Adirondack Park, August 2008 − Travels − Captain Tom

Adirondack Park, August 2008

My annual vacation together with some friends is planned to be in the Adirondack Park. We rented a nice house at a little lake (Rockledge at Church Pond) not far away from Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. The friends come from Florida and looks forward to the calm beautiful nature in upstate New York.

1st Day

We are ready to go. The car is stuffed with books and other things and we look forward to the pond. But we have to bear stop and go for quite a while at the Thruway and it took us all day to get up north to Church Pond.
I get really tired on the way and so we stop for a break at a farmers market.
We arrive at Rockledge
Moeni inspects the kitchen...
... and then decides to rest as all the others do
2nd Day

We have to jump into the water.
Weather is not great but the pond looks beautiful
We haven't bought anything to eat yet so we go to Paula's Airport Cafe at the Adirondack Regional Airport for breakfast
The rain stops in the afternoon and we go for a walk, passing the golf course...
... and searching for the Saranac Inn ...
... which does not exist anymore as we finally find out.
3rd Day

Still no great weather. So we visit the olympic facilities in Lake Placid

The freestyle ski jumpers have a training camp there
Watch the jump
Ski Jump
We go up with a ski lift
Nice view from above
One can even see the bobsled run
The winner is Max
Back down we wath the advanced group of the freestyle ski jumpers
Then we have a short look at downtown Lake Placid
The rest of the day is for trying out all the different watercrafts on our pond
4th Day

Another lazy day. We read, watch the rain and Max tries some more of the boats

He seems to be entertained
In the afternoon we go to Wild Center in Tupper Lake. A nice museum about fauna and flora of the Adirondacks
View to the river
Having an ice cream in between
Turtles
5th Day

We decide to get more active and get up Whiteface Mountain close to Lake Placid. We intend to have a 5 miles hike but we were told that a part of the trail does not exist. So it gets a shorter loop but it is still quite a walk.

View from the summit
The summit
Tom takes pictures...
... of Moeni, Max and Andreas...
... Max and Andreas ...
... Who did this one?
Tom found the trail
Descend
View from the Mountain
6th Day

And again. More action. We booked a white water rafting tour in Old Forge on the Goose River.

But first thing in the morning we had our swim in the lake and watched the morning fog dissolving
Whitewater Challengers in Old Forge.
We are prepared for the ride
Well, it was not as exciting as we expected. The river was very calm and even flipping the raft by purpose in some rapids did not quite work.
After the ride we went to a place with some bigger rapids and watched the water flowing
Max started digging
On the way back we found a place which offered jet ski rentals so we did this for our entertainment
Tom leaving the dock
Andreas and Max together
Max steering the craft
Tom running full throttle
7th Day

We planned a canoe trip for this day. Our maps were not really helpful but I was able to use electronic information to plan something with only one or two little carriages. See the google map for details

Map 2008_08_15

In the morning we had to prepare for the day
Arriving at the rental station
Ready to go
On the lake
At least we know where we are
First carriage
We have a break after the first carriage at green pond
Max tests floating logs
We continue the ride
For the first time we see a loon, the signature bird of the area. It dives away as we approach
Nice channel between lakes
In the evening the bear room serves it's purpose
8th Day

We have to say farewell to the house

Morning Fog
Packed and ready to go
Morning dew at the golf course
Goodbye
Refuelling
Almost home. One can see the Manhattan skyline at Route 17