Do if for the Blog!

We'll start at the end of the story. The final leg of our famous Waterfall Hike involved a very precarious climb to Rainbow Falls. We were on a ledge with snow up to our thighs. It was slippery and our feet were soaked. I thought it might be a bad idea to continue until Oscar said "do it for the blog, mom". So I succumbed to peer pressure from my nine year old and we continued, making it another hundred feet to see Rainbow Falls in all of its spring glory - even felt the spray. We tried to get even closer but Oscar slipped (per Oscar "and almost died"), and we decided that we had made the most of the day.


The weather was perfect for the hike, and this was one of our favorites from last year. Unfortunately, both West River Trail and East River Trail were closed because of significant snow. We didn't have our snow shoes and might have soldiered on despite the warning but I do remember there was a lot of narrow climbing and the ranger looked alarmed when I hesitated. We then decided it was our first hike in awhile and it would be ok to just take the Lake Road. This would mean we'd miss all the falls, except the grand daddy Rainbow. We hiked for about 4 miles and reached the Lower Ausable Lake Dam. The boys took their shirts off and dived into snow banks. We let our socks dry out and hung on the rocks for awhile, before our fateful decision to climb the rest to Rainbow.

The way back was easy peasy, mostly downhill. We had some Naan for sustenance. The boys passed the trail for their all-time favorite mountain..Nippletop. The giggling lasted for about a half mile. We probably hiked around 9 miles total, a great first outing. The boys came back and had brownies and we had ginger flank steak and sugar snap peas for dinner. A great escape.

** pix shot with my bberry. excuse quality

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.

Weekend Recap

So much to cover! I'm going to break this up into a few posts to capture the Best Of. Our guests arrived Friday night and Saturday morning we started the day with our adorable dog guest Harlan checking out the place and having a morning conversation with the neighbor rooster. The kitties showed some initial bravado but quickly learned that coonhounds aren't messing around in their love of the hunt. We didn't see Rex or Roxy for the rest of the weekend, except to glare at us from upper rafters. We then narrowed our choices for days activities and decided to try another waterfall hike, Deer Brook Falls. This one was 2 miles south of Keene Valley. Heading from Saranac Lake, park on the northwest side of the East Branch of Ausable River Bridge and start at the trailhead of Snow Mountain. Follow the path along the brook all the way up. (if you want more specifics, email me. Lovely setting, beautiful day, Harlan had a blast. The falls were not dramatic like our earlier hikes to see Beaver Creek and Rainbow Falls but about 80 foot up and still worth the short hike of about 1 mile. We met a really mean family with a cranky mom. She yelled at Harlan and yelled at us and her husband cowered in the corner. We then amused ourselves on the way down with the rhetorts we could have said if we were more clever. Geez, I could stay in Manhattan for that treatment.

We then tried in vain to find Split Rocks Falls in Elizabethtown, which are supposed to be almost roadside but to no avail. We consoled ourselves by planning an alternate late afternoon activity consisting of camp chairs by a fire, cold beer, and treats from Fairway.

Hiking Free Form

Jack Rabbit Trail, yesterday, blueberries!, hills?, teen angst, toads, Fallen Leaf Pond, impromptu fist fight, "oranges are a bit of heaven", annoyed mother, Fallen Leaf Pond again, 6 miles, lost in Lake Placid, thankful pick-up, glad it wasn't a 46er, crime and punishment.

Waterfalls!

Ok, so this isn't all technically hiking just the 46ers. We had to write about this great hike. I found a book at the Regis Canoe Outfitters in Saranac Lake called Adirondack Waterfall Guide: New York's Cool Cascades. (could have bought on amazon for less!). Anyway, there was an amazing 10 mile hike that covered multiple waterfalls. I have been obsessing about waterfalls and thought boys and I would give it a try. Sadly sadly, my dumb camera decided not to work so I took a few shots with my mobile. This was an amazing hike. We started out at the Ausable Club. Incidentally, what a weird place! I felt like I entered 1950. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner". Ok I digress, once we hiked past the plaid wearing, scary people, we turned right at Lake Road and found trailhead of West River Trail. The entire trail is skirting the Ausable River. It was a fantastic hike. Sometimes it was a trickle, sometimes raging, sometimes we were high up looking down and sometimes we could dip our toes in. The first waterfall was Pyramid. We had to go off main trail only about .2 but were quite disappointed. (or we never actually saw the right waterfall.) From there, we headed to WedgeBrook waterfall, which was absolutely lovely -three different levels with pools and streams between. We had lunch on the rocks there and that had to decide if we were going to continue because we had only hiked about 3 miles. We decided to definitely make it to Beaver Meadow Falls and then decide from there if we could do Rainbow Falls, the grand-daddy. I am really happy we decided to forge on because the next two were in a different league. At Beaver Meadows, the trail gets you close enough to feel the spray from the streams. It was "magical", as Clarke is fond of saying. Of course, we forged on to Rainbow after that. It was really beautiful and the grandest. It was more difficult to get up close to Rainbow then the others. I had the boys crocs in my bag but it was looking like rain and we decided to high-tail it outta there. The great news is the Lake Road is accessible from Rainbow so we didn't have to take trail back, as the boys were getting pretty tired. Lake Road is a flat road that runs parallel to the East and West River Trails. You miss all the beauty and fun but it direct, and paved, and flat - so a great way to head home. We hiked about 8 miles total. Then of course, we called Joe(who was working all day) to meet us at Casa Del Sol for dinner. Margaritas and shirley temples for all my friends