Adirondacks on Steroids

[dbhguru]

Hi Ents,

On Aug 21st Monica and I headed north for a 4-day stay in the New York's incomparable Adirondacks. However, this promised to be a different type of trip for me, i.e. not all trees. Imagine that. We would be staying with friends at a B&B on Hurricane Mountain for two days and then shifting to the Snow Goose Lodge in Keene Valley for two more days. The B&B would be new for us. It sets at 1725 feet elevation and looks westward toward the High Peaks. The views are spell-binding. Here is the first. Don't forget to click on each image to expand it. These small versions don't do the scenes justice.

The conical shaped peak on the left in the above image is Mount Marcy. At 5,344 feet, Marcy is NY's highest peak, and a long hike in and out. NY has two 5,000-footers. The other is nearby Alqonquin Peak at 5,114 feet.

Looking a little southward, you see Upper Wolf Jaw and the Gothics in the next image.

The High Peaks are NY's finest and they draw lots of foot traffic. That is now a problem. We have a penchant for loving our parks to death.

Brothers Ray Asselin and Jared Lockwood joined us for part of the time. Next is a view of Ray photographing Whiteface Mountain as part of an attempt to pick up more footage for the upcoming white pine film. Whiteface has the olympic ski runs on it that boast an elevation drop of some 3,000 feet. That is remarkable drop for the East. In the image, you see a full 3,000-foot rise of mountain majesty. (4,867 - 1,675 = 3,192 feet). However, the highest base to summit rise in the Dacks is Giant Mountain, which rises fully 4,000 feet above its eastern base at New Russia.

Were there any significant trees discovered in the visit? Oh yes. Perhaps my finest discovery was of the picture perfect pine that I named the Cinda Pine after its owner. Cinda's pine misses a 12-foot circumference by a hair, and presently, it stands 130 feet tall. That isn't all that much, but it is a relatively young pine. I'd say between 110 and 120 years. It has the capability to eventually make it to 150 feet. It is a tree top be watched.

I'll close with a look at placid Rooster Comb Pond with a backdrop of the High Peaks.The pond is about a mile from the Snow Goose Lodge. Monica and I visit there often. It is a jumping off point for hikes into the High Peak Wilderness.

More on the next post where you'll get some honest-to-goodness tree talk.

Bob