Search Results for: photo descending from north point

Six Weeks Until New Years Eve πŸŽ‡

Those extra cups of coffee did me no good yesterday. Not only did it make it impossible to get to sleep, it contributed to my extreme anxiety I had most of the afternoon. I just kind of wanted to relax to some extra coffee yesterday but I guess I really overdone it. I swear I used to drink a lot more coffee when I was younger, and coffee ain’t as strong as it once was when sipping it, but the after effects are much worse. Between the garlic powder gas and shits, the anxiety and staying up too late, I didn’t get much sleep and sleeping past 6 o’clock is unimaginable in my mind at this point.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Partly clear and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. πŸƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. β˜ƒοΈ

Not a super cool morning. πŸ˜€ I could go for a walk but I want to get to the store pretty earlier and my guts are mess after last night I don’t want to risk an accident out walking. πŸ’© Could be excess coffee of yesterday β˜• but I think it’s the garlic powder I added to the tomato sauce I had last night, as that previously gave me trouble in West Virginia plus one other time at home. Big bulk container I got from Hannaford, even in moderation it keeps me running to the toilet 🚽 . Could be salmonella or mold growing in the container. I probably should empty it and toss in the recycle bin ♻️ before it gets me sick again. 🀒

Decided on pancakes this morning πŸ₯ž as that’s all I really had left. I was playing with recipes, decided to do ground oatmeal, with one egg, apple cider vinegar and baking soda for levity, and Splenda rather then bananna for sugar. Came out fairly good, little more filling then just ordinary oatmeal-banana pancakes. Topped with shredded apples from the food processor 🍏 heated and cooked down in the microwave, along with chopped bananas. 🍌 Pretty good.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 12pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1921. 4.2 inches of snow fell back in 1914.❄

First thing this morning is to shower πŸ›€ and then head over to Price Chopper in Slingerlands for grocery shopping, πŸ›’ that is once I get my list together. πŸ“œ I need to get $50 in groceries to use my $5 coupon, though that shouldn’t be hard as groceries are so expensive these days. Only shopping through Friday morning, as I plan to get what I need when heading up to the Adirondacks. Not Walmart on Black Friday, but I don’t think Hannaford will be particularly crowded the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly just restocking the pantry full of fruits and veggies, though I’m also going to get a big bag of frozen salmon fillets as I have that other coupon too. 🎫 Eating lots of omega-3 is good.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:42 am with sun having an altitude of 28° from the due south horizon (-42.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west-southwest (244°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 5:00 pm, which is 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter πŸŒ“ Moon in the south (170°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 226,654 miles away. πŸš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies πŸŒƒ and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 41 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and one second over yesterday.

Been continuing on the Udemy Courses. πŸŽ“ I am on my third course after two courses on remote sensing. πŸ›° So far done is Remote Sensing with QGIS: Basics of Satellite Imagery Classification and Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis. Been learning a lot. It’s wonderful that my public library πŸ“š offers these classes for free and you get free certifications πŸ“„ after you get done watching the classes and doing the quizzes. The most recent one is Spatial Data Analysis with R, QGIS & More which is good but it’s about 7 or 8 years out of date, and doesn’t show a recent version of QGIS and uses the obsolete R library of rgeos rather then sf and terra which is used today. But still it’s interesting and good to learn as a big part of the class is about kriging, which is something I am still struggling to fully understand. πŸ—Ί πŸ“

Yesterday I checked out the Bethlehem Sportsmart β›· and was shocked at the prices of skis, especially ones in good quality. At over $100 for a pair of cross-country skis, I think I’d be best off to get a pair at a retailer, maybe after the holidays, one that fits and works properly for my needs. It was mobbed at the sportsmart, with screaming babies πŸ‘Ά and children running around. πŸ§’ The skis I have currently are groomed-track skis, which besides being broken, really aren’t good for the kind of cross-country skiing I do that rarely involves following groomed tracks. πŸ€‘ The problem with those skis is they are too fast and sink too deep in unpacked snow, the prior is a particular concern when descending mountains, especially now that I’m close to 41 years old, and crashing with skis may very well mean broken bones. πŸ€• Plus I wasn’t in the mood to spend any money right now, to say nothing about that I’m not sure if it will be a particularly snowy winter. I might just stay closer to home this winter, do more bike riding 🚴‍♀️ on the roads. Winter ski season is so short around here, and it’s often quite cold int he winter.

Didn’t end up being able to fix the vacuum cleaner yesterday, 🧹 turns out that after I got it all apart, then put it back to work, I found out the source of the rattle — bad ball bearing. After fiddling for it for a few more hours, I ended up pulling the motor and any part I could reuse or scrap. βš™ Heck of it is I had it back to together and it was working until it’s started sparking and not working again. ⚑ Disappointing crap, I bought it only 7 years ago but ever since I got it constantly plugged, burned up belts and malfunctioned. If I get another vacuum, I am going to get a small rechargeable hand held 🀲 one as I don’t really have that much carpet in my apartment and then I can do the stairs and vacuum out the mud and dust from my truck better. I’m just annoyed by all that plastic trash, even I will be able to reuse the switch and cord from the vacuum for camp lighting, πŸ”Œ and may be able to part out parts of the motor for electronics projects or add to the stack of scrap metal for eventual recycling at the scrap yard. ♻️ It wasn’t a real cheap vacuum — it was like $70 or $80 bucks, a Dirt Devil Pet Hair Vacuum but it constantly plugged on wads of hair and dust. I bought it because the reviews were good originally, and I figured a pet hair vacuum wouldn’t clog as much as a standard vacuum. 🐢 I guess don’t believe the review. I just hate carpet, when I have my own land, I don’t ever want that indoors. Especially not the gross, nasty worn out shag carpet like in my apartment.

The broken vacuum cleaner, the debate in my mind to renew or not renew my certificate of deposit,  the signing of Clean Slate last week, getting my ego knocked down a peg for that messed up background at work, and cold weather πŸ€ͺ plus all that coffee just really got me into a bad place by last night. 🀯 My mind was racing, I just kind of felt sick. The whole thing was stupid, it wasn’t entirely my fault I messed up the background, the researcher and big boss didn’t catch it either. πŸ’£ The vacuum cleaner was cheap shit it never worked right. The truck is going to be fine for another year. Then I got the shits from that garlic powder. πŸ’© Yuck, I was so sick for a while. Did I mention I burnt my finger πŸ‘† on the soldering iron when I was working last night. 😠 I was just so bitter, angry and frustrated all evening. I mean it’s stupid, what happened at work isn’t the end of world, moving to a new department soon, the seven-year old vacuum cleaner was less then a tank of gas these days, my truck will likely make it another year, it’s winter it’s cold but I am still planning adventures, I can get better skis somewhere else, and the coffee and shits will wear themselves off.

But regardless, I had a nice bicycle ride out to Voorheesville. 🚲 The bridge is fully re-opened, they did a nice job, it’s a very smooth ride up and over the bridge. On the west side of the bridge it’s a slight upgrade, but the expansion gaps are remarkably smooth and it’s blacktop, all the more surprising for a “temporary bridge”. Truth is they did such a nice job on the “temporary” bridge that they really don’t have a good reason to necessarily replace it anytime soon. Sat and watched the 4 PM freight train roll through Voorheesville πŸš‚ then watched the sunset πŸŒ† from Bender Mellon Farms and rode home quickly, thinking it would get dark but it didn’t so I rode down to Adams Street then back along the designated bike route through the back roads of Delmar. Great evening even if it was shitty day in so many ways. That part of the day was pretty nice, even if I got sick in evening 😫 and my mind was racing the rest of day. πŸ€ͺ

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy πŸŒƒ, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1986.

Last night made homemade tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, Italian spices, spinach, peas, chopped garlic, crushed red pepper, smoked paprika and kidney beans. Added a little bit of lentil pasta towards the end. Tasted good, very filling and kept me full. πŸ₯˜ It as all good until I added some garlic powder (really not much), which totally blew up my stomach starting around midnight, with frequent visits the bathroom and everything stinking of garlic. I don’t know why I have such problems with this garlic powder I got the other day — crushed garlic is good. I thought the problem was the whole wheat flour I got from Price Chopper but I’m pretty sure it’s the garlic powder. Been having a lot of stomach issues lately, I thought I would adjust to the high-fiber diet but it’s proven difficult. 🀰

Got reading about the latest generation of single board computers πŸ–₯ which keep getting more and more powerful and cheaper. Technology on this front is advancing so quickly, it’s a golden age to be a hobbyist with things like the original Arduino from years ago seeming so out of date. πŸ€– Then I got reading about stomach issues as my stomach grumbled, and this really weird thread on the internet where people fight about whether or not sugars in excessive fruit consumption 🍌 🍏 πŸ’ lead to fatty liver disease and diabetes. Most of the experts think the benefit of the extra fiber far outweigh any downsides to a diet rich in fruits, though I do eat a lot of fruit (and vegetables too). Probably too much fruit but I like sweet. But I also don’t eat any food with added sugars if I can all avoid it, which is what most doctors πŸ‘¨‍βš•οΈ think really are a big threat to health. I am a bit obsessed with fatty liver disease after people warned me about the risk of loosing so much weight so quickly. Hell of it is I don’t have much control over my weight, it really is a just a side effect of diet. Hard to gain too much when your stuffing your face with fruits, vegetables and beans all of the time, and riding to work and walking everywhere.

Next Friday through the following Monday is looking good for the Adirondacks πŸ• though only time will determine for sure. ❄️ It looks like the snow event in Wednesday isn’t going to leave feet of snow up north, so I should be able to get back to camp without doing a lot of shoveling or hauling gear back, though worse come to worse, I’ll bring the sled and drag gear back. πŸ›· The weekend looks to be cool but not as cold as they first predicted β˜• and warm coffee and meals along with the heater should be good. And I can get away from it all.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise βŒ›οΈ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

Driving the Elk Highway

October 15, 2015 update

I decided to leave West Virgina on Tuesday, in part because I wanted to stay at a developed campground where I could get a shower, and because I was getting awful tired of the narrow, steep roads of West Virgina. I’m sure not every road is awful in West Virginia, but it sure seems like I have been driving up them – from Dolly Sods Road to Spruce Mountain Road – to say nothing of the somewhat larger but much heavier traffic of US 33 as it crosses Judy’s Pass to Franklinton then again over Shenandoah Mountain. I just hate the steep climbs, the descending in low gear, and the traffic wanting to blast pass.

Shenandoah National Park was on my list to see. I figured if I was going to be in West Virginia, I better also swing east to Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. I was generally heading that way from Grandy Creek, the other alternative was to head south to WV 22 and out that way, but I wanted to see Spruce Mountain, which there is a road that takes you up 4,823 feet to the highest point in West Virginia. You certainly can’t drive that high anywhere in New York on a public road, and only the highest of high peaks take you up there. The summit of Spruce Mountain is remarkably beautiful and mostly undeveloped besides a narrow paved road that takes you to the top, a small picnic area and observation platform. The drive down Spruce Mountain was so steep though.

US 33 was quite the climb and descent over the two mountain ranges from where I was to Virginia. It was steep but once you reached the Shenandoah Valley, US 33 cuts through a beautiful section of the George Washington National Forest without a bend  in miles. You quickly forget the awful drive you just made over Shenandoah Mountain. To make matters worst, US 33 was being repaved over Shenandoah Mountain, so I ended up getting stuck at the bottom weighting for the pilot car to bring me and a long line of traffic up the three miles up it on the West Virginia side. The Virginia side was just as as steep, but the lanes were wider and despite the hairpin turns,seemed much more navigable.

Harrisonburg, VA is a pretty large city. I had no idea until I arrived downtown and had to fight traffic on six lane roads. The Shenandoah Valley was pretty with a lot of chicken farms and some dairies, but this general area was also rapidly suburbanizing, with houses abutting farms. I’m sure that leads to a strained relationship at times between the farms and the suburbanites. Smelled somewhat like farm country, not unlike around Lowville or any of the great agricultural valleys in New York. Harrisonburg sucked to drive through, but once you got 5 miles out of town it was a four lane road with occasional traffic lights and a fairly heavily volume, but eventually it became open, rolling country. US 33 drops down to 2 lanes with occasional passing lanes as you entered the park. I would like to get down and see more of the Shenandoah Valley away from the city. Maybe tomorrow or Friday.

When I first arrived at Shenandoah National Park I was under-impressed, as the section of Skyline Drive  north of US 33 isn’t immediately impressive despite the overviews. The wonderful weather of Tuesday morning had turned to clouds as I headed east into the the front. It might have been sunny and beautiful in West Virginia, but by the time I was east in Shenandoah Valley it had gotten cloudy and hazy. The Shenandoah Valley also suffers from a major air pollution problem, which is somewhat less in West Virginia in the very rural area around Spruce Mountain. The wilderness area around Spruce Mountain and Dolly Sands is very impressive, some of the views at Shenandoah were less impressive.

I decided to camp at Matthew’s Arm Concentrated Camping Operation, the farthest north campground along the parkway – 21 miles from the northern start of Skyline Drive. It was a nice campground although it was fairly rustic. It has flush toilets and running water in the bathrooms, but it refill water containers, you had to drive to the trailer dump station and water filling area (separate faucets, obviously). One thing this campground lacked was showers, which was a disappointment. But they recommended you visit the pay showers 15 miles down the road at Big Meadows. This campground was $15 a night with no taxes or fees, it did not have electricity in the campground. They had heated bathrooms with running water. No hot water at Matthew’s Arm but they did have hot water at Loft Mountain. I had dinner and a few beers and was in bed by 9 PM. They openly allow (and sell alcohol) at the Shenandoah National Park campgrounds which is kind of nice. Still having neighbors and having to keep the music down and being brief with idling the engine to keep the batteries charged, is less nice.

I had to get up early to go to the bathroom, and ultimately decided to get up around 6:45 AM to drive over to one of the overlooks to watch the sun rise.
While a somewhat cloudy morning, it was a beautiful start to the day. Broke camp around 9:30 AM and started south on the parkway, stopping at several of the overlooks, then when I got cellphone service, uploaded some photos to share with people, along with previous nights posts. Stopped at Big Meadows Visitors Center and also at the showers at Big Meadows around noontime.

In the nicer weather, spending more time on the parkway, showed how beautiful many of the views are along the parkway. The haze wasn’t as bad in the clear, drier weather, although still notable across the valley. Some of the overviews from Skyline Drive are remarkably beautiful, others less so. The leaves aren’t peak everywhere, but there is some nice colors showing up in various directions. Got a campsite at the Loft Mountain Concentrated Camping Operation. Picked a site high up on the hill, hoping to get cellphone reception and at least good radio reception. The cellphone reception was pretty marginal from camp, but I did have good radio reception for listening to any local radio station within reason. Watched the sun set from one of the overlooks. I retired to bed around 10 PM. Nice flush toilets, hot water, and heated bathrooms. Showers just down the road.

Today’s plan is to head further down Skyline Drive until I reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. I will probably go a ways down the Parkway, and hopefully find some place to camp at a campground along it. When I reach Interstate 64 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I will take that west back to West Virigina and on Friday night camp on at site along one of the roads in West Virigina. From there I will take I-99 in Pennsylvania to Wellsboro and the Grand Canyon Country, overnight there, and return to Albany on Sunday afternoon.

Gorging on Gorges, An Adventure, Day 2

I awoke for Day 2 of Gorging on Gorges, and it was a fairly warm morning, at least for the day before Columbus Day, in the back country of the Finger Lakes National Forest. I decided I wanted a full breakfast this morning, so I got some sausage frying up, the coffee peculator doing its thing, then scrambled some eggs with mushrooms and sweet peppers. It was a good breakfast. Packed up my gear, folded the flag, headed out on Potamac Road, and stopped grab a few pictures of the pastures along the road.

Potamac Road 2

Driving along all these back-country roads, I was amazed during most of my trip in New York State, on how many anti-SAFE Act signs there were in front of houses and farms along the way. If there ever was an issue that galvinized the backwoods of Upstate NY, it has to be that stupid gun law. I would reminded of the opposition to the SAFE Act all week, until I finally crossed into Pennsylvania state-line – the last SAFE Act sign ended a ΒΌ mile before I left the state. I bet you that poor dairy farmer, was awful pissed to live on the wrong side of an imaginary line, so they had to be subjected to stupid laws, high taxes, and anti-farm regulations.

Across the Gorge

Drove down to Trumansburg and then to Taughannock Falls State Park’s Gorge Overlook. The main overlook, next to the parking lot was a complete tourist trap, with dozens of tourists, many obviously traveling a long ways to get there, crowded around the overlook deck, as everyone – myself included – scrambled to get that one trademark photo of the falls. I was glad to get away from that overlook.

Started along the North Rim trail along the gorge. I was looking for secret places to find isolated, beautiful views of fall, and the hike did not disappoint. I found one perfectly shrouded in colorful fall leaves, but with a view of falls. I snapped a picture. I continued along, and found some good views in the gorge, showing the depth and width it below the falls. Then I ran into Robin Smith and his wife – Twitter and Facebook friend. Chatted for five minutes, then I proceeded on.

A Secret Spot for Observing the Falls

In part, I was in a bit of a rush, trying to find a place to take a piss. All that coffee plus maybe an eye-opener drink wasn’t great for the bladder. There also were a few to many people around to do it right on trail, especially being so close to the road most of way. But eventually I did it, and was on my way.

The North Rim trail runs into the Black Diamond Trail, which crosses an old railroad bridge, converted to a hiking trail via some concrete slaps and fence placed on it. The high, old railroad trestle provides views of a smaller, upper waterfalls and the little known, but quite impressive upper gorge. The upper gorge, above the falls, is a deep, narrow, but beautiful gorge where the Taughannock Creek runs, cutting deep into the valley. For the best views, you have to take the South Rim trail, which is what I took next.

Upper Gorge

The South Rim trail is impressive. There is the big parking lot from the Gorge Overlook on Taughannock Road, or you can alternatively take Gorge Road, and halfway down it, park in the smallish pull-off. Don’t miss it though. If you follow the South Rim Trail, there are some views of the gorge below the falls, and one view of the gorge, extending out to Seneca Lake.

I hiked back to my pickup truck, and then drove down to the main part of Taughannock Falls State Park. I parked in main portion of the park, rather then the always crowded and tight to park in lot next to the trail to Gorge Trail, which runs inside the gorge to below the falls. Not wanting my truck damaged by an overly excited tourist, I figured it’s always safer to park in an empty lot. Walked down to Seneca Lake, and noticed how green the trees were still on the lake shore. This contrasts to sections of US 20, the previous day, where the colors were burnt out to say the least. I was also surprised to see the AES Cayuga in Lansing, across the lake, burning coal today. They must keep in standby for when the line frequency drops to low locally. Stopped in the bathrooms at Taughannock Falls State Park, which were just very gross – clean, but rusty and in old shape – like so many state facilities.

AES Cayuga Coal Plant in Lansing

Then I hiked along the gorge trail to the fall, taking several moments to stop and take photos, and explore the river bed. I had previously been here, in mid-July, but it certainly was different now that fall was in full swing. The trail was popular, and in some places, downright crowded, but the riverbed, at least as far as one could hike, wasn’t nearly as crowded. The gorge walls were pretty with the fall leaves, although by the time I got the falls, the sun was right over the top of the waterfalls, so most of the pictures of the falls came out pretty poorly.

The Falls From Below

Headed back to the truck, then drove down to Ithaca. The traffic was as awful as always in that city. I had stop at the pharmacy, then it was off to Buttermilk Falls State Park. I was surprised they were still charging – the last day must be Columbus Day. By now, it was too late to keep Robert Treman State Park on my list; that will have to wait until tomorrow. This time, I intentionally hiked up the North Rim trail, up to West King Road, then down into the gorge. Last November, I hiked up the gorge, so I figured it would be interesting to go the other way this time.

North Rim Trail

Hiking down Buttermilk Falls was scenic, but not as a scenic as I remember it. Maybe after all this time hiking in gorges and exploring the gorges, they also start to look a bit alike – and we are only day two. It’s more scenic then most of other glens, besides Enfield Glen and Watkins Glen, but it’s still a step below them. The gorge swimming pool at the bottom of the gorge it was nice.

 An Autumn Afternoon at the Falls

It was a good hike, until descending the slippery stairs, I slipped, and dropped my camera, and it fell like 20 feet, hitting a dozen of the stone stairs before coming to a rest. The fall did some serious damage to the camera, as one might expect. The protective UV filter was shattered, the case was cracked up the lens. I was not pleased, to say the least. There may have been a few cuss words. But so be it. The camera was under a drop warranty that I bought when I got it, but I was more worried that the fall would damage the camera, so I would be out of luck for taking more pictures for the rest of the trip.

I might have been pissed at myself for my careless handling and missteps, for a little while, cussed myself out. I was less pissed when I discovered the lens wasn’t destroyed, only the $5 UV filter. The camera seemed to continue to work well, although the flash doesn’t always pop up – a feature I almost never use at any rate. The camera seemed to work okay, and I picked up a second UV filter at Walmart later in the evening. Later in the week, I noticed the automatic focus was sticking – fortunately I have a drop warranty on the lens too. One of these days, I will get around to sending the camera back to the factory for warranty repairs or replacement.

Nice Little Falls

Once I got over the shock, anger, and amusement of smashing up my camera, and got the shattered UV filter off the camera – it took a little fiddling, as the impact of the fall bent the ring – I enjoyed the remaining hike and vistas of falls. Snapped several other quite nice pictures. Went to Walmart to pick up a few supplies, then back to Finger Lakes National Forest, for another evening at camp.

When I drove up to the campsites on Chicken Coop Road, I was pleasantly surprised to find out the campsite I like was vacant. Whoever was the night before packed up, and there was no mess left over. Hung the flag up, set up the table, hung lights up, and gathered wood. Started a campfire, cracked open a beer, had soup and sandwitches for dinner. The colors in the woods were about peak here. Around 6:15 PM, walked across the road, to take a closer look at the cows grazing in the pasture.

Pasture View from Campsite

I stayed up until 8:15 PM, when it started to sprinkle, and quickly turned to a heavier rain, and decided it was time to seek shelter under the truck cap. Again a bit annoyed about the rain, and my stupidity about not setting up a tarp earlier in the evening. I listened to the radio for a bit, played on my cellphone, and retired for the night. The good news was that by morning, the rain would have passed, although the skies would be cloudy, damp, and the temperature only around 47 degrees.

Owls Head Mountain Firetower (Long Lake)

There are at least three different mountains in the Adirondacks known as Owls’ Head due to their small rounded peaks, with broad cols for shoulders. This one is the one near Long Lake, that has a 30 foot LS 45 Aermotor Firetower on top of it.

Sargent Ponds Wild Forest Kiosk. This is where you sign in, so they can have an idea on trail use, and make it easier to find you if your lost or injured.

Sargent Ponds Wild Forest Kiosk

1/2 Mile In. The trail crosses this downed tree.

1/2 Mile In

Boardwalks. Parts of the trail cross marshy areas on board walks, like these constructed on the first 3/4 mile of the trail.

Boardwalks

T Intersection. Make a left at one mile, to go up Owls Head. The other direction takes you to the Lake Eaton State Campground.

T Intersection

Grown Over Steel Trail Marker. It looks like in 1982, the state experimented with these imprinted steel trail markers along the trail, long since largely grown into the barks of the tree.

Grown Over Steel Trail Marker

Views as You Ascend. This is looking backwards, towards the Sargent Ponds Wilderness, Lake Eaton, and the timber lands between here and Tupper Lake.

Views as You Ascend

Observers Cabin Ruins. The cabin the fire warden lived in years ago, is not located on top of Owl’s Head, but below it on the shoulder. It’s a 1/4 mile hike to the top, and you accent about 200 more feet, up the pointly little head. The cabin was probably located here, so the warden could meet visitors, and escort them to the top.

Observers Cabin Ruins

Well Worn Trail. Part of the trail is well worn, and is on open rock face. The good news however is with the lush tree cover, you don’t have to worry about acrophobia up here.

Well Worn Trail

Reaching the Tower. You can’t see the fire tower until your almost on top of it, due to the heavy trees that surround the summit of the mountain, except for the bald portion where the tower is located, open to views to the south and east.

North Creek Falls

Survey Marker. It says it was placed in 1942 by USGS. It’s right below the fire tower proper.

Survey Marker

Fire Tower. The fire tower is a 30 foot LS 45 Aermotor tower, pretty typical for NY State. It’s one of the short little towers, like also seen on Rondaxe Mountain in Eagle Bay.

Fire Tower

Forked Lake. This is looking south from the summit towards Forked Lake Campground and possibly Racquette Lake. The mountain in the distance is Wakely Mountain, one of the other fire towers originally used to pin-point fires in the Adirondacks (it takes two towers to locate a fire through triangulation).

Forked Lake

Long Lake. This is another picture of Long Lake, a little bit farther north, with the shoulder/col of Owls Head visible in the foreground.

Long Lake

North. In the distance is Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, with Whiteface just beyond it. Not the clearest or nicest of days, but still visable. In the foreground is the col/shoulder of Owls Head.

North

Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain is another fire tower / mountain that is visible from Owls Head. Located about 10 miles away, in the foreground are Minnow Pond and Mud Pond.

Blue Mountain

Sargent Ponds Area & Timberland. This portion north of NY 28 Corridor and Fulton Chain of Lakes is relatively flat, wild, and many portions privately owned as timberland.

Sargent Ponds Area & Timberland

Float Plane. Owls Head is not the quietest mountain out there. Throughout the day, tourist float planes for hire, fly on and off Long Lake, just to north of mountain. They fly quiet low, as they are making the decent back to Long Lake.

Float Plane

Long Lake Village. While hazy today, you can see village of Long Lake quite well from the tower. It’s always crazy there, and I try to avoid towns whenever I’m in the Adirondacks.

Long Lake Village

Fire Tower Corner. I always like pictures of the angles and construction of the fire tower. While common after climbing so many, fire towers have a lot of character in their structural steel.

Fire Tower Corner

Tower Cabin Closed. It’s unfortunate but the tower’s cabin on this tower is closed, as it’s used for communications equipment.

Tower Cabin Closed

Sitting on Mountain. Just sitting back and looking south from the open rock face a top Owls Head.

Sitting on Mountain

Old Telephone Poll. Descending the trail off Owls Head, I saw several of the old telephone poles, heading up to the former Ranger’s cabin. Some have been cut down, and used to control run-off on the trail, but others still remain.

Dexter Lake

Here is a map of the hike.


View Owls Head in a larger map

Crane Mountain

I went hiking at Crane Mountain in the Adirondacks on July 5, on a partly cloudy day. I didn’t get to the trail until around 10 AM, in part because of the Detour on the Adirondack Northway due to the bus crash. Regardless, it still wasn’t that crowded until later in the afternoon.

 Outside Edmenston

The drive up Ski Hi Road is quite rough, and minimally marked, except for a few signs that Crane Mountain. Ski Hi road may be inaccessible with a 2-wheel drive after some rain, so be aware. It’s a steep uphill drive, and very much so dirt. Only once it enters the preserve does it get rutted and rough, but very much passable by people who had cars up there.

The first part of the trail is quite steep, but you quickly get views of Granite Mountain and other mountains that surround the valley near Crane Mountain Road and Ski Hi Roads.

A Little Higher

The trail up it quite steep, climbing over rocks for the first 1/2 of a mile. There isn’t a clear marked trail, you follow one of many routes through the rocks.

Up And Over Big Rocks

The trail is minimally marked, with a few old trail markers and arrows to help you follow. That said, it’s worn enough, and with enough bare rock faces, that it’s quite followable, even without too many markers.

Quiet Place at the Lean-To

The farther you get up, the better the views get.

Amazing

The trail splits between one trail to the pond and one to the Escarpment/Summit. The trail to the Escarpment is relatively flat, with a few up hill sections until you get to a 30′ ladder to get up to the top.

Second Ladder

But once you get there up that ladder, the views quickly become quite amazing. The ladder may be 30 feet high, but it’s securely attached to the mountain, so it’s an easy climb. Also, the trees block the view outwards, so it’s not a bad climb.

Last Climb to the Top

Now I’m looking due to west to Granite Lake.

Spider plant keeps growing

Looking North West, along the trail as it proceeds North along the Escarpment. I turned on the Mp3 player, and was listening to America’s Horse with No Name. Good music for the amazing views.

Frame 933

Continuing donw the trail. I must have spent an hour snapping photos, reading, and just enjoying the landscape.

Further Down the Trail

Next the trail proceeds down steeply towards Crane Mountain Lake, with one viewpoint with good northerly views, including an overview of the popular fishing spot of Crane Mountain Lake. At least on this side there is no ladder to climb on down.

Snow Covered Old Wood Road

Down at Crane Mountain Lake. I sat down here, and spent some time reading. A few people where around fishing and exploring, more people where heading up the trail with polls later on.

Rocks at Lake

The trail, while unmarked splits between going along the top of the ridge between the second and first latter up Crane Mountain, not that you would know it from the lack of signs. There is a lot of exposed rockface on this relatively steep trail, due to aggressive logging a century ago destroying the soil cover, along with steep slopes.

Make A Choice

The trail descends quite steeply through rocks, and then further down. It’s a quite steep descent to say the least.

Trail Descends Between Rocks

A rather pretty house from a converted barn on Crane Mountain Road, which is viewable from the descending trail.

House By the Pond

The last mile of the trail is along an old woods road.

Stoney Creek

The route I took.


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Some sites on Crane Mountain:

More pictures of Crane Mountain.