Pharaoh Lake Wilderness - Brilliant Fall Foliage, Pond and Lake Reflections- Adirondacks, North Eastern US

Titans

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It is raining now. It’s been very cloudy and it's been raining a lot this fall…. but we just had 2 sunny days with 80F! The Monarch butterflies of the Super Generation drank nectar in our yard and migrated further south towards Mexico. We also ventured out and hiked almost 10 miles yesterday in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness in the Adirondacks. We live fairly close by, but we rarely go to the Adirondacks. The loss is ours, at least so it seemed yesterday. Imagine our surprise, when we didn’t encounter masses of neither voracious flies nor disease carrying ticks. We encountered the Adirondacks in it’s full Fall glory.

The maples trees were showing off their brilliant red, orange and yellow fall foliage in beautiful reflections on still ponds :
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( @Vegan.Hiker has previously reported similar photos from a hike in Vermont. All classic North Eastern Fall pictures. A brief but spectacular period).

Stunning tree trunk and colorful leaf reflections at Pharaoh Lake:
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Lots of physical and chemical defenses are usually needed in the Adirondacks. It is a true skill to protect yourself against hordes of the vampiric Adirondack Black flies and Deer flies (see here ). It’s a skill I rarely attempt to master. Rick encountered masses of deer flies surrounding the car last summer and I stayed home exactly for that reason. Deer flies will hunt and relentlessly track you down till they get you. They don’t ever give up. I once in our yard let a deer fly land on my hand (we have none of those in Viking territory, so I didn’t know better) and my hand got badly swollen after a bite…. In Spring and early Summer Black flies spin in masses around your head and neck and each of them is armed with a little axe. Mosquitoes in masses are truly masses of sweet hearts as compared to the masses of voracious flies. Oh… and I forgot the most important bug issue… every day we try very hard in the Northeast to master the crucial skill of protecting ourselves from bites of ticks (sometimes the size of a spec), because ticks can and will transmit Lyme and many other tick born diseases. The best scenario after getting infected is a full recovery after 3 weeks on Doxycycline. That’s if you tolerate this antibiotic. If Lyme goes undiagnosed (and it often does), then your life is rarely the same, as friends of ours have experienced. Serious stuff.

Having said all that…. yesterday we experienced a rain free, bug free and stunning fall day in the Adirondacks. So again, imagine our surprise! It was warm, humid and we were sweating in long pants tucked into our socks, all sprayed with permethrin. Shorts, skirts and kilts @scatman - we don’t dare do that in the Adirondacks, that’s only a Western or SouthWestern pleasure! I scrambled a bit yesterday morning to figure out where to hike, because it’s difficult to time the peak of the foliage spectacle perfectly, because it changes greatly with altitude, how far North or South you go and what week in October you go, but we were not disappointed.

Views from the boat launch area at Brant Lake, before we even reached the TH (iPhone shot):
P1-Brant Lake-boath launch area-iphone IMG_2095.JPG


And on the other side of Brant Lake, much closer to the trailhead, pretty peaceful looking. What do you think?
P2-Brant Lake Pano.jpg


It became apparent already before we arrived at the trailhead, that we hit the peak time for fall foliage.
Look at the blowing leaves in the wind, the colorful Maple Tree foliage and shadows on the road:

P3-road to Pharaoh lake TH-PA100073.jpg


We arrived at the trailhead and tucked the pants inside our socks and sprayed socks and pants with Permethrin. It was warm and muggy....
My iPhone managed to capture Rick - the photographer- and he was reflected well in one of the many water pools on the trail:
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Rick captured more leaves reflected in pools of water, very cool picture with fabulous leaf reflections:
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Plenty of fall foliage when we crossed the boardwalk- but first later on the return trip did we capture the stunning reflections in the pond.
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Further on the trail out to Pharaoh Lake Rick captured lots of cool fall stuff:
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A Panorama of a pond with (I believe) Pharaoh Peak in the middle. We never made it to the peak- too much stuff to photograph:
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And a closer look, lots of need reflections:
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And finally....! Pharaoh Lake, plenty of reflections here. And again NO BUGS, not one !
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Lots of fall tree foliage, brilliant colors and tree trunks reflected in Pharaoh Lake:
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A cute little salamander:
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And a little further on the trail, actually a little off trail at the lake shore:
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The pictures above were taken right below this Lean-Tos shelter for camping (first come first served basis often). Not a bad place for camping:
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We headed back and it only got better. It reminded us a lot of hiking in the redwoods on the West coast. Trees were not big, but the fragrance was amazing:
P23-Aase on mossy path-PA100381.jpg


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And soon we were back on the bridge enjoying even better reflections. It looked like a postcard and yes.... we are in upstate New York here:
P26-reflections blue sky Pharaoh lake-PA100450.jpg

I enjoyed the fabulous view. Stellar reflections of many tree trunks in the water:
P28-Aase at lake shore-PA100468.jpg


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We headed further back:
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Probably some Beaver dam stuff:
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I scared this poor snake, first with my loud steps and then with a very loud scream. I didn't see it at first, but luckily it noticed me. Hm.... not my thing!
P33-Snake-PA100490.jpg

And a bit further I captured some iPhone pictures of Rick- the photographer taking photos of leaves:
P34-Rick taking photos of red leaves-IMG_2212.jpg

P35-Rick on path-IMG_2216.jpg

And back at the pond, but now it had some stunning reflections (here is an i-Phone shot of Rick):
P40-Rick at pond-taking photos-IMG_2226.jpg


Rick's panorama reduced in size. Full of reflections of clouds, colorful fall foliage, mountains.... Classic North Eastern Fall glory. Adirondacks, NY.
P38-panorama- Crossing the Boardwalk copy.jpg


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And even the iPhone didn't do too bad in capturing the stunning reflections:
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What a day yesterday! We were lucky and surprised with 2 sunny warm days in the middle of all this unusual cloudy and rainy fall weather. We drove back and spent the evening having dinner with close friends. Wonderful. Now it's raining again (!), we lost power earlier and it's back to reality!

@Artemus - I know you liked the Sedona reflections, but I think these reflections are just as stunning! Is everything ok with you in Italy? :cool:
 

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Nice! The colors are absolutely fantastic. You definitely hit them right!

Re ticks, they are no joke. Most people catch the bullseye right away and with antibiotics, they're fine. But not always. And that's a disease that will quite literally ruin your life. Yeesh.
 
Nice! The colors are absolutely fantastic. You definitely hit them right!

Re ticks, they are no joke. Most people catch the bullseye right away and with antibiotics, they're fine. But not always. And that's a disease that will quite literally ruin your life. Yeesh.

Yes, it has ruined the life of 2 of our friends, it's devastating, @LarryBoy . Last summer my neighbor down the street found a tick attached and within 5 days she got so sick she could barely drive herself to ER. She went downhill so fast, her husband had to force the antibiotic in her. She send the tick for testing, it tested positive for anaplasmosis. After that Rick and I kicked 'tick protection' up a notch or 10. The problem is often not the ticks you find quickly, it's the ticks you don't find. The worst ones are as small as a poppy seed, they are very difficult to detect. Rick had the bulls eye in Holland, but he was treated and he recovered. Many don't even get a bulls eye. And animals like both cats and dogs bring ticks inside homes. It happens every day... we all have to be very alert.
 
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What a wonderful plethora of colorful photos - the first with Rick in the leaves is like something out of a dream. Beautiful country.

Your TR brought back some not-so-fond memories of riding horses full speed ahead to outrun clouds of deer flies in NW Colorado as a kid. Also reminded me of the Canadian classic, "The Blackfly Song."
 
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What a wonderful plethora of colorful photos - the first with Rick in the leaves is like something out of a dream. Beautiful country.

Your TR brought back some not-so-fond memories of riding horses full speed ahead to outrun clouds of deer flies in NW Colorado as a kid. Also reminded me of the Canadian classic, "The Blackfly Song."

Just looked up the lyrics... he... it's just like that! Clouds of deer flies- you need a very fast horse ;)
 
Ahh I needed this! Beautiful! Those Northern Water Snakes are non venemous but aquatic so I’m guessing you were pretty close to the water when you ran into him. I never really have issues with black flies in the ADK’s. I just avoid the black fly season in late May and June. In early July when they might be lingering still, I avoid hikes down low to be safe and try to hike mostly up near treeline. Haven’t run into any flies with that strategy. Wish I was up there now. Unfortunately I have to travel south to VA and will be missing the color show. Hoping to get out next weekend. Thanks for the great report @Titans !
 
Very nice, T!

Everything is fine here in Italy, I have been adding photos to the Northern Italy thread here. Have you guys seen them?

@Artemus - The Northern Italy pictures look amazing- beautiful area. Yes, we saw the mountains and it's what I was hinting to in the Sedona TR. Just gorgeous.

Enjoy @Artemus - it's a beautiful area. What a trip you are on! Keep sharing pictures....:)
 
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Ahh I needed this! Beautiful! Those Northern Water Snakes are non venemous but aquatic so I’m guessing you were pretty close to the water when you ran into him. I never really have issues with black flies in the ADK’s. I just avoid the black fly season in late May and June. In early July when they might be lingering still, I avoid hikes down low to be safe and try to hike mostly up near treeline. Haven’t run into any flies with that strategy. Wish I was up there now. Unfortunately I have to travel south to VA and will be missing the color show. Hoping to get out next weekend. Thanks for the great report @Titans !

Thanks @Vegan.Hiker - A Northern Water Snake, thanks for confirming. Yes, we were right along a pond and a swampy area and he slipped right away in front of my boots. Sorry you have to travel this week and miss out the Fall foliage, but you can enjoy it later in NJ. We were in Edgewater for 6 years.
We will have to go to the Adirondacks more. Rick doesn't feel the black fly or mosquito bites, but I'm always covered in very itchy bites.
 
Great photos @Titans!! We love that area but we just haven't explored it all that much (so many places to explore in the Adirondacks!). You were very fortunate to snag two beautiful days in a row ... we were in the High Peaks region over the holiday weekend and we didn't see much sun but the colors were spectacular nonetheless.
 
What a wonderful plethora of colorful photos - the first with Rick in the leaves is like something out of a dream. Beautiful country.

Your TR brought back some not-so-fond memories of riding horses full speed ahead to outrun clouds of deer flies in NW Colorado as a kid. Also reminded me of the Canadian classic, "The Blackfly Song."

Oh yes... good song! and so true of the end of May and early June. In Quebec those flies were nasty. I never got ticks in Quebec though, maybe I am as unattractive to ticks... haha
Only ever had ticks in the Grand Canyon and another time in the mountains and sage of central UT.
 
I was a young lad in Indiana so it is so comforting when I can get a dose of the woods back east!!!! (But seriously what do I know, from that time frame, I was a city boy.....had a decent urban maple forest I suppose in the neighborhood.) I did make it to New England and the Blue Ridge Parkway during leaf season in my 2nd or was it my 3rd life. It just dawned on me.......when I was young it was always the "woods". Never "forest". I wouldn't even think of calling it the "woods" out here in the West. Hum...
 
I'm from a long line of Westerners, and we always call it the woods unless referring to a specific area, like the Uncompahgre National Forest. But you could cover all the bases and call it the wood forest. There's a bank in Texas called Woodforest Bank and it has many branches. :)
 
I'm from a long line of Westerners, and we always call it the woods unless referring to a specific area, like the Uncompahgre National Forest. But you could cover all the bases and call it the wood forest. There's a bank in Texas called Woodforest Bank and it has many branches. :)

Very funny @Rockskipper !!! I'm smiling again.... and it's been raining all morning.
 
I was a young lad in Indiana so it is so comforting when I can get a dose of the woods back east!!!! (But seriously what do I know, from that time frame, I was a city boy.....had a decent urban maple forest I suppose in the neighborhood.) I did make it to New England and the Blue Ridge Parkway during leaf season in my 2nd or was it my 3rd life. It just dawned on me.......when I was young it was always the "woods". Never "forest". I wouldn't even think of calling it the "woods" out here in the West. Hum...

(@chandlerwest and @Rockskipper )- I had to look up the difference between "woods" and "forest"... see here. Long explanation in that article and after reading that, I think @Rockskipper 's explanation is spot on in just one sentence!
 
What if there're no trees around and you want to party? Could you still have a woodsie?

@Titans, that was an interesting article.
 
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Having said all that…. yesterday we experienced a rain free, bug free and stunning fall day in the Adirondacks. So again, imagine our surprise! It was warm, humid and we were sweating in long pants tucked into our socks, all sprayed with permethrin. Shorts, skirts and kilts @scatman - we don’t dare do that in the Adirondacks, that’s only a Western or SouthWestern pleasure! I scrambled a bit yesterday morning to figure out where to hike, because it’s difficult to time the peak of the foliage spectacle perfectly, because it changes greatly with altitude, how far North or South you go and what week in October you go, but we were not disappointed.


@Artemus - I know you liked the Sedona reflections, but I think these reflections are just as stunning! Is everything ok with you in Italy? :cool:

I have worn my kilt while hiking in the Smoky Mountains once.
 
If i'm ever lucky enough to get into upstate New York and visit the Adirondacks, I'll make sure to do it in Fall or Winter. Those colors are mesmerizing, but then I'm always surprised at how well our local Wasatch mountains here in Utah can fill up with color for a week or two in the Fall of most years. The diseases ticks can carry is very scary, especially when as you say, some can be in a state where they are smaller than a pinhead and almost impossible to see without coursing over yourself with a magnifying glass. Definitely best to suit up as best as you can with clothing drenched in permethrin. Fortunately out here, the more hideous diseases like Lyme aren't the epidemic it is out in the East and Midwest and elsewhere in the country and I hope it stays that way for a long long time. Thought it could certainly spread out here to be more of a concern so it's still good be vigilant, something I've not practiced until more recently. I have actually had some various and strange symptoms with my health that have flared up at times in the last few years that have caused me to question if I did pick up Lyme or something like that unknowingly in all my time spent outdoors now, but when tested specifically for it, I was told I was all negative for that among a number of other possibilities that have proven negative.
 
If i'm ever lucky enough to get into upstate New York and visit the Adirondacks, I'll make sure to do it in Fall or Winter. Those colors are mesmerizing, but then I'm always surprised at how well our local Wasatch mountains here in Utah can fill up with color for a week or two in the Fall of most years. The diseases ticks can carry is very scary, especially when as you say, some can be in a state where they are smaller than a pinhead and almost impossible to see without coursing over yourself with a magnifying glass. Definitely best to suit up as best as you can with clothing drenched in permethrin. Fortunately out here, the more hideous diseases like Lyme aren't the epidemic it is out in the East and Midwest and elsewhere in the country and I hope it stays that way for a long long time. Thought it could certainly spread out here to be more of a concern so it's still good be vigilant, something I've not practiced until more recently. I have actually had some various and strange symptoms with my health that have flared up at times in the last few years that have caused me to question if I did pick up Lyme or something like that unknowingly in all my time spent outdoors now, but when tested specifically for it, I was told I was all negative for that among a number of other possibilities that have proven negative.

@WasatchWill - We are currently driving across country on the way to Denver and then Capitol Reef (!), etc (now in Omaha). The Fall colors going westbound have been fabulous in every state!!!
The worst ticks in the northeast are the super small ones. Barely visible. Most of us have lots of spots all over the body... spots looking just like a tiny tick. Initial symptoms are very flu like, but it gets worse over time (joint pain, total lack of energy). There is a lot of debate in the northeast about the accuracy of the Lyme test (like false negative?) and there are very heated debates about when someone might get antibiotics or not.
I hope you find out what’s going on... you might need to visit more specialists to find an answer.
In the northeast the ticks are everywhere, also in the backyard - just on lawns. Kids (and adults) have to be checked every (!) single day from top to toe, if they have been outside walking or playing in the grass/yard.
We do no longer walk in our yard with just sandals. Long rubber boots or pants inside the socks. It’s a pain in the rear, but we have seen plenty of misery from friends with tick related diseases.
By the way- It’s awesome to read about the wonderful trips you do with your kids- @WasatchWill !
 
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