Into The Fog

We recently took an early morning paddle on Eagle Lake for the last kayak trip of the season to this lake. The fog made it eerily quiet (except for the road noise of Rt. 74) and there was only one other kayaker out enjoying these conditions. The sun was trying to burn through, but it never quite made it.

I spotted a loon close to the northern shore and eased my way over to it, stopping when it dove. That is when another one popped up out of the depths, right between the two of us! That is the closest we have ever been to these gorgeous birds. The two ended up making soft calling noises to each other (more like gurgling) and met each other and swam off. We sat there with our mouths open, not believing it had happened.

As we approached the low Rt. 74 bridge, I saw another loon and its offspring in the distance and then heard it calling, which I thought was strange because its 'baby' was right next to it. After passing under the bridge we realized why, because there was another chick on the other side of the bridge which hadn't swam to the other side yet. The two chicks have really grown and lost their fuzziness and we saw the one diving next to its parent. It sure was a fantastic experience to see these loons nesting and then raising their young. I hope they all come back next year and do it all over again.

Kingsland Trail

We have discovered that the road less traveled is not always the best one. When the south wind was howling, we took the opportunity to hike the trail from the town beach to the point at the mouth of Kingsland Bay, Vermont. At least that is what we thought we were doing. The trail started out really easy through tall grasses and trees.

Then we came to a fork in the 'road' that didn't tell us which way to go. We chose the trail to the right that would take us along the water and came across a camping spot with a picnic table (this is part of the state park) that overlooked the bay and the state park facilities. 

The trail got narrower, higher, and closer to the water as we passed by, but we continued on our way. My height anxiety started setting in since we were so close the edge, but I figured this was a loop trail and I would only have to pass this spot once, keeping my eyes ahead and into the woods. A few minutes later the trail stopped when it went up a really steep hill, and there was no way I was going any higher. This meant that I would have to go back over the part on the edge. Dave grabbed my hand walking ahead of me, but that didn't help and I really freaked out (if you have a fear of heights and feel like you are going to fall, you will understand what I mean. It seems silly but you have no control over it). Dave ended up holding my hand and walking sideways almost next to me with an embankment on one side and the cliff on the other, sliding at times and not being able to see the path ahead of him. By this time tears were in my eyes and I couldn't see either ("the blind leading the blind" or "are we having fun yet?" 😉). If he had tripped or slid, we both would have gone down. We finally made it safely and went back to the fork and took the other trail through the middle of the woods, which was quite stark, but pretty (I call it 'dizzifying').

We came out at a point towards the mouth of the bay, where we hung out on the rocks that had lots of fossils in them. It ended up being a spot that we like to picnic and swim at when we go kayaking. 

Dave found this piece of driftwood that had been floating around for so long that it looked like plastic. He ended up taking it back home with him for our little flower garden. 

We encountered a lady, who was walking with her dog, and asked if this trail was a loop. She said yes, but you have to go up a steep incline first to reach the rest of it. Dave looked at me and asked, "did you catch what she said about the incline?" I certainly did, and we quickly opted to head back the way we came and instead, go to our favorite restaurant in Vergennes, the Three Squares, for a lunch 'survival' celebration....and to laugh at ourselves. Before driving back to Ticonderoga though, we took a detour to the Charlotte/Essex ferry landing at McNeil Cove. At the dead end, we drove up to the ticket booth to tell the lady we were just turning around, and she started chatting with us until a customer approached. She really liked our PT Cruiser convertible, and even though we didn't even ask, she told us to pull up into the lane next to the water and take photos, since we had been discussing the old ferry Champlain. It looks more like a ghost ship than it did when we saw it from the water.

I wouldn't say this was a 10 day, but it rates right up there and certainly was memorable...some parts more memorable than others! 😂

Last Car Show

We missed the Adirondack Nationals Car Show in Lake George this year, but we did make it to the last seasonal Albany Saratoga Speedway's monthly car show in Malta. Our KEWL 39 ran perfectly and had lots of admirers (so did our neighbor with the skeleton).

My first car was a Vega, but it certainly was nothing like this tubbed pro street model!

There were several other vehicles all tubbed out too...

How about this wild VW Bug. It started life as a 1973 Super Beetle Convertible. The owner custom made a box frame to hold a 427 cubic inch small block Chevy engine up front. It was beautifully executed and probably wicked fast.

A very nice 1955 T-bird, which was the first year they were built...

This 1954 Chevy was my favorite, both inside and out. 

Our Mini Cooper looks a lot different than this one (thankfully 😉). It was highly modified and powered by a front engined Cadillac Northstar V-8. The amount of customization to make it all work was phenomenal. The radiator was in the rear with two electric fans that pulled cool air from vents in the side of the car.

A head turner! This is a Scion with a matching trailer made out of an identical Scion.

This 1961 Chevy Impala Bubble Top Coupe had a a stunning 348 W Block engine, which was 

popular through 1965.

This 1967 Plymouth Barracuda had a period popular 'mailbox' air induction system. The owner made it novel by using an authentic mailbox. 

This is a gorgeous 1932 Ford two door sedan with a GM 6-71 blower set up.

Many thanks to Dave who helped me with these vehicle descriptions. We had a great time and are looking forward to next year's shows at the Speedway, starting in May.

Footnote: I am bumming that Dave didn't take any photos when he went to the Rice-O-Rama motorcycle swap meet this past weekend, so I won't have a post on that. He said it was better than ever, so I guess he was just too busy taking it all in. 😁

Tugboats Are Back!

The Tugboat Roundup is happening again this weekend in Waterford after a year off due to the Covid pandemic. There weren't quite as many of the larger tugboats there as usual and visitors were not allowed onboard, but it was still great to see what was on display. Plus, there were several new boats we hadn't seen before and all the boats had informative signs on them for the public to view .

The Benjamin Elliot was built in 1960 and is a regular participant since the Roundup started in 1999.

The 8th Sea is also a regular at the show and we stopped and talked to Captain Curry who regaled us with interesting stories of his and the tug's career, especially on Lake Champlain.

The Edna A push boat...

This 'interesting ship' called Shoofly Pie, looked to be run by a group of about six 20-30 year olds having a great time. It was built in 1941.

The queen of the show was the Sarah D which was 89 feet long. We couldn't figure out why it was leaving the dock until we saw the little Toot Toot come out and they did a face-off with Toot Toot kiddingly pushing the Sarah D backwards. What a cute display, bringing lots of applause.

There was a whole line up of mini-tugs, many of which had hailing ports in Massachusetts. 

Up on land at the first lock of the Erie Canal's Flight of Five, we found this survey boat. Dave was surprised to see that it was powered by a Mercruiser engine.

Two local fire departments also had displays. The Waterford Fire Dept. had an obstacle course set up for kids with them crawling through small culverts and rolling up hoses. They had special made kids firefighter coats and pants they wore, and they got to keep the plastic helmets afterwards. The Stillwater Fire Dept. had brought their 1871 Steamer, which was gorgeous and a piece of art. It was coal or wood fired and pumped water up to the big globe that helped to keep the water coming out smoothly. It no longer functions but certainly is a beautiful piece of machinery.

The bird rehab group also attended with their owls and a raven. All the birds were injured at one time to the point that they cannot be returned to the wild. Now they help with education and it was awesome being so close to them.

This show is always a huge hit and we are so glad that the tugboat tradition continues!

Ghost Town

After getting our chores done, like the roof and getting the Divco running and cleaned up, we headed back to Ticonderoga since the weather was predicted to be calm and 75 degrees, Those are perfect conditions for our annual paddle from the Ti beach to Roger's Rock. Unfortunately, when we woke up that morning all the forecasts were wrong and it was really windy. We regrouped and decided to hike to the newly reopened fire tower trail on Swede Mountain between Hague and Brant Lake. The trail was due to close again for hunting season on September 10th so our timing was imperative. We had read that the trail was fairly easy once you got over the initial flowing brook and a steep climb to the main trail. When we arrived, we made it over the brook but the steep climb (almost straight up) had absolutely nothing to hang on to and it was total mud from the recent rain. Dave made it up to the landing, but there was no way I could do it, let alone come back down when we were done. We will have to return when they install stepping stones that we had heard a rumor were going to be installed at some point. Now it was time to regroup again, as the wind had really increased. The saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" was really appropriate, and boy did we make one great batch of lemonade!  A few weeks ago, when we had gone kayaking at Long Lake, we had passed a sign for a place called Tahawus, which was on the way to Newcomb. Dave did some investigating and discovered that Tahawus is a actually an iron mine ghost town! The intrigue got us jumping in the PT Cruiser convertible and we were ready to explore. It is a long rough road down to this historic site (sometimes not paved) but when we came across the blast furnace, we knew it was already worth the trip. This is the McIntyre Furnace named after one of the financial backers.

A lot of the old equipment was left on site also...

We continued on to the main parking area and there is a pedestrian only road that is lined with placards telling about the houses that used to be there in the community of Adirondac(k). The houses were fallen in and have been removed except for the chimneys. You can click on the photos and zoom in to read the history.

The McNaughton Cottage has survived though. This is where Theodore Roosevelt was staying when he learned that President McKinley was dying, and he had to make the journey to Buffalo to be sworn in as president.

There have been three different communities here. From 1826-1857 there were the iron miners. From 1876-1947 the area was a seasonal club for well-to-do families to enjoy nature and hunt wild game and fish. From 1947-1963 titanium was mined in the area and the homes were where the workers lived.

As we walked along the road and trails (one trail goes to Mt. Marcy), we could see that there was still iron in the ground with the creeks running orange.

I spotted a very old fire hydrant...

We followed the trail (about a half mile) to Henderson Lake, where you can actually portage your kayak or canoe on a dolly from the parking lot and then launch on the lake. It sure was a pretty lake.

We also discovered that although the Hudson River originates from a pond near Mt. Marcy, it actually officially starts right here at this spillway coming out of Henderson Lake (the river was dammed and diverted along the way during the mining era).

As we walked back to the car, Dave wanted to check out the relic of what looked like a farm stand on the side of the road. I glanced up into the woods and saw the remains of one of the houses that had not been removed. Dave couldn't resist going up the hillside to explore.

On the way back to the main road, we came across this other building on a hunting club's property. It was probably from days gone by. Perhaps it was some kind of silo.

We also found this gorgeous waterfall on the Blue Ridge Road coming from the Northway. 

When we got back to Ti and did some more research, I found that the historic site we were at, was newly rehabbed and is actually having its grand opening ceremonies this weekend. I am sure this will be a really popular spot.  Congratulations and thank you Open Space Institute. What a fantastic and oh, so interesting day!