FISHHEAD
Day 5 started sunny but cold. We got up at early, had breakfast, and packed up. From our campsite near Gill Brook, it was a short walk back to the trail leading to the Fish Hawk Cliffs. We reached the cliffs fairly early, well ahead of most of the dayhikers coming up from the Saint...
OPALESCENT > TEAR OF THE CLOUDS
A bit of cold drizzle was still falling early the next morning. I didn’t want my only pair of hiking pants to get wetter, so I decided to put on my rain pants over them. I’d brought a brand new pair of Frog Toggs rain pants on the trip. I pulled them on, and the...
PERFECT TIMING
We started towards Mount Colden early Saturday afternoon. It was a sunny day, but ice was still glimmering on the trees and rock faces higher up on the mountain. Would we be able to make it up there? There was only one way to find out.
We left camp, hiked around the lower end...
A note about this trip report: this is from October, 2022, 14 months ago. I've tried to post this a couple of times, but each time the photos I inserted appeared sideways. I couldn't fix them, so I eventually gave up. For some reason I decided to try again, and now it is working. I think...
Mix of sun & clouds, breezy, temperature in the low 50s. Trail had a few muddy sections but overall it was in good shape. Lots of leaves on the trail covering some of the rocks & branches so you had to watch your steps often. 5.6 miles r/t
Another unusually warm October day so off I went to an Adirondack lake that I hadn’t paddled before. Thirteenth Lake. Two loons, three blue herons, and a couple mergansers.
Looking down the lake from the launch
Checked out one of the designated campsites along the lake. This one...
Warm, sunny fall days are perfect for paddling in the Adirondacks. Colors are looking pretty good too! So we did a 7 mile round trip paddle on the Racquette River this afternoon. Saw a buck, juvenile eagle, and a bald eagle.
Spent some time paddling in the southern Adirondacks to try and get some relief from the heat and humidity that was rolling into the area. Some color starting to emerge in the trees …
Decided to try someplace different so I went (truck) camping at a state campground in the central Adirondacks. Had a site perched above the lake so I had access for my canoe. Site was pretty private with good separation between my site and others nearby. There is a small portion of the lake...
After returning from our road trip to Alaska earlier this week we decided to get our canoes out on the water today. We figured that it would be a good way to try and beat the heat and rising humidity. So off to the West Branch of the Sacandaga River, a favorite of ours and close to home. We...
Today’s adventure took me up to the trail into Bennett and Middle Lakes. I did not stop at Bennett, it’s off the main trail a bit, but just continued on up to Middle Lake. There were many wet open spots along the way as well as water just streaming along in the trail. I stayed out of those...
Another beautiful day in the Adirondacks so I headed north to paddle the Cedar River Flow. It was unusually calm (typically windy because of its SW to NE orientation) which made the paddling even more enjoyable.
Almost looks like some thermal activity … but it’s not
At the far...
Another beautiful late October day, with a chilly start, so off to the north to explore somewhere I had never been before. Round Lake is certainly not round at all. There are 11 designated campsites scattered around the lake … I visited a few of them to check them out, found a couple nice...
Hiked into one of my favorite ponds, John Pond, near Indian Lake, NY
Trail started out a bit wet, poor drainage combined with recent rains. Mostly hemlocks with some beech trees in the understory.
Trail dried out a bit after a short while
An open marshy area along the way, some beaver...
Today was a beautiful day for hiking … I decided to hike up Snowy Mountain, just shy of being a 4000 footer. 7.5 miles round trip, crazy steep for the last half mile.
View from the fire tower
Indian Lake … Puffer Mountain and pond, Chimney Mountain in the distance. We’ve hiked them before...
Back to back beautiful days were excellent reasons to eat our boats out onto the water. We went and paddled a section of the Racquette River on Saturday (10+ miles round trip) and today we paddled on Mason Lake, one of our favorites.
Racquette River photos
Mason Lake...
This is one of our favorite hikes in the southern Adirondacks. The trail follows an old woods road much of the way, going by Bennett Lake, Middle Lake, and finally Murphy Lake. There’s a lean to at Murphy which makes it a destination for weekenders. Middle is our favorite with a number of...
Today was a perfect day for our first time out on the water this year. We paddled a section of the West Branch of the Sacandaga River. Lots of songbirds singing away.