By Barbara Arnstein
Last week I spent three days exploring the Adirondack Mountains, in Northeastern, NY, taking lots of photos. Now is a great time to go there because the mountainsides are full of fall foliage. When you see a variety of trees displaying their Autumn leaves, plus a blue sky and white clouds, all reflected together in one of Adirondack Park’s clear lakes or ponds, you’re seeing one of nature’s most scenic sights. Since the Park has more than 100 peaks and 3,000 bodies of water, there are countless incredible sights to see.
My fellow photographer and I arrived in Old Forge, NY, in early afternoon, and we soon started hiking around Moss Lake, and the lakes near it with the cute names of Sis and Bub, nicknames for sister and brother. Along the way, there were countless beautiful things to enjoy, including the trees displaying their red, yellow, orange and green palette of leaf colors; the cheery songs of the chickadees; and the haunting call of a loon. We hiked for over four hours, and the experience was well worth every step. No photo can capture the feeling of being in peaceful woods, enjoying the fresh air and all the elements of nature’s natural beauty, such as the graceful fronds of ferns, and the weathered tree roots that resemble sculptures. At one point we stopped for a while to listen to the beautiful music of a babbling brook. Everywhere you look, there are interesting surprises, such as the sudden appearance of a darting dragonfly or a cute, chattering chipmunk. At one point, I saw something I never saw before, a woolly white caterpillar with a black stripe on its back. Throughout the trail, I saw many pretty white oyster mushrooms growing on old logs.
At sunset that day, we found a scenic spot to photograph the splendor of the setting sun, and when it went below the horizon, we had dinner at a small restaurant by the park in Old Forge called Slicker’s. Its menu includes burgers, sandwiches and pizza, and we enjoyed the cheeseburgers we had. The next morning, we found a scenic spot to capture the wonder of the sunrise, and then we started on the uphill hike to the Stillwater Fire Tower, along Big Moose Road. The trail is under a mile but it takes some stamina to walk up it. the spectacular view from the top of the tower makes all the walking worth it.
During the rest of our stay, other natural places we visited included the Stillwater Reservoir, Raquette Lake and Nick’s Lake. At the park in Old Forge, which we visited at dawn, a doe and her fawn nonchalantly grazed for breakfast while we walked around snapping pictures of the misty harbor. We especially enjoyed our dinner at a restaurant there called The Mill, which has a gourmet menu and great atmosphere.
We also visited some of the kitschy shops throughout the Adirondacks. One antiques store (which was having a liquidation sale) offered an assortment of taxidermized animals, some of which were posed in weird ways. The display near the front window included four raccoons posed with playing cards in their hands, while further back, there was a single stuffed raccoon posed paddling a canoe. Outside the store, the weirdest item was a person-size statue of a frankfurter squirting its forehead with ketchup as though it were sunscreen. It apparently heard that, to be safe, one should use a condiment.
In Long Lake, we visited the 52-year-old variety store Hoss’s Country Corner, whose many items include preserved fruit from Betty’s Funny Farm, ceramic animals, live bait, books, groceries, toys, Christmas decorations, maps and much more. Across from it, there’s a snack stand with a sign, “Voted the best burger in town by some guy who likes burgers”, and another one reading, “Don’t moose out on the best burgers and ice cream in town”. To paraphrase that sign, “Don’t moose out on the Adirondacks!”