Brief Trip to Camp

We drove to camp on Wednesday for a brief visit before heading for Costa Rica and Panama on Tuesday. We drove back to NJ today so we could pack. While we were in town in time to see one of the largest ice palaces built in Saranac Lake in recent years, we didn't make it into town. I got really sick from side effects of the malaria drug I took in preparation for our trip, so we didn't do much. But we did make it to a nice neighborhood get-together at Lewis's Saturday evening.

Frozen Lake, continued

Today we snow-shoed on the lake, in some places alongside our ski tracks. Tomorrow we drive back to NJ.

Dear Deer

I posted lots of deer photos last year, but couldn't resist just one more. This deer seems to be telling me to put out some birdseed for her.She came up to the deck and sniffed up at the feeder. So I went out and put some seed on the ground and she eventually came back and ate it.

Frozen Lake

Today we x-country skiied on the lake. There was quite a bit of snow so the skis disappeared as we were making a new trail. We knew there was not a pocket of air beneath the ice since the water level is so high. We didn't get very far since the ice was quite soft around the peninsula.

Now That's More Like It

What's Wrong With This Picture?

We are in the Adirondacks - we drove up yesterday to do some snowshoeing and x-country skiing - that is what is wrong!! The temperature continued to rise overnight so by this morning the only snow left was in the big piles along the driveway. So we took a soggy, muddy walk along the road today and hope the forecast for colder temperatures is correct. We are not due to get significant snow any time soon, but colder temps should at least allow us to walk in the woods without sinking to our knees.

Ice Formations

While exploring around the Bog River, we found some beautiful ice formations where the water splashed up on twigs and rocks. And this fellow was smiling up at us from the frozen edge of the water.

At Camp

We drove to camp today for a few days of R&R. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. High temperatures in the 20's, lows about 10.

Leaving the North Country

We leave camp tomorrow on our way to New Jersey, via Maine. Here is W saying goodbye to the lake. W has a conference in Auburn, ME for a few days and I've found a number of quilt shops in the area that should keep me busy while he is working. Then we are going to the Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor for a few days of R&R, arriving back in NJ on October 5th. The autumn colors here are spectacular, though gray and rainy weather means few photo opportunities. But the weather is supposed to clear tomorrow so the drive should be beautiful. We are going via Burlington, VT, which means a one hour ferry ride across Lake Champlain which should break up the drive.

Equipment Lust

We got to play with some new toys today. They aren't ours - we are renting them from a neighbor. W finally got to drive a tractor and we both used the attached chipper. It made quick work of getting rid of all the downed branches from last winter's ice storm. What an awesome machine.

Paul Bunyan - NOT

But we still manage to produce a lot of firewood. Here is W in his chainsawing gear.And I have a new toy that I got as an early birthday present. This manual hydraulic log splitter beats splitting by hand and still gives a good upper-body workout.

Bloomingdale Bog

Today we hiked on the railroad bed through the Bloomingdale Bog, starting at the Route 86 end. It was a nice walk, including lots of yummy blueberries within reach of the path.

Mushrooms

One thing that has "blossomed" this year with all the rain is mushrooms. This is a small selection from our woods.

Lakeside Flowers

Despite the high water, there are LOTS of gentians along the lakeshore this year.And a few cardinal flowers.

Turkey

The feathered kind.This is the only one of a family of turkeys we managed to get a picture of. They were crossing the road in Newcomb.

Bird Walk

This morning I went on a bird walk with a naturalist from the Wild Center. We walked along the old railroad grade through the Bloomington Bog, starting near Bloomington. We didn't see many birds, but it is a great place to walk. I want to try going in the other end sometime, off route 86. The entire roadbed is a snowmobile corridor in the winter, but perhaps we could cross country ski there during the week.

We saw several cedar waxwings, gray jays, a kestrel, a black-capped chickadee (but not a boreal chickadee, which are also in the area), a yellow-bellied flycatcher, and a yellowthroat.

Since there were few birds and it was another gray day so not good for landscape photos, I started paying attention to the beautiful berries, which were in abundance. It wasn't raining but there had been a dense fog, so most of the berries had dewdrops hanging from them, making great photographic subjects.

The Flow

The sun was out today and there was NO WIND!! The reflections on the flow were beautiful.

Waterfalls

I flew back to Albany from Baltimore this morning. Since I hadn't driven through Keene and the high peaks for several years, I decided to take that route back to camp. And since I'm not a high peaks climber, I collect waterfalls instead. That is something else that occurs in abundance in the area, especially this year with all the rain. I chose two that were fairly near the road.

Split Rock Falls

Roaring Brook Falls - I couldn't get a good view of this one without crossing the creek, which I decided not to attempt. There is also supposed to be a distant view from the road but I had already passed that point. Maybe next time.

I also stopped by Noon Mark Diner in Keene Valley for a piece of their highly-touted pie. It was good, but not the best I had ever had.

Kayaking Round Lake

The sun was finally shining today. Yeah!!!

But it was also windy and we wanted some time to work on boat building, so we just did a morning paddle on Round Lake (see last year's post for a map). We did a leisurely explore of the shoreline for a total of about 7 miles.

The water was quite high from all the rain. The water lilies were having trouble keeping their heads above the water and some were completely submerged. We saw this flower that was new to me. It is some sort of bladderwort (Utricularia) in the Lentibularaceae.

New Wildflower

We took part in the annual loon census this morning, and W found our pair of loons and observed them for nearly half an hour.

On the way back I noticed a water plant that I didn't remember seeing before, with very small flowers.I used my new "Manual of Vascular Plants" by Gleason and Cronquist and the accompanying "Illustrated Companion" to identify it as Nymphoides cordata in the Menyanthaceae.