Summer in the Adirondacks

Even though my digital camera was destroyed by rain, I am always prepared and I went to my backup- a Kodak Funsaver Instant Camera. I've carried this camera around for 2.5 years thinking it would come in handy some day. Well that day finally came. It really made me appreciate every picture since I only had 27 exposures to get me through a day and a half.
After stumbling back to the parking lot, I changed into dry clothes and headed off towards the Santa Clara tract of wilderness to do some shorter hikes. It was a very remote area and I enjoyed the quiet drive, even though it was pretty cloudy.However, I wasn’t really feeling the two trails that I had planned to hike so I headed back to Saranac Lake. Along the way though I stopped at Lake Clear beach. It’s not marked by any sign and I have no I idea why not since its gorgeous. It’s a short path to 2,000 feet of sandy shoreline on the huge Lake Clear. There was only 2 other couples on the entire beach. I promptly whipped my shirt off and proceeded to lie in the sun and try to dry out my soaking wet bra (it worked like a charm). Eventually though some clouds rolled in and I left. I decided to hike Mt. Baker in Saranac Lake since it was only 2 miles roundtrip with about a 1,000 foot ascent. Again, I was sweating my way up and cursing my decision to hike (especially since I had to put back on my soaking wet hiking boots). However, the views from the top were really pretty. A bit more of an urban view but still nice. It was getting cloudier and I feared getting stuck in another storm so I headed back down. I was done hiking for the day so I decided to be a tourist and go shopping in Lake Placid. I didn’t buy anything but it’s always interesting to browse the main drag of a touristy town. Fun fact- the town of Lake Placid is actually on Mirror Lake. Since the sun was shining strongly I decided to do one more easy walk along Lake Placid. So easy that I just decided to go in my flip flops. Well that was a poor decision because the trail was an absolute mess from Hurricane Irene. Branches and limbs were everywhere and massive trees had fallen over parts of the trail. I don’t even know why the trail was open. It still was nice to walk along the shores of Lake Placid though. I finally headed back to my campsite and decided that I wanted BBQ for dinner since it’s basically in my backyard. I got a delicious BBQ pork sandwich and a side of sweet potato fries and it was a delicious way to end the day.