Well, a few years ago we drove by a smaller mountain that intrigued me with its stone face looming over a vast swampy area. I took a quick photo in dying light and we drove away. It didn't come close to showing the mountain's beauty in that moment. I discovered its name and did some research. It sounded completely doable at only 2 miles of hiking as described by the DEC. The DEC mileage is crap don't believe it, they are always off by half a mile or more. Perhaps that is where the term Adirondack mile came from because it is a lot longer than a normal one. My fit bit showed close to 7 miles round trip. It was a long hike but the terrain was sweet!
Nothing says I love you like freezing on a mountain top photographing a sunset! Yup, perhaps we are a really odd couple. Although I did pack blankets up that mountain we didn't snuggle or even talk that much, we were each too busy trying to soak the beauty into our cameras. We left our child with my parents for the night and drove a couple of more hours, to have lunch/ dinner at the Adirondack Hotel in Long Lake and off to our destination. Although already popular I won't name the mountain. For once we arrived in plenty of time to reach the top and scope out potential compositions. We had a 360 degree view that was amazing, so I knew sunset or sunrise would be fantastic given the right weather conditions. Then sunset right between Horseshoe and Tupper Lakes. While the sunset was beautiful the afterglow was even better! Hovering just above the afterglow and Horseshoe Lake was a crescent moon! The already cold temperatures began to plummet with the sun down. The sky was clear and stars were coming out. I yearned to photograph them from the summit but it was too cold and we still had to hike down the mountain and find a place to camp. We quickly put our winter jackets on, packed away the photo gear and turned on our headlamp and Luci light. To my surprise my husband stuck with me and chatted most of the hike down. Usually he just disappears ahead of me, but I guess he decided to be nice since it was pitch black under the trees. It was quite enjoyable! Now it was time to find a campsite, I was apprehensive as we had struggled finding sites most of the year. Horseshoe Lake was closest to us, even though we usually get skunked trying to get a site there I figured maybe we could just park in one not lakeside and sleep in the back of the car. Well, the heavens were on our side for sure! We grabbed the first site we saw, and it was lakeside! Can we say happy dance! My husband built us nice fire to warm ourselves with while I arranged the back of the car for our first night SUV RVing. Yes I got the idea from a You Tube channel by the same name. I used our kettle to heat water over the fire and made hot tea for him and hot cocoa for me. We had some cheese and crackers too. I kept hearing this noise and saw flashes of something white. Next thing I knew I was looking at the cutest mouse and friends coming up to the fire and then darting off. I told them they were welcome to warm themselves by the fire but to stay out of the car. Ugh, just like my child such disobedient little rascals! Anyways my husband and I took turns photographing stars over the lake and warming by the fire for a bit. Then we sat together for a while enjoying the crackling flames and the loons yodeling back and forth. Oh, it was an evening I had desperately been needing! Once the fire was out we went to climb into the car. Our little brown and white "friend " greeted us waiting on the rear tire. I grabbed my phone to take a photo, poof it vanished! We warmed the car and snuggled down into the sleeping bag. It wasn't long before I painfully discovered my mistake. At 2 am the rascals were playing loudly somewhere under us. Since my husband was awake I told him that we needed to flip the sleeping bag so that my stomach acids would stay down. Nothing like sleeping on your head. Since temperatures were around freezing we tried to do it without opening the car. We struggled but did it and the pain vanished. The mice quieted for a little while before racing end to end somewhere in the car. Apparently on top of it too since there were tracks all over the top of it too in the morning! The next morning marked twelve years since we said I do! While colder that morning, it was equally beautiful as the day we were married. We walked out to find fog rising and the clouded sky reflected on the lake. We took photographs of course. It would have been beautiful to paddle then but we opted for the very first time in camping history to have a morning fire and a warm beverage. Chris built the fire while I folded up and put away our sleeping gear. Then we warmed ourselves while the water boiled. Again we had super cute company that someone had obviously fed previously. It wasn't the mice this time but a chipmunk. He was very interested in our stainless steel mugs sitting on the rock awaiting hot water. At first he seemed interested in my husbands tea. I shouted, "hey," at him and he ran off. A minute later the chipmunk was back, climbed on top of my mug sniffing intently at it. I was wishing I had the camera out and or that my phone was charged but alas not so. Then the cutie decided to start gnawing my cover! Nope that was it, I don't share hot cocoa with rodents I clapped my hands shouted again. He made a couple more attempts and then just watched us from a distance before returning to the woods. In just a bit we had our beverages, put the fire out and drove to the the boat launch area. We paddled the whole lake enjoying the ever changing and colorful mountain scenery! On our way out we discovered another waterway to explore and oh is it ever popular! Cars lined both sides of the road. We just investigated on foot real quick. Then we stopped and used a picnic table near the bog river to have some turkey sandwiches for lunch. After that we set out on the long drive to pick-up our son and another two hour drive to get back to the apartment. Although we did make a really quick stop at Pixley Falls State Park on the way home since it was the spot where we got married twelve years ago. Hopefully we will have many more adventures ahead of us! We are not where we would like to be for sure but at least we have each other! God bless and hope you enjoyed our little adventure!
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Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
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