More Heat in the Adirondacks

Heart Lake from the summit of Mt. Jo



On top of Mt. Jo with views of the High Peaks Wilderness

When you are from Texas, going north in summer seems like a good plan.  After all, New England is sure to be cooler than Texas, right?  Well, not always…  Our timing did not work out too well for a couple of weeks in July as most of Texas was around 10 degrees cooler than New York.  Heat advisories and then excessive heat advisories were issued for the east coast and even in the Adirondack Mountains for a couple of days.  But none-the-less, we decided to stay a bit longer before we headed farther north and east in search of relief.  Moving campsites and getting electricity so we could run our A/C really helped make the heat bearable.  It is amazing the heat you can endure if you can sleep cool at night.  And if you can have frozen custard…

 

Just a few miles from our campground near Indian Lake was ‘Custard’s Last Stand,’ purveyor of ice cream and frozen custard and the object of our desires after hiking.  I’m not sure we ever passed the ‘Stand’ without stopping for the frozen delights.  David still thinks Ted Drewes in St. Louis has the best frozen custard in the world, but I have to say no other custard was ever more eagerly anticipated than the ones we devoured our last few days in the Adirondacks.   That last mile of every trail was endured with the mirage of frozen custard dripping before our eyes. 

Lunch time on Round Mountain

   

Descending Round Mountain with Noon Mark on left

 

Following the trail proved challenging sometimes...

 

Heat and all, we had some beautiful hikes.  Round Mountain in the High Peaks Wilderness was notable for its rocky summit with views in almost every direction and the fact that we did not see another person on the trail that day.  It was like our own private mountain.  For my birthday we took a hike to Mt. Jo and then went on to Rocky Falls for a swim in the pool beneath the falls to cool off.  The water was so cold that David and I could really only wade, but Maya had no problems.  There were a few boys swimming under the falls and Maya was determined to swim out and 'herd' them back to the shore.  Crazy dog! 

Fire Tower on Goodnow Mountain

 

Another fun hike we made was the summit of Goodnow Mountain.  At the top was a restored fire tower that we climbed, even Maya (she is pretty good with stairs).  It seemed extra humid that day and no breeze to help us out.  But up in the fire tower there was wind!  It was so nice that we stayed at the top, letting the breeze cool us while we ate our lunch and enjoyed the 360 degree views.

Views from Fire Tower

 

 

I was impressed with our hiking statistics considering the heat and humidity.  We managed to hike almost 5 1/2 miles a day gaining close to 1400 feet in elevation.  One of the things that has surprised us about hiking eastern mountains is just how rocky and challenging they are.  We were thinking hiking would be easy in the east after last year's Cascade Mountains and Canadian Rockies adventures.  But not so.  The altitude was certainly greater in the West and that did affect our breathing abilities until we got acclimated.  But the actual elevation gain on eastern trails is about the same or even more in some cases.  A lot of the trails in the east don't have the switch backs that western trails do.  This makes them tougher to climb and many have some challenging rock scrambles that we didn't see as much of on western trails.  We have new respect for eastern hiking trails. 

Maya handles the climbs better than we do - 4 legs makes a difference

Even though there were still so many things left to see, we were weary of the heat and decided to move on.  Several places such as the Adirondack Museum, the Wild Center and Great Camp Sagamore are places where you can’t take dogs.  It was too hot to leave Maya in the car and with the excessive heat I was afraid to leave her in the RV under A/C in case there was a power outage.  In most of our roaming, we have worked out traveling with a dog pretty well and not had to alter our plans much if at all.  The heat will not last long, so we are planning to come back through in September and hike more of those ‘high peaks,’ see some fall color and visit the museums.  In the meantime, we hear it is 10 – 15 degrees cooler in Maine…

Birches often use a 'nurse' log or rock to get started on

That can make for some interesting roots..

 

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   4

Total Miles Hiked    21.66

Ave. Miles per Day      5.42
Total Elevation Gain       5,448
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   1,362

Fly Agaric - we think?

 

No idea, but the fungi are abundant in the forest this time of year

 

 

The Adirondacks, Rain and A Heat Wave

View of The High Peaks Wilderness in the Adirondacks from Mt. Baxter

After our grand time in the Catskills, we stayed a couple of days at a lovely campground on the shores of the Mohawk River near Albany while we took care of necessities.  All cleaned up and resupplied for a new adventure, we headed north on I – 87 for the Adirondack Park.

 

 

Much like the Catskills, the Adirondacks are also a mixture of public and private land with 2.7 million acres of state-owned Forest Preserve within the over 6 million acres that make up the Adirondack Park.  That’s two-and-a-half times the size of Yellowstone National Park or roughly the same size as Vermont!
 

David and Maya on the summit of Mt. Baxter

 

An area that big takes a little time to explore and because the private land is distributed throughout the Forest Preserve, there are small towns, museums, art galleries, shops and restaurants to visit besides the over 1,800 miles of hiking trails.  David and I have never been any place with so many fantastic day hiking and backpacking opportunities.  There seemed to be a trailhead or two every few miles along just about any road we traveled.  With 46 peaks over 4,000 feet in elevation and a trail to the top of each one of them plus trails to the top of many of the lower mountains and the almost 3,000 lakes – well, it is a hiker’s paradise if we've ever seen one.

 

Heron Marsh Trail at the Visitor Information Center at Paul Smiths College

 

 

We camped at Wilmington Notch, a state campground about 10 miles from Lake Placid.  Lake Placid was the site for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and future Olympians still train there. Olympic venues are spread throughout the town and nearby Whiteface and Gore Mountains. At the Kodak Sports Park, training freestyle aerial skiers land in a heated 750,000-gallon pool in the summer months. 

Our first few days in the Adirondacks we had a good deal of rain, so we used those days to do some car touring and familiarize ourselves with these beautiful mountains.  We spent some time in Lake Placid and the Keene Valley area.  We also visited Saranac Lake and explored some trails at Paul Smiths College Visitor Interpretive Center.

 

Summit Views from Whiteface Mt.

 

 

 

The rain cleared one afternoon so we took that opportunity to visit nearby Whiteface Mountain.  Whiteface has the greatest vertical drop east of the Rockies and is a favorite among skiers and snowboarders but in summer months mountain bikers and hikers come to the mountain.  Many tourists and cyclist take the Whiteface Memorial Highway (as we did) to a parking lot near the summit.  From there you can either take an elevator to the top or hike the short but steep and rocky trail to the top.

Bunchberry growing in the harsh alpine climate on Whiteface Mt.

 

 

We wanted to hike up anyway but no dogs were allowed on the elevator.  Maya is part mountain goat but David and I were very thankful for the hand rails.  Some of the rocks were slippery and would have been a bit of a challenge to scramble up without the help of ‘hand-holds.’  Nature too, was struggling to hold on in that extreme alpine ecosystem.  The trail had good interpretive exhibits along the way explaining the delicate balance of nature in such harsh conditions.

Map lichen growing on rocks near summit of Whiteface Mt.

 

Looking down hiking trail to Whiteface Mt. summit

 

Whiteface Mountain is one of the 46 “High Peaks” and New York State’s fifth-highest peak at 4,867 feet high.  The view from the top was spectacular although the day we visited the summit had been ‘in the clouds’ most of the day.  But as we were driving up the highway that afternoon it started to clear and as we hiked the trail, the clouds lifted and we had dramatic views in nearly every direction. We couldn’t quite make out Lake Champlain or Montreal but Lake Placid and many other lakes glistened beneath the clouds in the afternoon sun.

Lake Placid 'under the clouds'

Luna Moth on the window of the weather station on Whiteface Mt.

We spent the next few days hiking other trails in the area.  Many of the ‘46ers’ are in the Lake Placid and Keene Valley vicinity.  At first we had ambitions to climb several of the 46ers but those tended to be some of the longest and steepest trails with many having some challenging rock scrambling near the summits.  We were going to have to give our knees a rest between long hikes.  And then to complicate things a little further, the temperature and humidity started to climb – the northeast was experiencing a heat wave.  At 90 degrees or better with 60% or more humidity, we found our stamina greatly diminished.

Lots of great fungi in the forest...

We need to get a mushroom/fungus guide so we can learn them

 

We still went hiking, but we took shorter hikes and started them earlier so we could finish earlier and avoid the hottest part of the day.   After several days in the state campground with no electricity, we declared 'defeat' and moved to a commercial campground so we could have some air-conditioning. I can't believe that we have used our air-conditioning more in the last week than we have almost the whole time we've had our RV.

David's Stats:
Days Hiked   3

Rain Days     2
Total Miles Hiked       11.46
Ave. Miles per Day      3.69
Total Elevation Gain       2,290
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  678

 

 

Flag Iris

 

 

Catskills - Waterfalls, Blueberries and Bear Tracks



Looking out across the Hudson River Valley from the Catskills

We had planned to go to Philadelphia for the July 4th holiday, but temperatures were rising and heat advisories were in effect so we thought higher altitudes would be the better choice for now.  There are so many beautiful places and historic sites that we have yet to visit but some will have to wait until we are on our way back home this fall when it is a little cooler.  We may have lingered a little too long on our way north and now summer has arrived.

View from North Point Trail

Located in the fabled Catskills mountain range, the Catskill Park in New York with 98 peaks over 3,000 feet and hundreds of miles of hiking trails was a little over a day’s drive north for us.  So, off we went to New York!  On the way we camped for two nights at a commercial campground near Binghamton, NY to get re-supplied and ready to spend several nights out in the state campgrounds, or as they are known here, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) campgrounds.

One of the many waterfalls in Mary's Glen

 

In 1894, New York State began setting aside land in the Catskills as wild forest.  Ten years later a boundary was established around 705,500 mountainous acres and the Catskill Park was born.  Today the park is still a mixture of public and private land.  Many people think the Catskill Park and the Catskill Forest Preserve are the same thing, but they are not.  The preserve’s 300,000 acres are state-owned and protected as “forever wild,” within the larger park boundary. 

Mary's Glen Trail

 

New York City owns about 40,000 acres in the Catskill Park around several reservoirs where the city gets nearly 90% of its drinking water.  So besides being beautiful and a much loved recreational area, the Catskills provide water and other precious resources such as timber, minerals and farm crops.

Fern Forest

 

Lady Fern

 

We spent our first two nights at Little Pond Campground in the southeastern part of the park.  Of course it rained, but it was much cooler and we enjoyed hiking around Little Pond and exploring the trails around Touchmenot Mountain. 

Mountain Laurel was in full bloom along the trails in the Catskills

 

 

Next we moved to the northeastern part of the park to North-South Lake Campground.  We absolutely loved our hike through the waterfalls at Mary’s Glen, the climb up to North Point and then on the Escarpment Trail to Sunset Rock and lastly Artist’s Rock with amazing views of the Hudson River Valley.

Mary's Glen

The east is such a contrast to the dry west in summertime.  And this year is a wet one even by eastern standards.  We can’t get over how lush the vegetation is.  Many of the trails were little rivers and the rocks we scrambled over were little waterfalls.  We weren’t sure if we were on the trails or in the streams about half the time.  David joked that we built our trails beside streams in the west, not in them.   

On the trail or in the stream?

 

I was so excited to harvest and eat my first wild blueberries of the season while we were having lunch near North Point.  It is still not peak season but many of the berries growing on the rocky terrain were beginning to ripen.  I only ate a few, saving most for the bears and other wildlife.  Speaking of bears, we saw fresh tracks in the mud on the trail, but no actual bear sightings.  Bears were definitely around though.  Our camping neighbors, Jeff and Wendy, saw a bear while they were hiking. 
 

Blueberries and lichen

 

Jeff and Wendy live in the Albany area and gave us great tips on where to go and things to do in nature while we were visiting New York.  They recommended several hikes and places to visit in the Adirondack Mountains, our next destination.  We will definitely be checking out their suggestions in just a few days as we are off to visit the Adirondacks very shortly.

Bear Track!

View from the Escarpment Trail looking north

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked     2    
Total Miles Hiked     14.62      
Ave. Miles per Day    6.40     
Total Elevation Gain     2,085     
Ave. Elevation Gain per day     972   

 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Cannons near Seminary Ridge

Just 65 miles north of Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg was one of the ‘don’t miss’ places on our list to visit.  But until very recently we had not realized that July 1st, 2nd and 3rd this year marked the 150-year anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.  And we hadn’t known that our timing would have us arriving the week before the big event. Luckily we got a campsite nearby but everyone told us that it would be next to impossible to get reservations during the July 4th week.  The town was booked up with around a quarter of a million people expected to attend the various programs and events being held by the National Park Service, the Gettysburg Foundation and other groups.

 

Union soldier re-enactors on Gettysburg battlefield

General Lee on top of the Virginia Memorial

 

We were excited to be there right before the big event and see some of the preparations.  The National Park Service has scheduled special events, extra programs and new exhibits throughout the year to commemorate the battle and President Lincoln’s visit to give the Gettysburg Address.  Many free ranger programs were being presented on the battlefield while we were there.  Actors gave performances at scheduled times and there were 'battle walks,' tours and campfire programs.

Re-enactors from Texas near Texas Memorial on Warfield Ridge

 

Union 12-Pound Napoleon cannon

 

 

David and I spent hours on the battlefield touring the monuments and listening to a CD we bought recounting the various battles and charges during those three days in July.  It was hot and humid and it rained on us more than once, so we didn’t know if we were wet from rain or sweat.  I thought that this was probably much the same weather that the union and confederate soldiers had 150 years ago and thought how hot, wet and miserable they must have been along with all the other sufferings soldiers endure.  We had our nice air-conditioned car to take us to the next location on the battlefield, they had to march and fight.

 

Texas re-enactors close to the Wheatfield battle sight 

 

While we were on the battlefield we saw a group of re-enactors from Texas.  They were having a ceremony at the Texas monument.  Many had brought a small amount of soil from the county that they were representing and as the “role” was called the re-enactor came forward and emptied soil from that county on the ground next to the Texas monument.  It was a very moving ceremony.

 

 

Brig. General Gouverneur Warren at Little Round Top

 

The National Park Service is responsible for preserving and protecting the Gettysburg battlefield site, so battle re-enactments are not allowed on the park grounds.  But over 15,000 re-enactors, 400 horses and 100 cannons were expected to be at Gettysburg in other nearby locations for re-enactments.  We were tempted to try to stay in the area through July 4th, but Gettysburg is a small town and we rather liked having time and room to explore the battlefield without sharing it with so many others. 

 

Union monument at high water mark of Pickett's Charge

 

Experiencing Gettysburg is emotional.  The Civil War still stirs many feelings for Americans.  It was a hard and sad time in our nation’s history.  This battlefield reminds us that our country might not be, that the Civil War could have turned out differently and we might be two countries and not be the great nation we are. 

Lincoln’s words at the Gettysburg address were so perfect for that day as well as this day, “…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.”  That is our wish this 4th of July week for our nation and for other nations struggling with their new democracies.

 

Monument to 3rd Maine Regiment

 

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked       2
Total Miles Hiked       2.5
Total Elevation Gain      250