Perhaps I have a disorder

After we finished the pump house, we were looking for a small adventure...and again we decided to go on a waterfall hunt. Yes, I have an obsessive, compulsive disorder regarding waterfalls and the saddest part is I have sucked the poor innocent children into my disorder. It's Folie A Trois. Armed with our trusty book, we decided to check out the falls of Wilmington, just NE (I think) of Lake Placid. First we stopped at Monument Falls, right at roadside 4.3 miles from 73/86 intersection on 86. These were nice, small, lovely for a few hours of wading. Sadly, we are becoming waterfalls snobs and moved on. We went further on 86 ( about .9 miles after High Falls Gorge) to the Wilmington Notch falls. Holy Cow. Scary. So Scary. No fences, warnings or anything and you are on cliffs looking down on a raging, huge, rocky waterfall. Really awesome. The most amazing we have seen. I kept screeching at the boys to stop throwing sticks and I kept hugging the nearby trees. The setting is weird. It is a public campsite, run by the state. You pay $1 and then basically head down this gulge- no real path. You just follow the sound of soul shaking crashing water. After that, we headed about 1.1 miles further on 86 to the Wilmington Flumes. You park in a designated area, just over a bridge on the left, cross over to the south side of the bridge and head down a path which takes you next to multiple falls and cascades. We continued further and landed at the Grand Central Station of swimming holes. About 30 people, swimming in an olympic sized swimming hole, at the base of a falls - very very deep. Of course, there was the requisite cliff and rock jumping which Oscar immediately jumped on (and Clarke joined later.) People were swimming under the falls and riding the current. Water was crystal clear and freezing cold. What a fantastic scene. We met folks from Montreal, Toronto, Virginia, Colorado...and Long Island of all godforsaken places. I practiced some french with the little Montreal kids who had the words for rabbit and frog mixed up. The thought of a large, green "rabbit", trapped under the rocks was almost too much for me to bear. Great day. We ended at tail o' the pup because we were too dirty and ugly for anyone else.

Side note, we have yet to pay for the commercial attraction of High Falls Gorge, though we have heard it is worth it. We thought perhaps when Joe's dad comes it would be nice, as it's not quite as rugged as the other hikes.