THE ADIRONDACKS, NY

We moved west to the Adirondacks. This park in Upstate New York covers 6.1 million acres, a third of the state, making it the biggest park in the US outside of Alaska. Most of the little villages and hamlets throughout this area average less than 1000 each in population. Other statistics include their highest 46 mountains of less than 4000 feet thought to be some of the oldest in the world. There are also 2300 lakes, 30,000 miles of streams and 2000 miles of trails. There are lots of opportunities for canoeing, fishing, hiking plus snowmobiling, skating and skiing in the winter.

On the way here, a wild turkey (no, not the bottled kind) hit our windshield. Luckily, it was a glancing blow. A doe nibbled grass less than six feet from the front of our RV a couple if times. Black bears are a big deal around here, every souvenir seems to sport one. The dumpsters in the park have electrical fencing around them that is turned on at night as well as lights to discourage the bears. (The squirrels have a good time though.) During hunting season 1066 black bears were shot last year. This is very close to wilderness up here.

There are lots of activities in this area, although summer season has not officially started. One of the first things we did was to take a cruise on the mail boat that services the first four lakes of the Fulton Chain of Lakes. Robert Fulton, inventor of the steam engine, was commissioned to find a waterway between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. He thought this procession of lakes might be the answer. Instead the Erie Canal was built and put an end to that plan. The Chain is actually a series of eight lakes. The first five are connected but you have to portage to the others. These lakes have creatively been named First Lake, Second Lake, etc..

It was fun to watch the mail being passed off the mail boat at the different docks around the lakes. At some of the docks, family dogs were eagerly waiting as the mailman had treats for them. President Benjamin Harrison had a summer home on one lake and so got a Congressional decree to establish a mail boat on the lake in1906 so he could get his mail. The boat only operates in the summer. The captain and his mate knew everything about everyone around the lake: who sold his boat to who; when people were coming back; who had too much to drink last night; the homes of the rich and famous, etc. This is a very small town. One of the most intriguing places in town is the Old Forge Hardware and General Store. We have never seen such a complete assortment of items in one place. Run by two women, you can find anything you want from camping supplies, hardware, knickknacks, clothing, furniture, a bookstore, gourmet food, kitchen items, anything.

We took a day trip to the Adirondack Museum that is one of the finest regional museums in the country. Different exhibits are scattered over 32 acres. The exhibits demonstrated life in the Adirondacks from early times. The most fascinating to us was the collection of different styles of canoes and powerboats used on the waterways here over the years. There were even a couple of birch bark canoes.

A 100-year recognition of the drowning of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette is also being observed at nearby Big Moose Lake. It was made famous in Theodore Dreiser’s book “An American Tragedy” and later in the movies, “A Place In the Sun” starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

On a Saturday, we took the Adirondack Railway tour through much of the primitive forest. Although it was raining and cold, we still had a lovely view of the countryside. We couldn’t get phone or internet service and the power was so low that we couldn’t run hardly any of our appliances. The temperature got down in the 40s in the middle of June.