|
- New York State Summer 2003 - |
|
A few years ago Ellie said, "I'd like to go East on
holiday." I wasn't enthralled at the prospect of heading east.
I didn't like the idea of throngs of people knowing that LOTS of people live
in that area of the United States. But, after some brief research I
found that New York State had more to offer than just the metropolitan
pleasure of New York City. There were mountains, relatively
impressive mountains, but not like the standard present in the Pacific
Northwest or those that grace the Rocky Mountains. With Ellie
carrying Jellybean it turned out that New York was probably done at the
best time possible.
The major highlights of this trip were: We had covered 3,337 miles by the time we got back to Rhinelander after 15 days on the road. On the way out we took a short cut through Canada leaving the USA at Port Huron, Michigan and re-entering at Niagara Falls, New York. We returned to Wisconsin via the Trans-Canadian Highway which was an experience in itself. I expected a four-lane road across Ontario but was disheartened to experience a two-lane road that seems to be occupied by more cars than it can actually handle. The return home took about 19 hours (950 miles) spread out over three days. Driving and traveling in the Chevrolet Blazer was very comfortable. How did we ever manage in the Cavalier??
I have no idea how people live in such an
environment. But, I suppose they also wonder how people can live in
the woods of Northern Wisconsin. We were in New Jersey heading for
the Holland Tunnel at about the same time as everyone else was trying to
get home. Talk about a miserable experience as we began to get lost
in areas of New Jersey that made me more than a little nervous. After locating our hotel (The Seaport Suites), parking the car, and having a shower, we walked around the South Seaport area which is a super touristy area much like Navy Pier in Chicago. I began to feel a little more comfortable as time passed, but I still felt like I would be mugged at any moment. Ellie, on the other hand, always seems to be comfortable in big cities and has the fortune of not taking "dark" movies about city life too seriously. I, on the other hand, expected to see Clint Eastwood bearing down on some unfortunate crook sporting a 357 Magnum. The following morning we headed down Wall Street to the site of the World Trade Center. I felt a deep sense of loss and felt for all the people who were affected by the events of September 11, 2001. It was a strange sensation in reality because it looks like any other construction site that you might see in any city. The buildings around the site still bare the scars of what occurred and I am sure it will be many years before the area is restored fully. In the near future work will begin on the tower that will reach 1776 feet into the sky. The number of feet is no coincidence either!!
We used feet, yellow cabs, and the subway as our forms of transportation around the city. We saw a satisfying presence of armed police (packing the latest automatic weaponry) around all the "hot" terrorist targets. I hoped to have seen the Atlantic Ocean from its western shores, but we only saw the waters of the Hudson River (but no floating bodies like in the movies) and the New York Harbor. Of course, no trip to New York City would be complete without a trip to a Broadway show. After much deliberation we chose to be entertained by "The Phantom of the Opera." We were not disappointed by our $100 seats and the event brought a close to one of Ellie's lifelong dreams. We had spent about $700 by the time we left the city (we were only there for about 40 hours)!! I think we got off lucky with only paying that much. As we left the city and headed north I could feel the tension of city life diminish. We arrived in the Catskill Mountains early in the afternoon hoping to have a leisurely afternoon. But, as we erected our tent one of the poles snapped!! This was only the fourth time we had erected our two month old Coleman Galileo tent. We spent the next few hours trying to find a replacement and eventually called Coleman. I have to say that Coleman's service was impeccable. Coleman had a new pole shipped to our next campsite without question. The KOA at Saugerties was one of the worst ran KOAs we have had the displeasure of staying in. The pool closed too early, and the tent site was inhabited by a swarm of ferocious mosquitoes. To make matters worse it was the most expensive KOA of the whole trip.
The hike was really short and apparently attracts many visitors on weekends. When we saw them only a few people were there and we were alone at one point. We considered ourselves very lucky to have had the place to ourselves even for a brief moment. Incidentally, the falls are claimed to be the highest in New York State. We saw no sign of Hendrick Hudson or his men offering anyone a swig from his flagon. Although, I can see why the area would be a nice place to take a nap on a hot summers day. The picture shown to the right of this text is the lower tier of Kaaterskill Falls and was taken by Ellie. I am the person in the center of the picture. Woodstock... yup, you guessed it... it is the home of the legendary "Woodstock Festival". Even though the festival occurred in 1969 (34 years ago); the presence of beatniks is still prominent. Woodstock is a very "arty" town full of arts and crafts liberally splattered with a copious amount of hippie counter-culture. We bought some "naughty art" as a souvenir of our brief visit. Adirondack Mountains - South Eastern Region Lake Luzerne KOA was probably the nicest site we camped at throughout trip. It was away from the busyness of Lake George, but close enough for all the action to be a short drive away. I got to experience my first Drive-In movie in the town of Queensbury. In fact, we saw both Charlie's Angels and Hollywood Homicide. It was strange sitting in our car watching a flick!! As a bonus I got to "make-out" as part of my American cultural experience. I felt like John Travolta in Grease... well, sort of!! Lake George is a human zoo reminding me of Blackpool (England) without the lights. We never actually walked the streets of Lake George and tended to skirt the town in favor of a quieter climate. One day we went in search of Tenant Creek Falls near the little hamlet of Hope. It took close to two hours to find the trailhead!!! Our extremely poor map of New York State had misplaced roads, failed to put roads on the map, and even omitted entire towns. I suggest you pick up a copy of an ADK.org map if you are going in search of remote trailheads. The trail itself was nice and short (0.5 mile to the first fall) and leads to a pretty cascade sliding into a large(ish) plunge pool. We walked upstream for a while, but never actually saw the second set of falls. The Black Fly were a little ferocious in this particular neck of the woods. We found out (the hard way) that I am allergic to their saliva we headed back to the car. On the way back to Lake Luzerne we got lost several times before "stumbling" upon the right road. On our last full day in the Lake George region we went in search of yet another waterfall. Shelving Rock Falls are found by walking downstream of the last bridge about a mile before the end of Shelving Rock Road. Try finding Shelving Rock Road without a good map... yet again another example of New York's confusing labyrinth of roads. I swear that their are tourists who have been reported missing and can be found driving the byways of NYS. However, we did discover a veritable regatta in the Narrows of Lake George. Tens of boats accumulate in this area and "hang out." We ate our lunch on the water's edge and watched the world go by. Adirondack Mountains - Blue Mountain Lake On the way from Lake George to Lake Placid we stopped at the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake. Spare a minimum of four hours for this stop. It's well worth a visit as it is well maintained and covers a wide variety of Adirondack culture. Adirondack Mountains - High Peaks Region We stayed in yet another KOA. The Wilmington (Lake Placid) site was another good site that was very popular. We had a nice secluded site that added to our stay. We would spend at least a week in this area if we returned to New York State. Lake Placid is famed for hosting the winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980. There is no doubt that the area cashes in on this factor. You can pick up an Olympic Pass for a very reasonable sum of $19 and get into all four attractions and save big bucks. We took the gondola to the top of Little Whiteface (3,676ft) at the Whiteface Ski Resort, had a wander around the Olympic Museum in Lake Placid, spent an hour or so at the Ski Jumping Complex where we watched some future hopefuls launch themselves off the K90 jump (bear in mind the temperature was in the 90s), and I took an exhilarating one-half mile ride on the Olympic Bobsled track at the Verizon Sports Complex. Eat at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery if you are a beer snob like myself. They had great food and a great selection of home brews on tap. We also visited High Gorge Falls which was an $18 disappointment. I am realizing that I need to stay clear of waterfalls that have become a tourist attraction and stick to searching out waterfalls that are off the beaten path. Adirondack Mountains - Marcy / Great Range Hike
On regaining the main trail I had a choice of "bailing out" of the range trail and head down to John's Brook via the Slant Rock Trail or continue on. Over 1800 feet of ascent to the summit of Basin seemed an awful long way after about 11 miles on the trail!! I paused, pondered my choice, and recognized that I had a hearty supply of 800mg ibuprofen and embarked on my ascent. Oh, did I mention that you gain 1800ft in a brief eight-tenths of a mile!! This section was the most demanding piece of walking I have done for sometime. I made my way up the path's rocks, slabs, and precipices carefully to avoid a slip which could have had dire consequences. I met an older hiker (late 40s) who looked thoroughly beaten down by the trail I was on. He, without hesitation, let me know that the trail ahead of me was the most difficult he had ever encountered. Shortly after I met him the trail had sections of climbing that required some basic climbing skills. The ledge described in the ADK book wasn't as serious as what it suggests and Basin's summit allowed me to conquer her shortly after. The path had now become extremely narrow and extremely reminiscent of a Cumbrian sheep path. Dense foliage crowded the trail and made route finding a very straight forward encounter. Basin does not have the same views as are offered on Haystack or Marcy. The route off Basin's summit offers views of Saddleback, but it is wise to keep your eyes firmly on the slabs you have to negotiate. On the col between Basin and Saddleback I took time to compose myself before summoning the energy necessary to reach the summit of Saddleback. At this point I was feeling the accumulated miles and ascent I had already achieved throughout the day. The crux of my adventure occurred at the base of the 300 foot high rock face that was the last section of ascent before reaching Saddleback's summit. It isn't difficult as much as committing in its nature after being on the trail for 7 hours. I'm short at 5'9" and needed to do some dynamic climbing on the lower ledges of the route. It got easier the higher I went, but it was always exposed and I was glad that the rock was dry. I reached the summit and took in the view briefly before continuing on. I headed
down to Johns Brook Lodge via the Orebed Trail. I'm glad that I went
down this section instead of up it. The upper 1000ft of this trail
is a series of 45 degree slabs. I can only imagine how tedious they
are if you are ascending them. The rest of the walk along Johns
Brook was uneventful and I arrived at The Garden exactly 10 hours after I
set off from the Adirondack Loj. It's now three weeks since returning from New York and Jellybean continues to grow inside Ellie and I wonder what the future holds. It is undeniable that my life, our life, is on the edge of changing and that judgment day is hurtling toward us at an alarmingly rapid rate. At 32 I am looking forward to sharing my ideas and adventures with Jellybean and Ellie. Next year we hope to visit Northern Colorado and see the Rockies. I doubt that the quest for adventure and new places will ever diminish... they will just transfigure into something uniquely different. |
These are impressive to say the very least, but I imagine
they were even more impressive prior to the Canadian and American suburbia
being built up around them. It's odd to see such beauty and then
look up to see the towering skyscrapers on each side of the falls. Man has harnessed the power of Niagara by building a huge hydro-electric
station further down the gorge. We spent a leisurely afternoon
wandering around the paved walkways. The highlight of our day was
our visit to the "Cave of the Winds" which is a misnomer because
there really isn't a cave at all these days. However, it was a
refreshing treat to be pressure washed by the awesome power of Bridal and
Angel Falls on the "Hurricane Deck." Ellie even went back
into the spray for a photo opportunity.
Eventually we
found the Holland Tunnel and entered Manhattan. After taking a wrong
turn we located Broadway which is a nice road to get your bearings on as it
almost runs the entire length of Manhattan.
Other tourist sites we visited
in New York included: Times Square, The
Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and Battery
Park. We took a Circleline tour of New York Harbor passing the
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island which was supported by an informative
commentary. The Statue of Liberty was MUCH smaller than I
expected... although I have no idea why I thought it was bigger than what
it actually is. I suppose it just looked bigger when she was
laying down the law in Ghostbusters. The Empire State Building had
great views of the city and I never once saw King Kong scaling its
ramparts.
The following day we
set off in search of Rip Van Winkle's legendary
final resting place at Kaaterskill Falls. Kaaterskill Falls can be found by following a
short trail that begins on a hairpin curve west of Palenville on
23a. Incidentally, Palenville had its own unique coffee shop that sported English
goods and a very friendly owner. Kaaterskill Falls are remarkably
photogenic. They are probably at their best in the early afternoon.
I
took a day in the mountains by myself and Ellie, spending the day
in shopping in Lake Placid, kindly dropped me off at the Adirondack Loj and
picked me up later in the day at The Garden above Keene Valley. My
traverse took in Mt. Marcy (5,344ft), Haystack (4,960ft), Basin (4,827ft),
and Saddleback (4,515ft). I began walking at 8:30am and reached the
summit of Marcy just before 11:30am. In my opinion had made good time on
the trail. The trail to the summit of Marcy is quite wide, friendly, and poses no problem to the avid hiker. It's popular though
so realize that you will encounter "loud" groups
frequently. There really should be a limit on the number of people
any single group can have (that goes for any trails anywhere in the
world)!
On reaching the summit of Marcy I was fearful of
being carried off by an abundance of bloodsucking insects. As a result, I
only lingered long enough to throw a sandwich down my throat. Just
below Little Marcy a trail leads off toward the Great Range and the trails
character changes dramatically. I had the distinct feeling that I
was walking in a very narrow, steep streambed. This was quite a
contrast to the easy trail up from Marcy Dam. Haystack was an
out-of-the-way spur trail that essentially added an additional mile to my walk. It was
well worth the effort as I sat on Haystack looking across at
Marcy's increasing population. I was alone on Haystack and gained
satisfaction by my current remoteness. Haystack offers spectacular
views to all those who choose to take the time to visit her.
Ellie was waiting for me at the
trailhead and was a welcome sight. I had missed my walking partner
and wished that we could have experienced the walk together. During
the ten hours that I was on the trail I figured that I had ascended over
6500ft and covered 20 miles of trail. I was thoroughly tired and
knew that I would pay the following day when my muscles would ache and
groan. In fact, I seemed to pay the price for more than just a few
days after... 800mg Ibuprofen is my friend!