Evening light,....

Night before last the sun was getting very low to the mountains,... sunset would be not long coming. The last light was shining across the hayfield in the valley below my hill.


sunlight slid through the trees behind my house and put a pink light on the tree trunks,...

Now the last light slanted across my backyard and driveway,...

and rested against the giant white pine,... it would soon be dark.

Update on Stagecoach Rock!...

I received the following comments from fellow blogger, City Mouse. As promised here is the information....

City Mouse: "....Hey! I just passed that thing several times this weekend! I always notice it. This is what I know - The words are mine, but the info comes from an article in Adirondack life in 1986, by Jeffery G. Kelly. In 1938, a big rock fell from the cliff and blocked the road. One of the guys working on the road had an idea to carve a stagecoach into it (for some reason). An artist (I forget his name) did the drawing, and it was sandblasted into the rock (not carved).

The artist, Lewis Stacey Brown, was a curator at The Museum of Natural History in NYC for some time. It was etched by the Carnes family in AuSable Forks - their granite and memorial company is still there, right as you pull into town on Route 9N. They did a lot of the memorials in the area, including Stagecoach Rock and the memorial marker at the John Brown site. Surely coaches did pass by, but the article tells us that this wasn't the main stage route - Old Military Road (connecting with Shackett Road in Keene Valley). There was a nearby inn called The Cascade House, which is likely why there were stages passing here.

I took a look around the internet and noticed that the artist must have been around at least as late as the 1980s - he did the illustrations for a kids' book called, "Yes, Helen, There Were Dinosaurs" in 1982. There are a lot of other books under his name, and it seems as if he became rather famous for drawing horses and dinosaurs and such."

Thank you City Mouse!

Stagecoach Rock...

In an earlier post about the Cascade Lakes I mentioned that an inn, a stagecoach stop, once stood on the land between the two lakes. Just west of that old inn location is a very large boulder with a carved outline of a stagecoach. When the highway, Rt. 73, was repaired in recent years, the boulder was protected and a small parking area created. I have looked unsuccessfully to find the background information about the carving, so if any readers can contribute please do so and I will give you credit for your information!


The rock is west of Keene, and east of Lake Placid,...

Weather has taken a toll but the outline of the stagecoach and team of horses is still very visible.

Does anyone know the story behind this?

Macomb Reservation...

In the 1930s over 6,000 acres from 76 tracts of land in the northern part of New York State was acquired by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and developed under the WPA, (Work Progress Administration project). More than 300 men trimmed underbrush, and built approximately 14 miles of road.

The land was then transferred to The War Department on July 1, 1939. That year the largest peacetime war games were held on those acres. Then on April 28, 1947 the property was signed over to The People of the State of New York.

Ten years later the NYS Dept. of Conservation opened a campsite at Macomb Reservation. In 1968, 700 of the original acres were transferred to NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

This campground is north of the Adirondack Park in Clinton County. Consequently, it is often overlooked in favor of the more known state campgrounds within the "Blue Line" of the official Adirondacks... Last Thursday I began camping at Macomb, expecting to stay for three nights. I found it so enjoyable that I have extended my stay for seven more nights!

The forest is predominately Red Pine, Maple and Birch, with sandy soil.

What would a camping trip be without a campfire?

The night of this campfire good friends stopped by for a glass of wine, conversation and laughter,... it doesn't get any better!

Fish Creek...

The Adirondack region has many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Camping, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hunting, hiking, .....


For me, whatever I choose I enjoy most being near the many lakes and ponds. Fish Creek provides not only a NY State Campground, but almost every site has access to the water to launch your kayak or canoe. If you launch your boat at the public launch site you can then bring it to your campsite to moor it as many of the sites have shoreline that makes that easy.


This recent campsite of mine was ideal for that.


Here's my Fish Creek campfire,... I know,.. they all look alike! But for some reason on every camping trip I take a picture of my campfire. I'd never be able to tell them apart if it wasn't for the particular photos folder it was in. But,... just gotta do it!


Despite the rain forcast for today I will be leaving to go camping until Sunday. I'll be back here Monday morning,... have a great weekend everyone!

The Old Dock...

Monday I joined two friends for lunch at a local summer eatery on the shore of Lake Champlain in Essex. The weather continues to be rainy and overcast, but the conversation was sunny and warm!
The entrance is welcoming, lined with flowers and herbs.



Despite the overcast sky the breeze was not chilly...


There are moorings provided for those that wish to arrive by boat. At mid-day these were empty but evening hours finds them busy with people arriving for dinner from up and down the lake and across from Vermont.

The sign over the bar out on the deck ....

A few feet north of the restaurant is a ferry that travels back and forth between the NY and VT side of the lake.

Lunch at The Old Dock,… always a treat! Now if we could only have some sunny weather!

Got Iron? …Man!

On Sunday, July 20th I was traveling west toward Tupper Lake, a trip which takes me through Lake Placid. The 10th Annual Ironman event was going on. A 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run make up an Ironman event. This year there were 2,200 competitors. To make their effort even more challenging it was raining most of the day and some of the time it was an absolute downpour!

Traffic was stopped several times at various highway intersections...

The bike route takes competitors past the Olympic ski jumps... these jumps were built for the 1980 Winter Olympics here in Lake Placid.

This year the men’s division was won by Francisco Pontano from Spain, #31 in 8:43:42. The women’s division winner was Caitlin Shea-Kenney from Brockton, Mass, wearing #42 in 9:51:00. These last two pictures were taken through the car windshield, the rain was falling steady by this time in the late afternoon.

To race in an Ironman event is an amazing athletic feat, just to finish is an honor… my congratulations to all the participants!

Camping at Crown Point

As readers know, camping is a passion of mine. This past weekend found my little a-frame camper on a spacious site at Crown Point State Park. Crown Point is the peninsula of land that reaches out into Lake Champlain and faces Chimney Point in Vermont.

Part of this campground is the historic Champlain Memorial and Lighthouse.
Samuel DeChamplain "discovered" Lake Champlain in 1609,... however of course Native Americans had populated the area for centuries.

Both the British and the Americans held this soil during the Revolutionary War. Information on this lighthouse and the area is available at

http://www.historiclakes.org/crown_pt/champlainlight.htm

Following the walkway past the lighthouse you descend stairs to the old steamship pier. This is now a favorite fishing spot. The pier was a routine docking place for the steamships that once provided transportation from town to town along the 108 mile long lake in the early 1900s.

The decades of weather have taken a toll, both the lighthouse and the steamship pier are scheduled for repair this next year. The weather was hot and humid and ice cream was a must! A trip over the bridge.....

..... to a little ice cream stand in Vermont was a fun trip on Friday. This scene looks back at the steamship pier from high on the bridge.

Gone Campin'....

I'll be away camping from Thursday noon until Sunday. I'll see you back here Monday morning! Thanks, Cedar

Picnic at the Lake,...

Many years ago back when I was in highschool,... (yes, many years ago!) a group of girlfriends used to spend time at one of the girl's family camp. Over the years this old camp has changed very little which is a comfort to me. So many happy and funny memories were made here.




This week my high school chum has been in town visiting with her family. We always enjoy a lunch at the old camp by the lake. She makes a delicious lunch and I bring a bottle of "bubbly"...

After lunch I enjoy walking down onto the lake shore, this view is looking south along the NY shore of Lake Champlain.

Here a sailboat under motor power is heading south. That is Vermont across the lake. The lake gets much wider as you go farther north.

Cedar trees, my favorites, grow along the rocky shore.


Any little crack in the rocks shows grasses and wildflowers


Can you spot the small piece of driftwood that is caught in this bush? It was at least two feet above the rocks, apparently washed into the bush at the time of spring ice-out and high water.
It was a grand day, a wonderful vist with a life-long friend!