Category Archives: New York

Natural Wonders of the USA part 10

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More Natural Wonders by State

When we last visited our Natural Wonders list we had just wrapped up Kentucky. We’re ready for  # 35 on our Natural Wonders list. How many have you seen so far? Have you added any to your must-visit list?  Let’s see where we are going next!

 

#35 Ohio – Crystal Cave

Well My, my my- Another cave. Who knew that being underground could be so exciting? I guess its something Spelunkers have always known. This cave is the world’s largest known geode. 

The Crystal Cave was discovered while the land owner was digging a well for his winery. So today you can combine some wine with a cave tour and take a bottle home with you to help relive the memories. 

Photo via Crystal Cave Website

File:Celestite (Crystal Cave, South Bass Island, Lake Erie, Ohio, USA) 18 (8320050647).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Image Via Pinterest

 

#36 Illinois – Starved Rock State Park

Starved Rock State Park is the biggest attraction in the state of Illinois. It features 13 miles of trails and numerous seasonal waterfalls that are especially active in the spring.

The Park is  known for its steep sandstone canyons formed by glacial meltwater. Several, including the St. Louis, French and Wildcat canyons, have waterfalls. A wooded trail leads to Lover’s Leap Overlook, with views of the river and Starved Rock Dam. Park wildlife includes white-tailed deer, bald eagles and migratory birds. 

St Louis Falls, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois | A glorio… | Flickr

St Louis Falls, Starved Rock State Park- Photo credit Flickr

#37 Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Grand Canyon

Sometimes called the Pine Creek Gorge,  Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon is 50 miles long and 1000 feet deep. Loaded with trees and wildlife, the area is a naturalist’s dream. You may even see a Bald Eagle. 

Photo – internet

#38 New York – The Adirondacks

The Adirondacks, my home state! I can’t say my home town because the Adirondacks encompass around 5000 square miles of mountains, lakes and wilderness. The Adirondack Park was created in 1892 and is the largest publicly protected area in the US.  It’s greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier and The Grand Canyon National Parks combined. The park contains 6 million acres of “Forever wild” forest preserve.  It holds a special place in my heart so I’m happy to share one of my photos of beautiful Lake George to illustrate this wonder.

Lake George 2020 – photo credit Deb Neumann

Adirondacks 2020 – photo credit Deb Neumann

I admit I was surprised that Niagara Falls didn’t make the list but I haven’t been to Niagara in years and there is so much more in the Adirondacks than one big waterfall. 

Adirondack Balloon Festival 2014- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Massachusetts State Parks

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Massachusetts State Parks

If you are a Facebook user you may have seen advertisements for Nature Adventure books. When they first came out with them I ordered a couple. I ordered National Parks, Massachusetts State Parks and New England Lighthouses. I figure that the Massachusetts State Parks and The New England Lighthouses would give me plenty to do and I’d have the National Parks for when I travel out of state. COVID and personal health reasons made a major dent in my travel the last 2 years but it’s time to think about getting out and about again.

Oh The Possibilities

I pulled out the Massachusetts State Park Adventure Book and there are 305 parks listed. They aren’t just state parks, there are Reservations, Historic Sites, beaches, State Forests, and  Management Areas. So as a first step I decided to go through the list and see how many I’ve been to already. After all, this is the state where I’ve lived pretty much all of my adult life and I’ve always done a lot of exploring. I must have been to some of the places on the list! 

Bash Bish Falls State Park

The first one on the list that I spotted was Bash Bish Falls State Park. Of course I always mess it up and call it Bish Bash Falls. That just sounds better to me! I made the trek to Bash Bish Falls in June of 2017. Bash Bish Falls is located in the western part of Massachusetts on the New York state border. Located in the Town of Mount Washington it is also part of Mount Washington State Forest. 

You can choose to make the hike easy or hard. The trail head in MA is steep and rugged. Probably not too bad going down, if you’re careful, but I sure didn’t want to have to make my way back up at the end of the day so I went into New York and used the New York trail head to get to the falls. It may  be a little longer but it’s a gradual incline and it’s downhill going back. 

Bash Bish Falls is the highest waterfall in Massachusetts. The dramatic final pitch of Bash Bish Brook drops about 80 feet into an emerald plunge pool. It’s an enjoyable hike to experience the wonder and beauty of this deep, verdant gorge. https://youtube.com/shorts/-Vqd_OQmFsc?feature=share

If You Go

  • From Massachusetts Parking Lot: Difficult ability, about 0.6 miles round-trip. Shorter, more rugged, and strenuous.
  • From New York Parking Lot: Moderate ability, about 1.5 miles round-trip. Longer and gradual, but rocky and uneven.
  • Nearby, Taconic State Park in New York state offers more visitor amenities, picnicking, swimming, and camping.

The Wild Center

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The Wild Center, Tupper Lake NY

The Wild Center, formerly known as the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, creates an environment that lets you immerse yourself in nature. What do the eagles see? What would it be like to live in a spider’s web? On one of our aborted trips to Whiteface Mountain we detoured to the Wild Center. I’d heard about it from my sister and also read several articles in Adirondack Life magazine but I really couldn’t get my head around what it was. So what’s the best way to find out? Go there for myself.

A Walk On The Wild Side

The Wild Center gives new meaning to a walk on the wild side. Well maintained boardwalks wound through the forest and trees. My knees were not cooperating the day we were there. My limited mobility as I’ve gotten older continues to be a major frustration for me. On the board walks I was fine but when we left the boardwalk for the trail it got harder and soon I was parked on a bench watching families pass by to the river. Still I was able to enjoy enough to see what all the buzz was about. 

The Eagles Nest

One of the stops on the board walk that I heard mentioned over and over again was the Eagle Nest. I couldn’t imagine it but once I saw it I was hooked. A short climb up a series of stairs and you step into the world of the Eagle. Standing in the nest you look out over the tree tops just like an eagle would. There are panoramic views in all directions.

The Spider’s Lair

Nearby a rope spider web was stretched over a large hole in the board walk inviting the adventurous and non mobility challenged to test it out. A family was rolling around laughing a struggling to climb back up while we were there. Oh to be young again. I would have tried it in a heartbeat but I was pretty sure that if I got in I’d never get out now.  Just watching those teenagers convinced me my assessment was correct.

The Wild Walk

Wild Walk takes visitors up a trail of bridges to the treetops of the Adirondack forest. That was really tempting but once again caution limited what I was willing to try. The suspended bridges and the climb up the inside of the huge tree truck look like tons of fun. It made me think of the Swiss Family Robinson attraction at Disney. Lots of swaying walk ways suspended in the trees. 

Handicap Accessible

You may think from my comments on what I skipped that this is only for the young and fit but that’s not entirely true. The board walk is so wide and well maintained that you can easily navigate those sections with a wheel chair. On a nice day there is no better way to get out in nature and enjoy the beautiful Adirondack breezes. 

 

A Day on Lake George

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A Day on Lake George

A day on Lake George is a day spent in “God’s Country” or so say the locals. I can tell you that in my travels I’ve seen some beautiful places but few reach the level of beauty and tranquility as Lake George. Of course that’s just my opinion. I’m sure the folks water skiing, jet skiing and tubing would have a different description. There’s nothing tranquil about what they are doing roaring around the lake. Still, Lake George wasn’t nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes for nothing.

The lake was originally named the Andia-ta-roc-te by local Native Americans. James Fenimore Cooper in his narrative Last of the Mohicans called it the Horican, after a tribe which may have lived there, because he felt the original name was too hard to pronounce.

The first European visitor to the area, Samuel de Champlain, noted the lake in his journal on July 3, 1609, but did not name it. In 1646, the French Canadian Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues, the first European to view the lake, named it Lac du Saint-Sacrement (Lake of the Holy Sacrament).

But by any name, its beautiful.

Our Day on The Lake

We started our day by picking up the boat at the Sagamore, a resort hotel located in Bolton Landing on Lake George. The Sagamore’s history dates back to the 1880’s. Located on it’s own private Island the main hotel is a nod back to the elegant travels of yesterday.

Casting off from our slip we left the stately Hotel behind us as we headed to one of the many islands on the lake.

Lake George is 32 miles long with somewhere  around 170 islands. 148 of the which are state owned. Many with docks and campsites. Although many of the names of the islands and surrounding mountains were familiar I’d been away too long to recognize many of them.

Some of the surrounding mountains include Black Mountain, Elephant Mountain, Pilot Knob, Prospect Mountain, Shelving Rock, Sleeping Beauty Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Tongue Mountain Range. Some of the lake’s more famous bays are Basin Bay, Kattskill Bay, Northwest Bay, Oneida Bay, and Silver Bay.

The lake is distinguished by “The Narrows”, an island-filled narrow section (approximately five miles) that is bordered on the west by the Tongue Mountain Range and the east by Black Mountain

All The Way to the End of the Lake

We picked up sandwiches at the little store on Glen Island where the ranger station is located. We cruised around until we located a vacant island with a dock where we stopped for lunch.

During our explorations we passed a huge eagle nest, empty today but looking in good shape. Eagles use the same nest over and over. They just keep adding on.

 

The afternoon was spend riding up toward Ticonderoga, the northern end of the lake. We stayed away from the southern end of the lake because there’s where Lake George Village is located with it’s Million Dollar Beach and where most of the tourists will be. On our return we spotted the cruise ship Mohican  on the far side of the lake.

Northwest Bay

We ended the day in Northwest Bay.  It quiet beauty under scores my earlier comment. Northwest Bay Brook was tranquil.

A few kayakers and fishermen but not water skiers. The brook was quiet.

Adirondack Wildlife

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I’ve been telling you about the beautiful scenery and abundant food  in the Adirondacks but  what about the Adirondack Wildlife? There’s certainly plenty of that around even if we didn’t see them all. You can find black bear, bobcats, coyotes /coy-dogs, Red fox, beaver, muskrat, ground hogs, deer, maybe a moose in the north and tons of squirrels & chipmunks. And we can’t forget the traditional road kill of possums, raccoons, skunks and porcupines!Then there are the birds. Herons, blue jays, crows, ravens, woodpeckers, chick-a dees,  hummingbirds, finches, sparrows red winged black birds, loons…. Throw in a few raptors- various hawks and owls and even bald eagles.

Of course we can’t forget  the scaly creatures- snakes (including rattlesnakes), turtles from little sliders to whopping snappers, and fish. The only alligators are those some stupid people released thinking it would be fun. Those people are cruel idiots. Excuse me for being so blunt but they are signing the poor alligator’s death warrant. They are not good people.

The Eastern Cougar

The eastern cougar was declared extinct on January 22, 2018. Once this big cat roamed all of the eastern states dining on deer meat. But as the herd disappeared so did the cougar.However as white tailed deer made a comeback in places such as the Adirondacks there are sporadic sightings reported. Are they really extinct? Are the sightings of the eastern cougar or their western cousins? Who knows but like Bigfoot they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. 

 

The Little Mammals

Mid way through my visit we descended on my sister. We met her for lunch at Cooper’s Cave then retired to her house to take in the mini wildlife in her back yard. We enjoyed the antics of her tiny menagerie for several hours while catching up on family gossip. As much as Sandy complains about the chipmunks and squirrels digging holes in her yard, she still keeps an ample supply of peanuts on hand. The squirrels and chipmunks come first and then the Blue Jays. We even saw her hummingbird! 

 

 

Puzzle Progress

I forgot to post an update on the last post . As you can see the progress isn’t fast but it is steady.