One of the places I really want to visit this next summer is T-Lake Falls in the West Canada Creek Wilderness. As a Boy Scout in 1998, I went up there for a week, and we made camp at a campsite about a 1/4 mile below the water falls. I have good memories of climbing up the last 10 feet of the waterfall, and sliding down it into the pool below. The black flies were awful but experience was great.
There is no marked trail back there, although most of the route follows old roads and unofficially marked herd paths. I vaguely remember parts of the route, and I have been studying the map and description from Barbara McMartins’ Discover the West Central Adirondacks. Much to my memory it’s about 6 miles each way, although being relatively flat, should be hikable in about 3 hours each way. It can be done in a long day.
Unlike as a Boy Scout I probably will not overnight out there. I will probably get up early one morning, drive up there, hike in, stop at the falls, grab some pictures and sit back for some memories. Then I will hike back to Mountain Pond Road and do some roadside camping, in one of the six campsites. I much prefer the comforts of roadside camping, and not carrying in gear all that way. While the Boy Scout trip was fun, the gear sure was heavy for that distance hike.
It should be fun. They say one can not go back to a place in time, but somehow revisiting the memories of yesteryear and my younger self should be well worth it.
There is a lot of talk these days about the trendy resorts where everything is provided for you. The kind of place where they offer structure for your complete day, including defined recreation areas and supervision. That couldn’t be farther from what I would view the perfect day. I hate structure, I hate acting like an adult, I hate following schedules–especially on vacation.
I’d rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth. — Steve McQueen
Have no firm schedule or plans, just limited by the rhythms of nature and daylight.
Drive somewheres up in the woods where I could hike up a fairly remote mountain, starting before most people are even awake.
Arrive up to the top of the mountain, peer down into the valleys below.
Spend some time looking down into the wilderness or farmland below.
Take lots of pictures for my scrapbook to look back at.
Descend the mountain and enjoy the fresh air of the afternoon.
Paddle around on a lake or flatwater stream in my kayak for a couple of hours into the evening, while sipping a beer and enjoying the wilderness around.
Snaps some pictures, maybe even toss a fishing line over and do some fishing.
When I get too hot, hop out of the kayak and go for a swim for a while.
Find a roadside campsites along the way, somewhere far away from anybody else, where I won’t be bothered by anyone else or noise of other groups.
Park my truck with it’s fiberglass cap/shell, unload my gear.
Set up my lights, Christmas lights and other appliances.
Build a campfire and cook some dinner on it.
Enjoy the flickering fire, listen to some music as the night goes by.
Drink some beer, look up at the stars.
Read a book, stay up as late as I want, listen to music as loud as I want to.
… my perfect day is not expensive or formalized,
it’s just wild and free.
Last year, I happened to hike Severance Hill above Schroon Lake on March 7th, and also on April 11th. Being roughly one month apart, I figured it would be an interesting study in how the seasons change between these months.
As a child I dreamed the city of the future would look a lot like the State Office Campus, located Uptown, next to SUNY Albany. I envisioned a world where people could commute freely from home and to work and shopping without ever stopping at a traffic light.
Cities would consist of networks of one lane streets, where cars would freely merge in and our of the traffic pattern without ever stopping. Traffic would always be free flowing, there would never be any congestion. Fuel prices would inexpensive, cars would be quiet and non-polluting. Roads would be safe to drive and there would never be any car accidents. Its a world that really does not exist.
While in later years, sidewalks and crosswalks where installed across the the ring road, but literally anyone who tries to cross these three lanes in each direction arterials, is taking their lives in their own hands. There is the constant noise and pollution from circulating cars coming and leaving the state office campus. Those unfamiliar with the campus will find themselves driving around in circles, try to get where they want to go.
The reality is the state office campus is a pretty hideous place. My childhood dreams of a city without stoplights or traffic control besides merge lanes, is not a place where anyone really would want to live, much less visit or recreate in it. In a world where the automobile is so dominate is not a desirable place for humans to be. Its also not a particularly good place for a limited planet where we should be conserving and not wasting resources.
.There is a common line of thought that argues that we should undertake a massive restructuring of the economy, even if it has no current clear benefit, in preparation for some dramatic future change like climate change or peak oil. Folks like Bill McKibbean have the logic, unless we make drastic changes now, the future will be bleak.
Their logic reminds one a lot of the logic of a High School Guidance Counselor, pushing over-priced college educations at so-called “select institutions” that are very over pricd. They argue unless one gets an expensive college education, the future will be bleak. They say, unless you go seriously in debt, you will have no future and be without a good job.
Nobody today can tell us for sure about when or if climate change will occur, or for that matter what the impacts of peak oil will be. We have projections and models that extrapolate data based on today’s conditions and projected changes, but they probably are not accurate as effects rarely are linear. It�s quite possible that effect our growing use of fossil fuels may be far different then anything yet predicted.
Yet, it�s also hard to object to efficiency standards and pollution controls on power plants that benefit society now. More energy while burning less fuel will benefit the economy by lowering costs over the long-run. More fuel efficient cars, while possibly more expensive up front, will provide drivers with lower fuel bills over the car�s life. Good standards that improve efficiency, conserve resources, and reduce pollution, help us now.
I disagree with folk like Bill McKibbean who argue for a radical transformation of the economy based on a projection of climate change or peak oil. We should work to conserve resources and clean up our generating plants, but not because of a future projection, but to improve economic efficiency and the quality of our lives today. If with incidentally also help change the projection for bad things to happen tomorrow, then all the better.
Those are some big beautiful beasts. And they sure are smoky and dirty with all that soot: the diesels of today are so much cleaner. I hope you enjoyed today’s video break for this Friday …
