Adirondacks - 5 days 4 nights - August 2006

Monday August 21, we threw together our clothes and cleaned up the Perryville condo and were on the road around 9:30. We drove through Elkton so we could stop at a Jiffy Lube, a drive-thru coffee place, a Wachovia, and finally on to 427 E. Allens Ln where we loaded Monty up with camping gear. Vee had to run upstairs to retrieve a few things but luckily managed to avoid any awkward encounters. We were on the road by 12:30 and were detoured by construction on Rte309 but made it onto 276, then NJ Turnpike to 287 and 87 with a stop for gas and pizza at Sbarro then on to Warrensburg where we stayed at the Dagget Lake Campsites for $27. I called earlier to make sure they'd have a tent site for us and when we arrived, we had the pick of 3 sites. Jeanine was real sweet and explained all the rules to us. We unloaded, built the tent, and then took a walk around the grounds and discovered the beautiful lake where we hung out for a while listening to the silence. With the sun going down, we left to explore the area some more and find something to eat. Having seen Warrensburg on the way to the campsite, and already picking out a place for breakfast, we decided to drive out to Bolton Landing on Lake George and see what that was all about. It was about a 25 minute drive but well worth it as it was a nice little village, with a handful of restaurants and shops that were open late. We walked the length of the strip and decided on an unassuming little homey restaurant that had the Cowboys-Saints game on. We weren't hungry enough to order separate entrees so we ordered a bunch of apps: spring rolls, bbq riblets, and chili. They also had ice cold Spaten, so I enjoyed two of those. Happilly stuffed, we made the trip back to our tent. Using the spotlight, I tried finding the bathhouse, but couldn't do it in the pitch black night. We both must have fallen asleep pretty quickly. Tuesday August 22, I woke up early, and couldn't get back to sleep, but felt fairly well rested. Only my back was beginning to hurt. I waited until almost 9am before I shined the flashlight in Vee's eye to wake her up. We made our way to the bathouse, showered, tore down the tent and packed up the truck all within an hour and then drove into town for a hearty breakfast in the local diner with a mounted wolf-fish-head on the wall. Vee had blueberry pancakes, and I had the Hungryman breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes and we each had coffees. We agreed on heading towards Blue Mountain Lake so we could stop at the Adirondack Museum and then continue on to Tupper Lake for an overnight. The museum was excellent and had all kinds of fantastic exhibits, a film and numerous buildings to explore plus a wonderful deck view of the lake below and beautiful pond and landscaping. Uncle John called on the mobile phone just as we finished up and were perusing the gift shop. We pointed ourselves to Tupper Lake which was another 32 miles away and travelled a newly paved picture perfect Rte30 through the wilderness lined with lakes and mountains and bogs. Using our newly acquired Adirondacks map, we pulled into the Blue Jay Campground and had a pick of any tentsite we wanted. We decided on #53 and built our tent, more quickly than last night, but for some reason, not as well as last night. It was raining a bit so maybe that caused us to lose focus a bit. With the tent built, we drove up to the town of Tupper Lake and found a restaurant that looked just right. It had neon beer signs in the window and "Smokehouse" in the name. There was a pool table and electronic dart board and we shared a gigantic plate of nachos topped with smoked pulled pork, and a house salad. I enjoyed a Saranac Pale Ale and another rather bland local Ale. We were stuffed and drove back to the campsite where we unloaded our bedding and got comfortable. The spotlight was losing power so Vee wasn't able to read, but I was able to blog. The drips from the trees above us are pelting the tent, but at least it isn't raining anymore, or if it is, it is very light. Wednesday morning of August 23, we both woke up around 7:30, showered, packed everything and were on the road by 8:30. We drove through Tupper Lake and pointed the truck towards Saranac Lake where we ended up parking and walking around for a while. It was a cozy authentic little Adirondack village with all the conveniences. We had breakfast in the Blue Moon Cafe where Vee got a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese and I got a flour tortilla layered with scrambled eggs, monteray jack cheese, pico de gallo, tomato salsa and a dollop of sour cream. We picked out our own coffee mugs and coffees, which were bottomless. We were quite impressed with the food, coffee, and friendly family service, especially the little girl who couldn't, have been older than 5 years who was bussing tables. After breakfast, we walked around town some more and ended up in the gallery of an artist whose paintings of the Adirondacks we really enjoyed. We talked with him for a while, learning that he went to school at Temple in Philly, then moved to West Palm Beach with his wife for 17 years where he taught art in elementary school. His wife worked at the Tupper Lake Adirondack natural science museum and said that it was an amazing place well worth a visit. We both really enjoyed the town and continued on toward Lake Placid. The morning views were beautiful and at one point, I pulled Monty over onto the shoulder, and started backing up to get in better view to take some pictures when we started to slide off the shoulder at a steep slant and came close to rolling over. A park ranger in a Jeep and another guy in a pickup truck pulled over within seconds to make sure we were okay. Once in four wheel drive, Monty had no trouble getting us out of danger, but it was a bit hairy for a few seconds there. Once in Lake Placid, we parked in the municipal parking lot for one doller per hour prepaid. We walked around for another few hours, visiting the conference center and skating rinks where the Miracle on Ice happened in 1980 where the U.S. beat Russia in hockey by one point, and we got to see alot of kids and adults practicing their ice skating skills. Vee really liked Lake Placide, and so did I, but it was a tad bit too touristy. Beautiful though, especially right there nestled alongside Mirror Lake and amongst all the mountains. In the tourist center we picked up some more brochures and learned about a hike up Mt.Jo nearby so we drove there and made the somewhat challenging ascent to a breathtaking 360 view of the high peaks including Mt.Marcy, the highest peak. At the top, we snapped some pics and then made our way down, again passing almost everyone we encountered since Vee is quite the trailblazer. At the bottom, we enjoyed the beautiful Heart Lake where Vee finally "got" the Adirondacks. No development, just pure crystal clear water with a soft bottom surrounded by large forested mountains. This was the kind of place Vee could love, and me too. The water wasn't even that cold so I got in up to my calfs and it felt wonderful, and we shot some more pics. We were hoping to find a campground on the way towards Elizabethtown, but no luck, so we had to head north a bit past Lewis and found the Magic Pines Campground where we had our choice of any tent site for 16 bucks. We pitched tent and with the help of our campsite manager, found the Mountain Shadows restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner. Vee had the baked salmon and I had the NY Strip special, wings and two Labbatts. The little busboy was fun to watch as he too couldn't have been more than 5 ot 6 years old and told us we could sit anywhere we like. After dinner, we drove into Westport where the views across Lake Champlain were amazing. The varying grades of blue-gray mountain ridges were gorgeous, and the boats moored in the little inlet set quite the scene. I forgot our camera cover here though, so that was a bummer...I left it on top of the truck and didn't realize it until we arrived back at the tent site. We took a different way back, using route 10, so that was fun. We washed up in the bathouse and called it a night. No rain, and total silence except the wilderness and distant cars. Thursday the 24th of August, we woke up around 7, quickly showered and packed, but still did not know what we would do for the day. After spending a bit of time in the truck looking at maps and proposing ideas, we decided that we'd spend another night camping out, rather than heading home. With that agreed upon, we chose an itinerary that would take us up to Plattsburg first, and then Southward ultimately into the Ticonderoga area. The weather was perfect, cool, blue skies with some fluffy white clouds. We left the Magic Pines Campground behind and quickly found ourselves in a not too impressive Plattsburg, where we got out to explore, but within a block or two found that we had already covered what there was to see. Across the street from where we parked there was a rustic looking coffee place called Camp Coffee, and we were greeted by the proprietor, a nice middle-aged woman alone inside at a table reading. She fixed Vee a capuccino and I had an organic blended coffee, each delicious, and we shared a wonderful warm cinnamon roll oozing with a molten white sugary sauce. While we continued enjoying our drinks, we sat on a large couch and read through some magazines and books that were there on the shelves. We left before completely finishing our drinks, with just enough left to take on the road for a few more sips. We stopped to re-fill the gas tank, and use the surprisingly clean bathroom facilities at a gas station before getting onto 87 South. We didn't stay on the throughway long because of a sign describing something called the Ausable Chasm, which I was convinced must be something interesting. I had seen references to Ausable river in many of the beautiful photos we saw in the Adirondack Museum and thought maybe there would be a connection. Though it was very pricey, at $16 per person, the chasm was a fantastic way to spend a few hours. We got to learn about the interesting rock formations and the horrible flood damage that devastated the chasm in the mid-90's. Vee took alot of pictures, and we walked the full length of the lower and upper trails out and back. At one point, we almost stepped on a snake in the path, but high-stepped backwards until the snake had moved to a safe distance away from the trail before we proceeded. There were beautiful falls, rapids, shear cliffs and amazing views all around. From there we continued South, passing through a number of towns including Keeseville, Port Henry, Willsboro, Westport, Hague, Ticonderoga, finally ending up in Schroon Lake. The topography during the drive along Lake Champlain through all these towns was absolutely astounding. The Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance, with their alternating layers of blue and gray frame the silvery water of the lake on the East and to the West, the magnificant rolling lush green mountains of the Adirondacks, and in between a patchwork of lakes, rivers, farms and fruit/veggie stands, and vast meadows of green, yellow and purple. The dark rain clouds rolled in and threatened to spoil the evening, but the rain didn't last very long. We tried a few campgrounds before finally pitching our tent in the Paradox Lake Campground, site#10, near the bathouse and nicely secluded with heavy foliage and tree cover and a gravel floor. It took us no time to get the tent up, use the facilities and head back into the nice little village of Schroon Lake where we had dinner at an Irish pub. I had a local IPA that was quite tastey and another local ale with a slight smokey flavor. For dinner, Vee had a chicken sandwich, we shared a dozen excellent hot wings, and I had a delicious french dip sandwich. Afterwards, we caught the 8 o'clock show at the theather across the street of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" which we had been wanting to see for some time. It was very well done, and horrifying. We're so screwed. Then in a sort of sad guilt-laden silence and intermittant exhasperated conversation about what the heck we could do about the looming environment crisis we were just reminded of, we drove back to the tent to try and get some sleep. A perfect day; even with the near fatal snake attack:-) Friday August 25th, we were up before 7 and on the road by 7:30. There was no one at the campground entrance, again, so we ended up not having to pay for last nights stay. We stopped in Lake George at Cafe Vero for coffees and pastries before continuing southward. The rain was heavy at times but despite that, our driving time to Philly was 5.5 hours and 365 miles. Dropped off our stuff and continued onto Perryville to meet up with Mom and Dad for a nice dinner by the Bay.