the reeds again. Maple and I were a little scared at this point, but adrenalin kicked in and we fought our way through it and out into the lake. We had about a mile to go to the camp site, but it turned out to be one of the hardest miles I ever paddled in my life, especially since we had just paddled for over 6 hours without rest. There was one or two motor boats that could have spared us the extra wakes we had to endure by slowing down a little, but some people are not that bright. We made it back without going over into the rough water and enjoyed some good food, music and some cold Coronas for the rest of the evening. The next morning, we took a short trip out with the canoe before loading up all our gear for the last boat trip out to the car and for the long ride back to NYC. What a great trip!!! There are some details left out that I will let Maple fill in in her report. Perhaps I have gone on for long enough!"
We had a great time in the Big Apple on July 4th. There is no better way to spend it the in NY. We had frineds come in from Fla. I love when people stay with us. we get to give them the grand tour of the city.
Friday's highlights.
1. car crash 2. car chase 3. 2 kids dump stolen car on a wrong way street and take off running like hell 4. good guys chase bad guys 5. cops arrive on the crime scene 6. i walk past cop on his walkie talkie and over here him say "how was i supposed to know they were chasing a car thief? they just ran past me" 7. posing for pictuers with the stolen car while it was smoking from the car crash 8. watch the cops get the bad guys and arrest him. not very offten do you see everything unfold in front of you (and have pics!!) Now thats what I call entertainment NY style.
ps, yes the FLa folks had a great time and never will forget there ny trip.
spending 4th of July on our roof of our apartment, in Brooklyn, sipping margaritas.
yes a good 4th!"
Here are some photos of us posing by the stolen car and the cops getting the bad guy.(and other NYC photos)
ps, if you ever come to NY bring your camera becasue you just never know what in the world will happen!
"Well I did it!! With my oldest daughter turning 18 years old today, It felt good knowing that I was still able to do extrem things!! I woke up pretty early Sat. morning. The weather was perfect! When I left it was around 35 degrees outside. So after about a million stops I finialy got to the trailhead. One of the stops I made was to pick up some firewood and a sled. From the trailhead it was only about a 1.5 mile to the shelter. But next to the shelter was a trail that lead stight down to the road (Seven Lakes Drive). On the road this is where I left the wood on the sled. So I arrived at the trailhead about 2:30pm (it was about an hour later then I wanted it to be) The hike to the shelter was great! I only saw 3 people and dog. It was a little hard hiking on the trail becasue there has not been any snow fall in a while and with all the snowshoers and cross/skiing and hikes the trail was pretty icy. But it was no biggy to hike next to the trail.. I arrived at the shelter and to my dissapiotment there were people already there. They had the shelter all cozy and they were very friendly to me and made me feel welcome!! So I put my backpack down and made my way on the shortcut trail down to the road to get the firewood. But on the way I found a great camp. There was a very big fireplace and the cool thing was that there was a big rock next to the fireplace. It was kinda like a chair with a table. So thats were I spent the night! I marched down to get the sled but left the wood because there was plenty at the campsite!
well if anyone has dragged a sled you know how much fun it can be But it was rather amusing! So by the time I set up camp it was getting pretty dark. Once again ive taken a new tent and tried to set it up at night. The problem I had with the tent was, I was not realy able to stake it out the way it needed to be. So the tent was sagging. So after some VERY SPICY!!!! chicken soup and a hot coco with Kahlua(sp) and 2 shots of Benadryl(sp) I was very ready for bed. So this is when the real fun started. I did manage to freak myself out. I was having a pretty hard time trying to wiggle into the sleeping bag with 2fleece blankets while wearing 2 fleece shirts. There was NO room!! But while I was doing this I started to here noices. I thought someone was in camp. It was very loud. It sounded like snow crunching. But it seems that when I stoped to listen, I relized that it was my heart punding so hard. and with the hat on it echoed!! Ok you can laugh at me, cause I made myself laugh! well i did manage to sleep for most of the night. It wnt down to 12 degrees But I was having problems cause the tent was sagging so bad, that the tent itself was on my face. So I woke up to a wet face. I woke up around 8:30am to the loudest friggen Crow i have ever heard. (wish I had a damn shotgun!!) I made coffee and then breakfast. I started to pack when I was visited by the guys that stayed in the shelter. This is were I learned that I had slept at the wrong end of the tent. Yes you can laugh at me yet again (I am so sorry I forgot your names) They had backpacked all the way from Elk Pen. Man thats a long hike. It took them 2 days just to get to this shelter. So I offered them a ride to there cars and they accepted the ride. They went on down the Mt to watch the Ice Fisherman. (which by the way is very cool) But while I was packing up the sleeping bag i noticed this Big Wet Spot. Well all I could think of was "Oh My Gawd, I peed the bed". But I did not!! But I made myself laugh again. I think the next time I will remeber to bring my foam pad! So I was all pakced up but I still dont understand how the hell my pack could weigh more then the day before. It was insane heavy. Thank goodness it was a short hike. On the way down it started to snow. I love hiking while its snowing. It was so calm that I just had to stop and have a monent. If you ever get a chance to hike in the winter DO IT! So I marched my way down to meet up with the guys. But before we all climb into the car, we had to break in the Sled mobil!
HEE HAW!! what fun. I only went down once but that was a blast.
So I drove everyone back to there car and thanked them very much for pushing my car out of the ditch i got myself into. DUH!! It was great to meet new people and you all are more then welcome to join us on backpacking trips (but don't forget the Southern Comfort) I made great time driving home, just in time for a great dinner made by treebeard!! YUMMY Corp nasty and Twinkles toes came over to watch the game and have dinner with us. That was a great way to end a great weekend!!
My fav gear for the hike... My Down Booties!! My gear that i wanted to burn... my rented backpack!!
thats it... sorry its so long but when there is no one there to laugh with you, you have to laugh at yourself. I did alot of that. SO I guess the next question is, Will I do it again?
YES
picture will follow tonight I want to thank all of you for just being there to help me with all my questions. Treebeard, Thank you sooo much for just being you and being so supportive!!"
"We started out on Sunday from Brooklyn with a small entourage and drove to the Hudson Valley (Croton on Hudson Point). As we were getting off the highway, our guide, Paul, (resident bird expert from Prospect Park) spotted a bald eagle in the distance. Unfortunately, that would be the only eagle we were to see that morning. After hiking into the campground and to the juncture at Croton Point on the Hudson, we turned around to see if we can spot an eagle or two. The weather earlier in the week seemed to help push the birds a little further up river. It was a fun walk anyway and the boys enjoyed playing out of the little beach type inlet at the river. We then had an early lunch as we headed back down into the Bronx to a place called Hunter Island Sanctuary, next to Orchard Beach in the Northern Bronx. This is the largest city park in New York as it has 2000 acres of land. To give you an idea of proportion, Central Park is 800 acres and Prospect Park is 500. So, you could combine both parks into one and still have room for a large park to boot. We walked in in pursuit of the great horned owl. Much to my amazement, Paul was able to spot this creature from an absolutely absurd distance away. I still don't know how he did that, but sure enough, he spread out his tripod with the Bushnell scope mounted on it, and gave us a bird's eye view (no pun intended) of the female owl sitting on her nest. He also showed us the food pellets that are found under the tree containing the food that the birds had chewed up. Inside were the fur, bones, etc from either mice, rats or voles. There was even an intact skull of a rodent in the items picked up. See pictures on the link for illustrations of these things. At this point, Paul told us that the male owl should be either right above her protecting the nest or in the nearby tree. Sure enough, he spotted him in the nearby tree, perched right near the trunk. He flew off, probably due to the little bit of noise from our footsteps, but we followed him for a while. Not wanting to stress him out anymore, we abandoned and moved on. We spotted a fat, lazy racoon in a nearby tree, which we photographed. At this point, I discovered that I could put the digital camera up to the lens of his scope and shoot through it, giving a better close up. This worked pretty well (see link again) and then we backtracked to the owl and got one great shot of her. We ventured out and saw a few other birds that are pictured on the link. As our last stop, we went to a different spot at Orchard Beach and set out to view the Barn Owl. Sure enough, Paul pretty much took us right to it. He looks for the food pellets and the scat on the bark of the tree (which is white washed as opposed to blueish, which is sap). We saw this beautiful bird, pretty much standing almost right under it. It was a beautiful trip for the kids and for us too. We all learned a lot and are lucky to have had such a nice guy and a great guide as Paul was.
Also, here's a view of what you are looking for in the picture we shot of the great horned owl
"It wasn't car camping, but it wasn't exactly backpacking either. It was true Adirondacks wilderness camping, but the mode of travel would probably be the major difference in the way I want to describe this past weekend. I have never camped out where the only way to get to my site was by water, so this was novel for myself and Mapleleaf. We started out after the work whistle blew at 5 PM on Thursday. Saranac Lakes are located about 40 miles south of Quebec and about 10 miles past Lake Placid. We left that night so we wouldn't have to use most of Friday for traveling. So, what we did was get ourselves up to Albany on Thursday night and figured we could do the other 2 to 3 hours of traveling the next morning. This way, we would have more of Friday to get our canoe and start paddling. Mapleleaf had great intentions on getting us a discounted hotel room on Thursday night and in the car, we joked about ending up at the Red Crappit Inn. Well, we fell right into it. This place was a dump! The night guy on there was a real jerk. "No, you don't need a reservation for a discounted room", they said over the phone. No rooms for us at that price either. He told Maple they didn't have extra blankets when she asked for one. I called the front desk and said "Do you have an ice machine anywhere?" He said, "Yes". I finally had to pipe up and say "Could you tell me where?" Well, this kinda stuff went on and on but I won't dwell anymore on that. The next morning, we awoke and got on the road (hit the stores for a few pieces of gear we wanted) and proceeded north. In a few hours, we were up in Lake Placid where we saw some of the cool Olympic Training areas. The Ski Jump towers and the bobsled runs and that kind of stuff was very interesting. Everything was going well at this point and would continue to do so through the weekend. We got our bear canister and strapped our canoe to the top of the car and went to check in for our camp site. A few miles to the boat launch and we were in. We went through a small canal type entry and then onto breathtaking Middle Saranac Lake. It wasn't far from the camp site, so unloaded our gear and had a wonderful time boating, then mellowing out for the evening. The next day, we headed out after breakfast for the biggest part of the canoe trip. We toured around Middle Saranac for a while and then proceeded to find the connecting point between Middle and Lower Saranac Lakes. It was hard to find but there it was, a narrow sharp right turn between two rows of grass and reeds. This was like entering paradise, my friends. The only thing ruining that image was the occasional passing motorboat (they had to go 5 mph through this long stretch). But, the absolute beauty of this place was ever present on either side of us. I will leave the wildlife descriptions for Maple to go into in her report. There were no designated spots to pull off and stop, so finding a place for lunch that was conducive to that was hard. We found one area, docked the boat and sat on a rock and started eating. Then, some mosquitos dive bombed us and started biting, so we wrapped it up and hightailed back into the boat. We came up on an interesting feature that connected the two bodies of water, called the Upper State Lock. The lock is manually controlled. They put your boat inside and close the doors on the front and back sides while the water level takes you down 2 1/2 feet before opening up and letting you out onto the other side. This compensates for the level difference in the two bodies of water. Way Cool!! We toodled along at a slow pace, observing the wildlife and scenery and shortly, dumped out onto Lower Saranac Bay. At this point, the wind was kicking up (getting dark clouds too) and we saw we were going to be going into a stronger head wind on the return. We could see by the patches of rippling water where the stronger winds were coming up and made our way back through the lock and getting closer to the entrance to Middle Lake again. Coming around that last corner, we caught a good head wind. That, combined with the warning from some other boaters who just came from there, we surmised that we were in for a little struggle here. Let me tell you, the choppy water and the wind that hit us around the last bend came within a hair of throwing us over. It knocked my paddle out of my hand and blew the boat right into the thick reeds that were on either side if us. We retrieved the paddle (with a bit of a struggle) and then got blown back into the reeds again. Maple and I were a little scared at this point, but adrenalin kicked in and we fought our way through it and out into the lake. We had about a mile to go to the camp site, but it turned out to be one of the hardest miles I ever paddled in my life, especially since we had just paddled for over 6 hours without rest. There was one or two motor boats that could have spared us the extra wakes we had to endure by slowing down a little, but some people are not that bright. We made it back without going over into the rough water and enjoyed some good food, music and some cold Coronas for the rest of the evening. The next morning, we took a short trip out with the canoe before loading up all our gear for the last boat trip out to the car and for the long ride back to NYC. What a great trip!!! There are some details left out that I will let Maple fill in in her report. Perhaps I have gone on for long enough!"
"What can I say? Great weather. Great trail. Supreme conditions. And, of course, Pathman making his New York debut! I should preface this outting starting from Saturday night. As some of you probably know, we were eagerly anticipating the arrival of Pathman in New York City for his annual (I think) convention. So, we got a group together for dinner and drinks on Saturday night. The attendees were yours truly, Mapleleaf, Twinkle Toes and Corporal Nasty representing the local NYC contingent. Also joining us were Amy G and Dare and of course, the Pathman himself. Maple and I made our way into Manhattan to pick PM up at his Times Square hotel. Listening to a traffic report on the radio, we hear that there is falling debris in Times Square and of course that is precisely where we were heading. So, we phoned ahead to Cpl Nasty and Twinky to meet us inside at Slate, the restaurant/pool hall that we were meeting at. Only off schedule about a half hour so our evening wasn't altered too much. We had a nice cozy spot downstairs (place was huge). Being the only ones there, it made a nice conversation and dinner setting. Never got around to playing any pool, but meeting Path and getting to know Amy and Dare better (not to leave out our local friends either) made for a wonderful evening. We departed early (by NYC standards) so we could get some sleep for Sunday's outting.
There were 5 of us on this venture. Twinky (Cpl had to work), Maple, Treebeard, Pathman and Twignut (daughter in the Tree family). We all went in one car and made pretty good time getting up to the general area. All except for the wrong turn near Cold Spring. We got to East Hudson Highlands State Park with the sun warm overhead. Maple and Twignut stayed with us for a while. But, the ascent up the mountain eventually became too much for the Maple, as she is still on injured reserve, so she and Twig went down and found some fun in a different spot. I will let her elborate on her own. Path, Twinkle and myself continued up the ridge, stopping at various points to photograph and admire the beauty of the Hudson and the Storm King directly across from where we were (photos will be posted tonight). We saw some hawks and turkey vultures flying overhead. They were pretty cool as we were able to get some fairly close views of them. When we finally got to the top, the trail leveled off and made for a very comfortable walk around towards Breakneck Ridge. We came around after a few hours to the aqueduct that supplies water to New York City (buried underground of course). But there were some abandoned pumping stations, a nice brook and several cool waterfalls along the way. We found a small abandoned concrete structure that we think was pumping station. Twinkle Toes was thinking about her roommate situation and contemplated renting it out (see picture of her in the window when its posted). It probably could fetch 1200 dollars a month in Iraq. The rest of the trip was justa beautiful and the trail was fairly easy till we lost it at the end. It appeared that we would have to bushwhack down to the road. Then we came upon a drop off that I was ready to tackle, but Twinky sensed that this wasn't a good idea. I am glad she did, because right around the corner was a paved, private road leading right down to the main road. We followed it down (me singing like a munchkin) and met Maple and Twignut at the road. Great time for all."
MAPLELEAF"S TRIP REPORT
Good trip report Treebead, Mine is a little different because twignut and my self did a different area.
As stated above, I tried to do the hike with everyone. It was my first hike since Jan, so I figured I'd give it a try. Well I could not do that hike. I was very dissapointed but I was very happy to have Twignut with me for company.
We left the others on the trail and hiked back down to the trail head and went across the highway and hiked on "Little Stony Point". I think its about a 1 1/2 mile flat loop. This is just what I was ready to do. So twigy and myself stared the hike and found our way down to the Hudson River. It was so nice out and just sitting there by the river looking over at the Storm King, made for a perfect place to eat our lunch. But while we were sitting there eating and watching the boats go by, Twignut looked over at me and said "so Mom, is there anything you want to ask me about whats going on in my life?" That floored me. The fact that my teenager was willing to allow me into her private life. That meant so much to me and it reestabished the bond that I have with her. She made me laugh more then ive laughed in a long time. So from there we walked the little Island. We then found some very cool rocks and climb up them. yes me being afraid of heights, I did it. that was when once again twig nut floored me. we made it to the top and where just standing there taking it all in when she looked at me and told me how proud of ME she was. Its not very offten that a parent gets to hear that from there teenager. (I swear she is buttering me up for something LOL) then we made our way down and then on our way out we found a cave. I have never been in one. So there I was getting ready to go in and got spooked. So this little old man was walking by and was looking at what we were looking at. I asked him if he would go in fist. (yes I made the little old man go first)I am sooo brave! so that was very very very cool. we made our way off the little Island and twignut treated me to Ice Cream. YUMMY YUMMY while we were sitting there waiting for the others I had to go to the bathroom. well I was getting ready to cop a squat when I smelled something very bad. well right next to me was a very dead Deer. GROSS EEKK needless to say I no longer had to pee. Not very often you get to almost pee on a dead deer. Twignut did enjoy looking at the bones.
So all in all it was a great time and it felt so good getting out of the house and back on the trail. I needed for my Soul. Yes hiking does the soul good!
