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OUR RETURN TO NEW YORK STATE!

MONAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #2 - STOP #43

Today we crossed back into the state of New York. Back in early May we spent eleven days on Long Island and visited New York City three times during our stay. Let me tell you, this region of New York looks nothing like that!

“New
Surely this can't be New York, can it?

This region is covered with mountains, forests and farms, as far as the eye can see. We drove one hundred miles today and didn't see a single building more than three stories tall. Also missing were the hoards of people scurrying about and all that traffic.

“Campsite
Our campsite here at Eagle Point Campground

We are driving through what's known as the North Country Region of New York. It is home to the Adirondack Mountains, which is part of New York's Forest Preserve. Our campsite here at Eagle Point Campground, on the southwestern shore of Schroon Lake, is one of many that are managed by the State Forest Preserve.

“Schroon
Once all the water activities for the day are done it gets quite peaceful here.

We have scheduled three days here, to relax and get some work done, while we enjoy watching the water activities taking place out on Schroon Lake.

WE HAVE DAILY VISITORS!

Every morning we have two mother turkeys (hens) and at least a dozen chicks visit our campsite, along with the empty one next to us, looking to eat any spiders, worms, beetles or other insects that dare to invade our campsite. After an hour or so of clearing the sites they fly up high into the trees to roost for the rest of the day.

Sure do wish they would learn to catch and eat the mosquitoes too! I guess we would need a few dragonflies and bats to get that taken care of.

“Morning”
The morning cleaning crew have arrived!

“Afternoon”
Time to begin their afternoon nap, safe high up in the trees.

With all of our work done for the month we have some time to go sightseeing and I know just the place.

Located just a short drive from here is Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. It's just the kind of activity we enjoy most, a short hike in the woods with some waterfalls and a small cave to explore as a bonus.

NATURAL STONE BRIDGE AND CAVES

Trout Brook making it's way towards the Natural Stone Bridge.
Beginning the 3/4 mile trail which includes over 500 irregular natural stairs.
Our first look at the Natural Stone Bridge.
A little bit closer look at the bridge.
The view from on top of the bridge.
Looking down into the grotto.
This is where Trout Brook goes underground for a short distance.
Inside of the Echo Cave.
Make sure you duck when passing under Arch Rock.
The cascading waters of Trout Brook.
A look at the Natural Stone Bridge from afar.
The bridge from the opposite bank of Trout Brook.
A section of the Rim Trail.
When the soil is washed away the tree roots grab hold on the rock.
The outflow from the Natural Stone Bridge.
An unrepaired section of the trail from the last flood.
Large potholes are created when the water tumbles rocks around for centuries.

• • • 100 MILE • • •
HIKING CHALLENGE
28.25 MILES
UNDER OUR BOOTS

A three quarters mile hike around Natural Stone Bridge
brings our annual total up to 28.25 miles.


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VERMONT IS ALL ABOUT THE ...?

MONDAY

TRAVEL DAY
YEAR #2 - STOP #42

"The Green Mountain State"
is our 21st visited state

When I say Vermont,

what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

For me, I think of three things and oddly enough you can eat every one of them.

First thing that comes to mind is what most people think of, Vermont Pure Maple Syrup. There are dozens of places making and selling their own brand of syrup and we picked up a sample pack of the three most popular flavors. Each syrup is made during a different period of the maple harvesting season and is graded by the color and taste. I can't wait to try them all!

If you want to know more you can check out this LINK.

Second thing that comes to mind is cheese, specifically Cabot Cheddar Cheese. I was hoping to taste a slice of Cheddar Apple Pie before leaving the state, since it is the Official State Pie, only to find out none of the bakeries near the city of Waterbury (where we are staying) makes them. Plenty of places were willing to melt a slice of cheddar cheese over the top of an ordinary apple pie, but I read that a true cheddar apple pie has grated cheddar cheese baked into the entire crust, so I took a pass on sampling any pie here. The good news is Tricia said if I purchased all the ingredients and found her a recipe she would try to make us one.

The third thing that comes to mind, which happens to be my personal favorite, may not be on too many of your lists. While we were driving across the state of Vermont to get to our new campsite Tricia surprised me and mentioned that she would like to get some ice cream at this stop. Not just any ice cream, but specifically Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Does anybody know where Ben and Jerry's is produced? One of their three production plants in the United States is right here in Waterbury, VT and it's located a mere six miles from our campsite. For a modest price they even offer factory tours of the production plant with free product testing at the end of the tour. Other than the ice cream tasting my favorite part of the visit to Ben & Jerry's was walking through the "Ded & Buried Flavor Graveyard" where all the retired flavors now reside. Each flavor has it's own tombstone with a clever little epitaph written about it. Check them all out HERE, most of them really are quite amusing.

“Ded
Ded & Buried Flavor Graveyard

So far I have single-handedly planned our route, so do you think it's just a coincidence we happen to be camping nearby? I don't think so!

SATURDAY morning we decided to go do a little hiking inside the state park where we were camping. They have a moderately short hike that is listed as a 2.8 mile loop trail called the History Hike. It starts just outside of the campground and begins with a steady rise until you reach the Upper Cemetery before steeply descending back down to the parking lot.

What we didn't realize was the 2.8 mile listing was for only a section of a 4.9 mile larger trail. At least the last 1.5 mile was downhill. Here are a few photos of what we saw along the trail.

THE HISTORY HIKE

This is the only building still standing along the entire hike.
Possibly an antique plow left along the trail?
A clearing where crops and an apple orchard once stood nearly one hundred years ago.
More rusty stuff!
One of the many stone walls that were used to separate the homesteads.
A couple of the tombstones in the Upper Cemetery.
A narrow spot along the trail.
More stone walls.
The Ricker Family cemetery.
Possibly an old bed frame?
Possibly an old instrument used to till the soil?

• • • 100 MILE • • •
HIKING CHALLENGE
27.50 MILES
UNDER OUR BOOTS

A five mile hike on The History Hike
brings our annual total up to 27.50 miles.


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MOUNT WASHINGTON COG TRAIN (NH)

Our Location:
Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park
Franconia, NH

Of all the ways to reach the summit of Mount Washington this has got to be our favorite. It's not the slowest way to get there, you could always hike the 3 miles to the top of the mountain.

The Mount Washington Cog Railway has been in use since 1869 and we were here just after they celebrated their 150th Anniversary on July 3rd. It's one of only two historic cog trains still in use in the United States, the other being the Pike's Peak Cog Railway in Colorado. You bet we are going to check that one out too when we get out west in a couple of years.

MOUNT WASHINGTON COG TRAIN

Yep, we are headed in the right direction, it won't be long now.
The Base Station for the Mount Washington Cog Railway.
View from the second floor balcony of the Base Station.
Some of the specialized equipment used to build the cog railway back in 1869.
Sure is a cloudy day up at the summit.
Well it's finally our turn to climb the mountain.
It's quite a slow 2.8 MPH rollercoaster ride up to the summit.
The switch track area for passing trains coming down and the water refill station for the steam engine.
Here comes the cars going back down.
The track is now in position for us to start climbing again.
That's Jacob's Ladder ahead, a steep 37.4% grade that we'll have to climb.
Hope no one else is coming down the tracks around that corner.
Now we've got our head in the clouds!
On the steam engines when coal doesn't make it into the burner it simply gets kicked over the side.
This is where the hiking trail crosses the cog rail.
We're nearing the summit now.
Pulling into the Summit Station.
Everyone is glad to arrive at the summit.
Pretty cloudy up here today, not like when we drove up two days ago.
Back at the Base Station we watch as the last train of the day prepares to leave.
Listening for the ALL ABOARD signal.
And the stream engine is off.
Sure takes a large head of steam to get up this mountain.

HOW TO TAKE CONTROL OF THIS SLIDESHOW

Option 1 - Do nothing and cycle through the photos at the predetermined speed.

Option 2 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and use the forward and reverse arrows that appear on the left and right centers to speed through the photos. Photos will still change at the predetermined speed if you wait too long. Keep your eye on the clock in the upper right hand corner.

Option 3 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and click on the pause button. You now have full control to go forward or reverse at your own speed. You can also select any of the little round buttons under the photo to navigate through the photos.

WANT TO SEE THE PHOTOS AT A LARGER SIZE?
1st - Click near the center of any photo and it will open to a larger size than what appears in the slideshow.
2nd - Click on it again and it will open to it's original full resolution size.
3rd - You will have to use your browsers back button to return to the slideshow after viewing the photo.

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DRIVING THE MT. WASHINGTON AUTO ROAD (NH)

Our Location:
Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park
Franconia, NH

Now that we have all of our hiking done for the day it's time to let ROVER do some of the work! Mount Washington is the tallest mountain in the northeastern United States at 6288 feet. While it's not even in the "Top Ten" if we start talking about anything east of the Mississippi River it's still a quite a sight.

The drive up the mountain was a little scary, but we took our time and didn't let the little sports cars and motorcycles behind us make us rush. When ever we had a chance we'd pull over and let them all pass. The drive back down was a whole different experience!

MOUNT WASHINGTON AUTO ROAD

Waiting in line to start the drive we read the sign on the right. Can you read it?
Maybe this will help. We saw a couple of cars make a U-Turn after reading this.
In mid-July there was still a large patch of snow on the mountain.
We start the seven mile climb around and up the mountain.
Yep, they were right! No guardrails!
No guardrails here either.
A look back at the road we've climbed so far
Two way traffic, people going up have the right of way because we're the one's on the edge!
We are getting near the top.
These pullouts are for going back down and having a chance to pull over and cool down your brakes!
Our view from the parking lot at the summit.
Hey look, here comes a cog train.
It's 20 degrees cooler at the summit than it is at the base.
Part of the weather observatory on the summit.
The distant view on a pretty clear day.
That bald spot in the middle of the shot is the parking lot where the Auto Road starts.
The Mount Washington summit marker.
The Tip Top House hostel located on the summit.
More of the weather observatory.
Chains are used to hold down the building during the fierce winter winds.
More of the observatory equipment.
Looking at the road going back down.
Time for ROVER to take us safely home.

HOW TO TAKE CONTROL OF THIS SLIDESHOW

Option 1 - Do nothing and cycle through the photos at the predetermined speed.

Option 2 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and use the forward and reverse arrows that appear on the left and right centers to speed through the photos. Photos will still change at the predetermined speed if you wait too long. Keep your eye on the clock in the upper right hand corner.

Option 3 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and click on the pause button. You now have full control to go forward or reverse at your own speed. You can also select any of the little round buttons under the photo to navigate through the photos.

WANT TO SEE THE PHOTOS AT A LARGER SIZE?
1st - Click near the center of any photo and it will open to a larger size than what appears in the slideshow.
2nd - Click on it again and it will open to it's original full resolution size.
3rd - You will have to use your browsers back button to return to the slideshow after viewing the photo.

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EXPLORING "FLUME GORGE" (NH)

Our Location:
Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park
Franconia, NH

The path to The Basin earlier this morning was just a warm up for the highlight of our day, the Flume Gorge trail. This two mile up and down loop trail has many interesting sights. The trail is not hard to follow, contains many stairs to climb, but is well worth the $16 admission fee. There is a small museum of the gorge's history and a small snack shop in the visitor center at the beginning of the trail.

We arrived here just before the visitor center opened at 8:30AM and were among the first people in the gorge this morning.

FLUME GORGE

The formation known as Table Rock.
The trail as it begins to enter the gorge.
Entering the gorge.
There are interpretive signs all along the self guided trail
Here is where the trail gets narrower...
...and narrower...
...and finally we start climbing out.
Looking back into the gorge.
Here is where the trail gets steeper.
The approach to Avalanche Falls.
Even closer to the falls we had to make sure the camera stayed dry.
We didn't check to see if anyone was home!
A view of Avalanche Falls from the top.
More cascades along the trail.
Here is the Sentinel Pine Bridge.
More cascading waters.
An portion of the trail known as The Wolf Den.
A pool formed by the glaciers some 12,000 years ago.
Looking back at The Sentinel Pine Bridge.
Boulders left behind by the receding glaciers
The Flume Covered Bridge as viewed from above...
...and as seen from below.

HOW TO TAKE CONTROL OF THIS SLIDESHOW

Option 1 - Do nothing and cycle through the photos at the predetermined speed.

Option 2 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and use the forward and reverse arrows that appear on the left and right centers to speed through the photos. Photos will still change at the predetermined speed if you wait too long. Keep your eye on the clock in the upper right hand corner.

Option 3 - Hover over any photo with the cursor and click on the pause button. You now have full control to go forward or reverse at your own speed. You can also select any of the little round buttons under the photo to navigate through the photos.

WANT TO SEE THE PHOTOS AT A LARGER SIZE?
1st - Click near the center of any photo and it will open to a larger size than what appears in the slideshow.
2nd - Click on it again and it will open to it's original full resolution size.
3rd - You will have to use your browsers back button to return to the slideshow after viewing the photo.

Labels:
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