Oh so nice up here

A skinny bridge up in the mountains over a rushing stream. "El Burro" pulls the "TICA" along just great.




Our most wonderful campsite on Rollins Pond. Our private beach, a warm campfire enjoyed by Elaine.




Elaine canoes past a mother ducky. We also saw beaver houses nearby.




Bill kayaking Rollins Pond. A neighbor camper who owns Greenville Bagels on Long Island had an extra kayak that he let me use for a few days.


Does the bear poop in the woods?


Our camp is on the Lake in the distance. We hiked to the top of this mountain, then, climbed the fire tower for a view of the surrounding countryside.


Sailboats on Lake Champlain



We've been hanging out in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. This park is the largest in the lower 48, 6 million acres or something like that. The Adirondacks are lake after lake, surrounded by mountains. Rivers connect many of the lakes, and of course it's all forest land.

We have been camping at a place called Rollins Pond. Our campsite is right on the lake,with our own small beach. The lake is clear, rocky,and surrounded by the forest with mountains in the distance. We rented a canoe one day and found two beaver homes, came across a family of loons. These guys can really make some noise, but it's a beautiful cry, particularly at sunset.

We've made some day trips too, our favorite little town was Saranac Lake. Lake Placid was very touristy, although a pretty setting.

One day we went on a 8.4 mile round trip hike through the forest to a waterfall and rapids. It was a long hike for us,and it had lots of elevation changes towards the end. We brought our lunch and rested at the falls before the hike back. At the beginning of the hike, we came across some bear droppings, and a bear footprint, both were very fresh. I didn't feel the bear dung to see it it was still warm, but I'm guessing it was. I guess this answers the proverbial question about the bear pooping in the woods. We kept our eyes open from that point on ....

Lessons learned .... The other day I got some White Birch sap on my fingers. Do you know how hard it is to get sap off? Soap and water does't phase it. Well, I found out that it was great to have a little sap on your fingers for things like turning pages in my book, and for separating coffee filters. But, it's a real problem when handling toilet paper! Not a good thing.

We also hiked Mt. Goodnow. The hike was almost 2 miles each way. Even though it was a much shorter trip than our hike to the waterfall, it was just as challenging because of the climb. The walk was well worth it though because at the top of the mountain, we were able to climb a fire tower and get a beautiful panoramic view of the area. Wow! The area is even more beautiful from the air.

Our next stop was a campground not too far from Plattsburgh, NY. It is right along Lake Champlain. We took the car and boarded a ferry to get to Burlington Vermont. We spent Saturday there in the town and thoroughly enjoyed the sites,including a outdoor market in the town square.
Today is a rainy day so we are using it to get work done. That includes laundry and grocery shopping. Not too exciting, but we will be ready to hit the road again tomorrow.