Lakes to Locks Passage: Part 3

Cook Mountain

It rained Saturday night and I ended up in my car for a couple hours as the Bungalow isn't so watertight anymore. I took my gear with me so I was able to go back to the tent with my stuff all dry and get some sleep. Sunday morning I packed up camp and headed to Cook Mountain. Its maintained by the Lake George Basin Land Conservancy and in the parking area I met a woman who told me that there was going to be an event hike that morning. I was there early enough that I didn't see any of the hikers until my way back down. The view isn't quite as panoramic as others I've done in the ADKs but it was still nice. The hike up is a bit of a haul as it ascends 680' feet in a half mile. As I was hiking out, I encountered the lady from the parking lot and she told me to go in her car and grab some applesauce and granola bars that were leftover after distributing to the participants. How nice!

Auger Falls

My next stop was going to be Palmer Pond but the road to it was pretty crappy so I turned around to go to my next destination-Auger Falls.

Auger Falls

I was amazed that this is an unmarked trailhead. The parking area is huge and right off an intersection of two main thoroughfares but no signage exists so you have to know what you are looking for. Similarly, the trail from the parking lot is kind of confusing to find too. But once I got oriented its only a short walk to the pretty falls. You can hike closer to the falls for a view but the trail isn't well marked and the banks are pretty slippery so I observed from a distance. My last hike was Fawn Lake. The trail is a level .5 mile walk to the edge of an undeveloped lake. It was a quiet place to reflect and the perfect place to end my 4th of July getaway.

Fawn Lake

Ausable Chasm

Bridge over Ausable Chasm

The Ausable Chasm is a 2 mile long sandstone gorge that is cut by the Ausable River. I had driven over it before but this time I decided to pay the admission to actually get down into it. I got the premium package which includes admission, the adventure trail and a float tour. I wanted to do the adventure trail first because I figured it would be really busy on the 4th of July.

Elephants Head

However, thanks to poor maps and staff direction I couldn't find the start of the damn trail.
After hiking up and down the first portion of the Rim Walk trail twice I finally decided to just continue down the gorge.

Rim Trail

I had the trail to myself for the most part and it was a gorgeous walk in the chasm. Halfway down you have the option to hop into a raft and get a guided tour the rest of the way down. There was no wait so I hopped right on. Our guide was great and it was nice to see the chasm from a different perspective.

I then hiked back up the other side of the rim and finally figured out where the adventure trail starts. Then I had to wait a half hour because they didn't have enough gear for everyone. I could see groups making their way across the start of the trail so I didn't much mind the wait because I figured it would clear them out. After harnessing myself in I elbowed my way to the front of the line and was the first up the cargo net.

Start of trail

The net leads up to rock lodge and then you proceed down the gorge via cable bridges, zip lines, and edge walks. Last fall I had done Bristol Mountain Aerial Adventures with my brothers and it was absolutely amazing. Plus the carabiner system they used did not allow you to have both carabiners off a safety line. Not the case at the Ausable Chasm. You could just ignore your carabiners if you wanted to. They do make you practice to drill in the fact that you must always be clipped but there is definitely room for error in the system that did not make me totally comfortable.

Adventure Trail

I cruised along the first couple obstacles and was loving the unique vantage point and adrenaline rush when I rounded a curve and encountered the worst obstacle of all-a line of people! There was 15 people in line for 1 bridge across! It was taking people at least 5 minutes to get across. After 2 people crossed I had had enough and asked the 3 groups of people if they wouldn't mind me jumping in line because I was by myself. Otherwise I would have been there til closing time. They were nice enough to let me go and I sprinted across that bridge in about a minute flat. After that it was clear sailing to the end. I really enjoyed the elements of the adventure trail but the logistics of it were its downfall.

Lakes to Locks Passage: Part 2

Lake Champlain Bridge

Due to how busy Rogers Rock campground was on the holiday weekend it was inevitable that there would be miscreants. At 3am four drunk kids were stumbling through the loop and talking loudly and waving an American flag. They woke me up and I had to go to the bathroom so I ended up following them and telling them to pipe down because they were being rude. I think they thought I was some ranger because they ran. The nerve of some people!

Crown Point

My first stop of the morning was at Crown Point State Historic Site which has 18th century ruins. The fort is along the edge of Lake Champlain and overlooks the bridge to Vermont and it was a quiet misty morning and I was the only one there. It was a beautiful spot and you can even walk through the ruins. I also stopped at the lighthouse across the street which you can walk up and get a view of the lake.

Crown Point Light

My main destination of the day was Ausable Chasm but that was such an experience that I will save it for a separate post. Across from the Ausable Chasm parking lot is the North Country Underground Railroad museum. Its small but very well laid out and informative. I definitely learned alot and highly recommend it for a quick stop. I continued up the Lakes to Locks passage through Plattsburg and went to the Heart's Delight Farm in Chazy. There is a wayside walk that talks about the farm and its history. The place is absolutely massive. In its heyday it employed 800 workers and has 300 buildings on 15,000 acres. Much of it is still working today. I was blown away by the size of it and it was maintained so beautifully.

Rouse's Point

The Lakes to Locks byway ends in Rouse's Point, NY right at the Canadian border. I stopped to grab a slice of pizza and turned around to make my way back to Rogers Rock. I stopped at the Poke-O-Moonshine trail to hike but its located at an abandoned campground which had a super creepy vibe to it, the trail was pure mud and the only people I saw were hauling climbing gear so I got out of there. My last stop was at the 1812 Homestead and Farm Museum in Willsboro. It seemed to me like a poor mans Genesee Country Museum but I'm a sucker for living history museums. I was the only one there so I wandered around checking out the various buildings and animals. 

Runaway goat

A goat was outside the fence but as soon as he saw me he ran back into his pen through the fence so I wasn't too concerned about his welfare. I walked over to see the chickens and something furry dashed across my foot. I assumed it was a cat but I turned around and saw it was a raccoon!

Lakes to Locks Passage: Part 1

Thompson Lake

This past July 4th I was ambivalent about my destination. I had originally thought to drive the Lake to Locks passage but then the prison break happened and that would have put me right in the path of the search area. Luckily a few days before the long weekend they had taken care of the escapees so the coast was clear and I forged my plan. I left after work on Thursday to get a head start. I camped at Thompson Lake Campground outside of Albany and it was a relaxing spot.

Capital

WWII Memorial

The Egg

The next morning I headed into the heart of the capital. Being born and raised in NY I was a bit ashamed that I had never been to the capital, especially when I make it a point to visit state capitals in my travels. I had always bypassed Albany on the Thruway without a thought.
I walked around the Empire State Plaza and got to see the beautiful state capital and the various government buildings and memorials. I also got a peek at the executive mansion. With my guilt assuaged, I bounced around to a couple of historic mansions (Schuyler Mansion, Pruyn House, Van Schaick Mansion) before arriving at Cohoe's Falls.

Cohoe's Falls

There's a great park with interesting wayside exhibits explaining the history of the falls. I had never heard of the falls but they are regarded as second only to Niagara in NY and are pretty impressive. I continued down into the beautiful little town of Waterford where the Erie Canal intersects with the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. I got to see a boat going through the locks and it was so cool. It makes me realize just how lucky I am to have the great Erie Canal flow through where I live because its a darn cool canal.

Waterford Lock

Saratoga

Schuyler House

My next stop was Saratoga National Park which I had last been to 6 years ago with my mom. It was over Thanksgiving so it was nice to now see the summer side of the park. I did the driving tour but after awhile it gets pretty boring to see the same old colored posts out in the fields.
I had never been to the Schuyler House or the Saratoga monument though and both of those were neat to visit. I made it to Schuyler's house in time for a tour and it was a cool house because the occupants over the years preserved much of the historical nature.

Saratoga monument

 The Saratoga monument was open to walk up and get a birds eye view of the area. As the day wound down I made one last stop at the Skene Manor which is a gorgeous old home that overlooks Whitehall, NY. I made my way to my campsite at Rogers Rock on the northern end of Lake George. The campground was massive and filled to capacity and I'm thankful I was able to grab the last spot 3 days before the holiday weekend.

Skene Manor

Felix Baptism

Eisenhower Farm

Eisenhower sunroom

The baptism of my nephew Felix took place in Philadelphia and my family and I decided to take advantage of the destination and spend a couple days exploring the city. I had visited a few years ago with Jess and had a great time so I was looking forward to going back. My parents and I drove down on Friday and took a detour to Gettysburg first. I have been to Gettysburg twice before but never to the Eisenhower National Historic Site. It is its own NPS site so I was glad to finally be able to check another one off my list. The only way to get to Eisenhower's farm is via shuttle bus. Its a short trip through the battlefield to his farm. We got to tour his house and then walk the grounds. I didn't know much about Eisenhower so it was a great way to learn more about him like how he loved his cattle and how he loved to paint.

Eisenhower Home

We finally arrived to our abode for the weekend and met up with Don and Amber. I had rented through Airbnb and we stayed in a 2,000 sq ft apartment in a 10,000 sq ft home in the Mt Airy neighborhood. It was definitely a unique house and I thought it was pretty awesome but everyone else just indulged me because they weren't digging it. We ended up spending the majority of our time on the porch anyway.

The mansion

Saturday we spent our time downtown in the heart of the Philly historic district. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Ben Franklins grave, Elfreths alley and more on our walking tour. Lunch was philly cheesesteaks at Jims which was delicious! Then we walked over to America's smallest National Park Site-Thaddeus Kosciuzko's home. He was integral in the American Revolution and it was nice to learn about a forgotten hero. After visiting, I can now cross off all of Pennsylvania's NPS sites!

Liberty Bell

Congress Hall

We were pretty close to the waterfront so we wandered down to check out some of the tall ships that were in town. It had been drizzling off and on all day so we made our way back to the car and it started pouring. We checked out IKEA since the rest of my family hadn't been before and then headed back to the mansion for the night.

Sunday was the baptism and it was so beautiful. The last time both sides of the family were together was at Kyle and Devin's wedding so it was great to see the southern kin.



We had some spare time in the afternoon so I took mom and dad to Eastern State Penitentiary which was just as cool as I remember.

Eastern state

Monday we departed the city and stopped at Valley Forge on the way home. After another quick stop for some soft pretzels it was back to New York. It had been way too long since we had vacationed together as a family and it was a great weekend getaway.

Valley Forge

Surprising Sonyea State Forest

Normally for Memorial Day I go on a crazy 1,000 mile road trip but I’ve now run out of National Park sites in that radius and there was too many things to do in town so I decided to stay home. However, I had to do something to assuage my road trip guilt so I decided to head down to the Sonyea State Forest, solely based on looking at a map and determining it was fairly close and I had never been there before. I had always driven past the Sonyea exit on the highway but this time I exited and found my way down a gnarly dirt road. The forest is DEC land which means its just preserved, there’s no development of anything.  

As I was traveling down the dirt road I was getting nervous because some of the potholes were pretty massive but I navigated around and eventually came to a stop sign leading into the woods. The road kept going buy my nerves were shot so I decided that was as good a place as any to disembark. The trail follows along the top of a ridge in the forest and then goes steeply downhill where you then hike at the bottom of the ridge along Keshequa Creek.

 

After hiking through the woods I saw a trail cutting off towards the creek and as I emerged I saw a towering cliff now stood above the little creek and it was so unexpected that I stopped in my tracks. I had no idea the beauty this little state forest was holding. After exploring a bit I went back to the main trail and took a couple more spurs off to the creek where there was waterfalls, swimming holes and more rocks and cliffs. The geology of the area was really fascinating and not at all what I had envisioned. I had my foster dog Rita with me so we only went about 3.5 miles round trip but I would definitely go back again to explore more of stunning Sonyea State Forest.