At Camp

We drove to camp today in order to be here for the usual New Year's festivities. The drive was uneventful, but cold. The temp here when we arrived was 16 degrees and going down. There are a few inches of snow on the ground, but not enough to be plowed.

At Camp

We drove to camp last Thursday and are driving back to NJ on Tuesday. We're looking forward to the Halloween progressive dinner Monday evening. Also looking forward to missing New Jersey's first snowfall happening there today. We are supposed to get a dusting here at most. Definitely good planning on our part.

Irene, Google, and Duck Hole

Friends hiked into what is left of Duck Hole recently, to see what is left after the devastation caused by hurricane Irene, which resulted in the breaching of the dam. What had been a pretty pond, as seen on this satellite view compliments of Google maps,is now a pretty stream winding its way through what had been the lake bed. I've wondered how often Google, or whoever provides their satellite views, overflies an area. Especially an area like the Adirondacks where little supposedly changes from year to year. It will be interesting to see if and when the new view of Duck Hole shows up on the maps. Stay tuned.

A Quiet Day - Sort Of

I was wakened too early this morning by a young hairy woodpecker that clearly needs more training. It was banging on the metal around a window and making a horrendous racket. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have done any damage. Then not long after I woke, the guys showed up to redo our driveway. We had a brief discussion about whether we should take the car out to the road so we could get out, but then it started raining. So we are staying home for a "quiet" day.

Hot!!!

We drove to Plattsburgh today to see the final Harry Potter movie. Just had to see it in 3D on a big screen with big sound. Today seemed a good time to do it since we could be in air conditioning in the car and in the theater - as well as in stores because of course we also did some shopping. It was 94 degrees in mid-afternoon in Plattsburgh. And still 84 degrees when we arrived home at 7 PM. Fortunately, it is due to cool off by Sunday. Sure glad we aren't further south.

Loon Census

We did the annual loon census on our lake this morning. We have 2 adults and a chick. I didn't want to get close enough to get a good photo, but here is a silhouette view of the chick riding the back of one of the adults.

Wild Center

AA&J arrived Thursday evening and today we went to the Wild Center, where we saw the cute porcupine named Stickley.

Foxglove

My foxgloves are beautiful again this year. The weather has been perfect and all the plants are showing their appreciation. After all that rain the sun has been shining for days.

Flightseeing

We had a wonderful flight today in Jim's plane. We got a very different perspective on lots of the places we've paddled and had great views of the high peaks.

Storm Damage

We had really violent winds yesterday, followed by lots of rain. We lost a couple big trees. This one went over roots and all.Thank goodness it didn't fall on the house. There is another big one up by the road that broke. Guess we have some more firewood to chop.

Lake Placid Stroll

Today was another nice day and we wanted to be outside but not in the bugs. And we needed to do some grocery shopping. So we drove to Lake Placid and did the 3 mile walk around Mirror Lake. It rained on us a bit, but we sheltered under some trees until it passed. We wandered into some shops and then drove to Price Chopper and did our food shopping.

At Camp

We drove to camp yesterday and only met with one flooded road - Route 3 through Tupper Lake, which we knew was still flooded. But the waters are going down quickly; today the road was open for the first time since the flooding began. The water in the Flow is still very high. Here is a view of our flooded shoreline; with the water much lower than at its peak.I'm unhappy that all our gentians are gone, along with a lot of dirt. But we fared a lot better than many, so I can't complain. Today we met some of the gang for a paddle on Hoel Pond. We saw several loons and a pair of common mergansers, with the male in full breeding plumage.
On the way home we stopped at the "crusher" to check out the water level. In this photo the river is on the right and the parking lot is on the left.Hard to tell which is which. In this shot someone has painted a line on the rock showing the water level on 4/29/11.

We found some nice blooming dogtooth violets (Erythronium americanum) on the bank thereand then discovered them at camp as well.

Flooding at the Wild Center

This overlook is usually overlooking the water, by several feet. Photo courtesy of the Wild Center.

More Flooding

Looks as though we definitely won't be leaving Monday. If we somehow managed to get to Tupper Lake, which is now partly flooded, it wouldn't do us much good, since we wouldn't be able to get anyplace to paddle other than the Flow. Plus DEC is saying to stay off the flooded waterways which are too dangerous to paddle.

Flooding closes highways in Tupper Lake, Long Lake
April 29, 2011
By staff , Adirondack Daily Enterprise
TUPPER LAKE - The state is about to close a section of state Route 3/30 east of Tupper Lake where the rain-swollen Raquette River is spilling onto the highway, which would cut the community off to points east and block a major east-west highway across the North Country.
The state Department of Transportation has deemed the road unsafe due to flooding and plans to close it roughly half a mile south of the state's Crusher boat launch, according to an email sent at 10 a.m. by the Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad. "Officials will monitor the road and reopen when it is safe for travel," the message said. The shortest detour between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake is through Potsdam, which adds roughly two hours to what is normally about a half-hour drive. Meanwhile, Demars Boulevard remains closed in both directions between Santa Clara and Pleasant avenues after water overtook that portion of state Route 3 Thursday morning. Traffic is being detoured using Pleasant, McLaughlin and Santa Clara avenues. The road was initially closed in just one direction but now is closed in both. "The water is still continuing to rise in certain areas," village police Sgt. Sean Stradley said this morning. State police said they're monitoring Raquette River Drive, where they said water had reached the roadway but not in a way that would impede traffic yet. They said they planned to monitor it throughout the day today. Village officials have said they are thinking about declaring a state of emergency and opening up an emergency shelter, which would be needed if homes are evacuated on the flooded River Road. But Stradley said there had been no evacuations yet at as of this morning.
Meanwhile in Long Lake, state Route 30 was closed from the Adirondack Hotel to the bridge over the lake, after students from Long Lake's school were sent home. Tupper Lake-based state troopers said this morning there were about 18 inches of water on the road in front of the hotel. The towns of Long Lake, Indian Lake and Johnsburg have declared states of emergency. Both of the dams in Indian Lake are being monitored.

Going to Camp?

We've done much of the packing in preparation for heading to camp for the season next Monday. Now it looks as though we might have to put it off for a few days. In addition to the snow melt, they've had lots of rain and many, many roads are now flooded. That includes roads on each of the possible routes we could take to get there. And it seems like such a mess, not sure we want to be there right now anyway. We were really looking forward to paddling and hiking, but I have a feeling those trips will be canceled for next week. Even after the water recedes there will be collapsed roads and bridges. Sigh. I guess we get to enjoy some spring in NJ after all. Stay tuned.

SNOW!!!

Just talked to our caretaker at camp and gave him the ok to close down the camp if the power should go out. But he'll have to snowshoe in. They just had about 30 inches of snow and there is no place to put it. He said the piles at the side of the road are 7 feet high. And there is no more room along our driveway. So the camp will not be plowed out and we just hope we can get in next month. All snow and ice are normally gone by mid-April, but not sure about this year.

Snowshoeing at 50 degrees.....

...is not recommended. We had tons of melting overnight, but there is still about 2 feet of snow in the woods, so we figured that snowshoes were the best way to explore. Boy, were we wrong. The snow has a completely different consistancy than when it is below freezing, and I sunk in to my knees with every step even with the snowshoes on. It doesn't look good for W's plans to ski while we are here. At least he got out x-country skiing with Larry yesterday before the temps went up.

NY Snow

We drove to camp yesterday and got this view as we drove down the narrow snow-filled drive.The temperature is supposed to be way above freezing the next couple of days so things should get interesting. We'll have to figure out how to remove that snow over the porch before it falls on our heads.

Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

Isn't this a fantastic photo!The caption on the carnival website reads "Feb. 5, 2011: The opening fireworks and a heavy snowfall combined to create a surreal light over the Ice Palace...." We won't get to see it this year since we won't be going to camp for another week.