(Less Than) 24 Hours in Lake Placid

Last weekend my dad visited and we ventured up to Lake Placid for the day. While we weren’t there for long, we packed a lot into our short, 20 hour visit. This is a great itinerary for anyone who wants to make an effort to get up to the Adirondacks, but is worried about time constraints, or for anyone who just loves to do a lot in a short period of time!

Day 1:

7:00am – Leaving at this early hour might seem inhumane to some commoners, but it will get Lake Placid enthusiasts up there early with a whole day to enjoy!

11:15am –  Arrive in Lake Placid! Check into your hotel (if they will let you) or just stop by and see if they will let you drop your bags and park your car. Luckily, we were able to check into our hotel (the Mirror Lake Inn) and after taking a few minutes to freshen up from the long drive began a casual stroll downtown.

The Mirror Lake Inn

11:45am –  Brunch at The Breakfast Club etc. Sit down at a this quaint breakfast spot on Main Street, Lake Placid and grab a bite to eat. Recommendations include any variation of their “rosti” – eggs and chives on top of a sizzling tray of home fried potatoes, banana-nutella french toast, and their elaborate Bloody Mary.

The Elaborate Bloody Mary

12:30pm – Walk down the street to the end where the Olympic facilities are located. Check out the 1932 indoor hockey rink – the first permanent structure that remained in use from the winter Olympics – before heading down to the Olympic museum. The Olympic museum albeit small, (it is only one room) gives a solid overview of both the 1932 and the 1980 winter Olympic games held in Lake Placid. Sporting exhibits include: Ice Skating, Ice Hockey, Luge, Bobsled, Skeleton, and Skiing. Other exhibits outlined the history of the Olympics, the evolution of Olympic fashion over the years, the many stages of the Olympic medal, as well as highlights of hometown Olympians who were born and raised in Lake Placid. 

Main Street runs along beautiful Mirror Lake

2:00pm – The afternoon provides the perfect time to wander the many shops of downtown Lake Placid. Look for jewelry at Just Bead It, check out the latest titles at, The Bookstore Plus, or buy a stuffed animal for your favorite little one at, Critters. I would also recommend my personal favorites: The Fallen Arch for all running needs and Adirondack Trading Company for all things reminiscent of the Adirondacks or for a fun souvenir. Lake Placid has a wonderful variety of shops all up and down it’s Main Street; One could walk up and down for hours.

4:30pm – As evening begins to settle in, wander back to your hotel room for a quick nap before dinner. After getting up at 6:30 to make the trip and spending the whole day touring, this is some much deserved rest.

6:00pm – Dinner at The View. Enjoy a delicious dinner overlooking Mirror Lake at The View, located inside the Mirror Lake Inn. They use locally sourced ingredients, and serve fresh bread as well as a variety of surprise taster courses throughout the evening. Recommended dishes include the crab cake appetizer and the sweet potato gnocchi dinner.  

8:00pm – Enjoy sitting fireside in the Mirror Lake Inn lobby in their comfortable chairs and warm, rustic fireplace.

9:30pm – Venture back out into downtown to make a trip to Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream. Especially when you come from somewhere where Ben & Jerry’s stores don’t exist, this is a special treat!

10:30pm – Retire back to your hotel room. It’s been a long, wonderful day of venturing in Lake Placid and you will most definitely sleep well tonight.

Day 2:

8:00am – Breakfast at The Breakfast Club etc. While 8:00 may seem a bit early to wake up when you’re on vacation, if you need to get on the road early, getting up for one last Lake Placid breakfast is well worth it.

8:45am – Say goodbye to the wonderful town of Lake Placid as you drive out. It’s been a wonderful 24 hours and you’ll definitely be back soon!

- all photos are my own -

Oswegatchie River Blueway Trail

       My first exposure to the Adirondacks was on my Triple Combo pre-orientation trip in the August of 2014. Our trip started on the east end of Lows Lake, where we paddled 14 miles to the west end to a 3.5 mile carry that would take us to the Oswegatchie River. Once we were on the river, we were able to paddle down 16 miles of pristine Adirondack waters. The stretch of the Oswegatchie that we canoed on snakes through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area, and has a beaver dam around almost every bend. These aspects of the river can make it difficult to navigate but also more wild because it isn't the most accessible waterway in the park. The river flows out of the park and eventually feeds into the St. Lawrence River. My trip on the Oswegatchie River was an incredible experience that has made me want to keep coming back to the Adirondack Park.
       The Oswegatchie River in the near future could see a rise in users with the new Blueway Trail that has been proposed. The trail would cover the area shown in the map below, which means it would create easier access to 112 miles of river for 20 communities that live along the Oswegatchie River. Guide services for paddlers and new/renovated boat launches are some ways the Blueway Trail plans to improve access. The two year study that has been collecting the public's concerns and ideas will be over by the end of november. Once it concludes, a plan will be finalized for the trail. While it is good to get more people educated about the park and the Oswegatchie River, making the river more accessible could do more harm then could. Having more people using the river could harm the habitat. The report on the study only shows the social benefits of the Blueway, perhaps a study on the environmental impacts could be useful too.

Oswegatchie Watershed. Lows Lake is not shown but would just be off of the lower right hand corner.

Source
Mende, Susan. "Study for Proposed Oswegatchie River Blueway Trail Nears Completion; Ideas Still Being Collected." Watertown Daily Times. N.p., 03 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Nov. 2015. <http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news05/study-for-proposed-oswegatchie-river-blueway-trail-nears-completion-ideas-still-being-collected-20151103>.

Winter Is Coming: XC Skiing Adventures in the Adirondacks

           When I was very small, I learned how to downhill ski at Powder Ridge in my home state Connecticut and with my cousins in Le Gets, France. I haven’t skied down hill for years and years, but I do remember that I never wanted to slow down, and would whisk past my parents, giving them both heart attacks. However, I soon grew away from downhill skiing. I think the slope we would go to every winter closed, and later what was available to us was a cross-country ski center near where we used to have a home in the Adirondacks.

Half an hour from our little house in Keene Valley, and five miles from the wonderful town of Lake Placid, Cascade Ski Center is the ultimate embodiment of Adirondack coziness and adventure. With 20 kilometers of groomed, varying, gorgeous trails, as well as a lodge restaurant and bar, Cascade is the perfect place to spend an day with family, friends, or just with your own thoughts. Skis can be bought or rented at Cascade’s ski shop and the rates for gallivanting about the trails for the day are quite reasonable. The trails not only vary in difficulty and length, but there are also trails that connect with the Mount Van Hoevenberg and Jack Rabbit trail systems. You could ski to Lake Placid if you wanted to!

What I find most valuable about cross-country skiing, is that instead of zipping past small clumps of trees and only seeing white open slope ahead of you, as in downhill skiing, XC is much more of a meditative activity. Skiing more slowly through thin, intimate trails, surrounded on all sides by pure Adirondack nature is what makes the pastime so magical. It is a non-destructive, quiet way of traversing the forests in winter, as skiers and snow-shoers stay on their respective trails. Cascade Ski Center is preserving this land as well as educating people about it by giving them access to such a personal way of interacting with nature.

Not my photo, but a good example of what the trails look like! 

Other pros are the health benefits! Cross-country skiing is not rocket science but it also certainly isn’t easy. For someone as out of shape as I am, the first ski of the season is going to hurt like hell! But at the same time I can’t wait, because this kind of skiing really works on toning muscles we don’t use enough. It’ll give you legs and abs of steel, honestly! I remember getting so warm from skiing that we returned to the lodge with out coats strapped to our packs and when my dad went out onto the porch as we had hot chocolate inside, he was steaming like he’d come out of a sauna.

Tiny tiny me at Cascade, many many years ago.

Finally, someone new I’ve learned about Cascade Ski Center, is that they host full moon celebrations! Every full moon in the winter they throw a party!

“Each winter season Cascade Cross Country Center celebrates the full moon with a party. The ski trails are lit for evening skiing under the moon light. On the trail you will find Bon-fires, beer, hot dogs, and hot chocolate. The lodge provides a cozy fireplace, food, drink, and a live band for a full evening of enjoyment.”

If that doesn’t get you to visit Cascade, I don’t know what will! Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and start getting your coats, hats, gloves and skis out, because though it doesn’t feel like it right now at Hamilton College, “winter is coming!”

Oaklea, my daddy, and I in front of the wonderful view from the Cascade lodge.

Sources:

http://www.cascadeski.com/index.html

http://www.cascadeski.com/skishop.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48023-d106287-Reviews-Mount_Van_Hoevenberg-Lake_Placid_New_York.html

Photos:

http://www.cascadeski.com/map.html

http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/522982/Cascade-joins-in-on-Nordic-Fest-party.html?nav=5007

http://adirondackgooselodge.com/?page_id=337

"The 46ers" Movie

 Robert and George Marshall were the first people to hike all the summits of the 46 peaks in New York that were over 4000 feet high. Between 1918 and 1925 the brothers hiked all the peaks, starting the tradition of the 46ers. Since then, over 8,000 people have followed in their footsteps. A recent documentary called “The 46ers” publicly premiered at the Lake Placid Center for Arts on September 4^th, 2015. Blake Cortright—the director of the production—said the film sought to discover what “transforms ordinary men and women into the legendary 46ers”.

            Cortright first came up with the idea for the film after hiking Mt. Marcy in August 2012. The view from the Adirondack’s highest peak inspired him to create a movie about the high peaks. After Marcy he hiked Tabletop, and Wright Peak. It was then that he wondered why people did this, why they hiked all 46 peaks. In October of 2012 he began to make preparations for the production. Over the course of two years, his team of filmmakers interviewed more than twenty 46ers and aspiring 46ers, capturing everything from humorous to inspiring stories. The filmmakers hiked over 100 miles and filmed over 100 hours of footage. In September of 2014 the last shot was captured from a helicopter. The film provides history and education about stewardship and environmental conservation along with the stories of the hikers. The official website for the film says the documentary will “highlight the inspiring beauty of Upstate New York, educate the public about environmental conservation and safety, and encourage people of all ages to explore the beauty of these natural wonders”.

Link for the trailer:

http://www.the46ersfilm.com/home/#welcome

            Originally, the title of the film was “The 46ers: Conquering the Adirondacks”. However, after a year of interviewing people and hiking with 46ers, the crew felt that the line ‘Conquering the Adirondacks’ did not reflect the spirit of the people who hiked the peaks, and did not reveal the message they hoped to capture in the film. For this reason, they shortened the title to just “The 46ers”. It’s interesting how the team came into filming thinking of hiking as ‘conquering’ and came out realizing it was far from it. Since the earliest settlers in the Adirondacks, humans have had the tendency to view nature as something to be control and exploited. In reality, nature does not exist solely for human use. The wilderness is not something we can or should ‘conquer’, but something we should connect with and protect.

Sources:

http://www.the46ersfilm.com/home/#whats-a-46er

http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/08/46ers-documentary-film-to-premiere-in-lake-placid.html