Road Trip Photos

I guess I had almost forgotten to post some pics of the road trip that Brendan and I enjoyed a couple of weeks back. I can tell you, and I probably already told you, we had lots of fun. We went fishing, canoeing, hiking, sight seeing, snake hunting, caught toads and frogs, and also caught some crayfish. All in all it was a grand time, but I'll let you judge from among some of the few pictures I took. One of the first things we did after arriving was to go and get some fishing done. On the way to the fishing spot, Brendan caught a garter Snake (and released it). It was a nice sized one, but the picture did not come out well. As for the fishing, well the fish were on the small side and few and far between, although we caught several that first day. Brendan is holding a Sunny he caught, then released. A hook loaded with an earthworm, attached to a line with a float, and you can catch almost any freshwater fish in NY.

The next day we headed out to Ausable Chasm for some sightseeing. The hike through the private park was about 3 miles long, and ended with a tram ride back to the parking lot. The chasm was well worth the $34 or so dollars we paid to get in to see it. First I'll post a pic of Joe Cool, then Joe Not So Cool, then scenery shots. I'll basically let the scenery speak for itself, but I will tell you a bit about each shot. The pic of Joe Cool show the Falls at the head of the chasm. The same goes for the next pic, that of Joe Not So Cool. What can I say, I used to be young, and thin, like Joe Cool; but now about 50 extra pounds and old age have brought me down.

Oh well, I guess that is to be expected as one grow older, though I must point out I recently started hitting the treadmill and the weights again. Maybe by next summer I will look more like Joe Cool does here in the weight department - yeah right!

The next series of pics are scenery shots. As you can see in some of these pics, there is a walkway that you take to see most of the chasm. This walkway has been replaced several times over the years. When I was a kid it was more of a catwalk hanging off the side of the cliffs and over the water. Now there is more of a path that was blasted into the cliff face. I guess the reason for this was the floods they had in the 1990s.

Look closely and the shots with the bent and twisted catwalk. That spot is about 60 feet above the water level when the picture was taken. You guessed it, the floods caused the water to rise high enough to damage that catwalk, and tear down many others. At some points, they told us, it reached 90 feet above the level of where it was when we saw it. Talk about flash floods, man that must have been awesome.

Can you just imagine a river flooding to 90 feet above its normal levels. I guess I had never thought of such a thing before, but when you look down these narrow gorges, it is not all that hard to fathom. The flood actually brought down some bridges elsewhere on the river, and they had a big chunk of one of those bridges on display. I would have loved to have been there, observing from atop the cliffs, as that show was going on, and I would probably have been scared as anything that the cliffs would give way to that great force. Note that if you click on the first one to enlarge it, you will notice little people on a catwalk, about midway vertically in the right hand side of the picture. That will give you an idea of scale as to the chasm depth from the top to the surface of the water - and the water is about 40 feet deep (or was it 60) in some places at this water level, so just imagine another 40 feet of depth to the chasm.

Remember that if you want, you raft or tube the river through the chasm. I think it is about a mile long trip. We chose not to, but I think Brendan may have an idea of trying it out when he returns there someday. This was my second trip there, I made my initial trip when I was much younger than Brendan, before I was 9 years old. I always wanted to bring my kids there, now at least one of the two have seen it.

You again can see some folks in the next shot to give you an idea of the size of the place. Besides being big, this place was cool, and I mean it literally. It was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and will probably remain one of the hottest ones. Despite that, there were some shady places in the chasm that were almost as if air conditioned. God, mother nature, chaos, luck, whomever or whatever was responsible, certainly figured out how to do it right as far as I am concerned. I don't know if you can see them in any of the pics we took, but there are also a bunch of pigeons in the chasm. Yes those veritable New York City rats with wings live free and wild at Ausable Chasm.

The last two shots are one nearing the end of the chasm but looking back upriver, and another where the chasm ends and opens up to a wider area of river. Since I don't know if you will ever get the chance to see this in person, I thought these were some nice shots to share with you. I don't know about how you feel after seeing the pictures, but if you are not impressed let me say it is still worth going to see the actual chasm. Walking the trail and catwalks while viewing Ausable Chasm is truly a humbling and impressive experience, well worth the trip in my book.

Even when you come to the end of the chasm, or at least this part of the chasm (as I am not sure if it ends here) the view is impressive. This has got to be one of the most scenic things I have ever taken in within the USA, and I have been to an awful lots of places in the lower 48. it is not anywhere on the same scale of the Grand canyon, but it is impressive in its own right. If you ever get the chance to be in northeastern New york state, then a side trip to Ausable Chasm would be well worth a detour. About the only thing I wanted to do while at the chasm, that they just would not allow, was to try my hand at fishing in the river. I was told - no trout here, too swift. The lady who told me that does not know fish, or fisherman; because even if she had been right, a fisherman is always willing to give in to eternal hope and wet a line.

The next day, our last day in the area, we went canoeing in the St. Regis wilderness area. What a nice place, wonderfully crisp fresh air, lots of deep and beautiful forest, crystal clear water, the chance to see wildlife. Maybe not pristine wilderness, but probably as close as you can get to such in New York. Shame on me, I did not take any pictures while out on the lakes canoeing. I guess carrying our canoe to the launching site from the rental store had me huffing and puffing so much I forgot all about taking pictures. We did paddle around on two connected ponds or lakes, and we fished as we did so. Brendan had some impressive hits from big fish, but they both threw the hooks. What we caught were only a couple of small ones each and that was it. One fish he caught was sucker which to me was quite unexpected in one of those lakes. I had only seen them in streams and rivers before. It was about a 12 to 14 incher. I caught a smallmouth bass, maybe 1 pound in weight (if lucky). I also managed to get canoe knees, despite three applications of sunblock. It wasn't too bad, as you can see I survived. Brendan used stronger sunblock, and he had the last laugh on me. Well at least I didn't fall into the water or anything like that, not yet as far as the trip went anyhow.

We left the area that afternoon and headed west toward the Finger Lakes. I'll write more about that in another rant tomorrow or the following day. I figure this one is long enough to have completely bored you by now, much like was our 5 1/2 hour car ride to our next destination.

All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip Upon Us - Almost Packed...

...for the road trip. I have almost everything in the Corolla's trunk with a lot of room left over in the back seat. If I can get the larger of our two coolers into the trunk, and it is not that large, then the smaller one will come along too but in the back seat. I have about 6 bottles of water in the freezer to use later for our ice. Keeps it neater using bottled water, and when it melts it sure goes down icy cold. If I can find the room, I will put a few more bottles into the freezer overnight.

Right now I am hopeful I remembered anything we might need. The only thing I think we need one or two more of are flashlights. I think I only have one of my mini-maglights, but there are more around to be found in the house somewhere. All our other gear, with the exception of a rifle, is already in the car. That rifle, by the way, will be our Henry Survival rifle as trunk space is a premium and I want it in the trunk out of sight. Hopefully no one steals my car tonight, that would be a bummer; but I sleep lightly, and I will have the dogs and shotgun ready just in case anyone wants to try.

As for the trip route, we will plan it somewhat as we go along, but I have decided on some areas to I would like to visit and to show to Brendan. For starters, and subject to our whims and fancies of any moment, we will head up to Saranac Lake and spend two nights there. From Saranac Lake, we will be close to Ausable Chasm, and the Ausable River and some excellent trout fishing. If we decide to leave, I have some ideas after that, the next stop being Geneva, NY at the north end of Seneca Lake. This would put us nearby to Taughannock Falls State Park, and I would like to visit there to see if Brendan can duplicate his catch of a few years back when he caught a nice Brown Trout there. I am hoping to spend one night in Geneva, then move onto Niagara Falls the following day. Brendan has never had the pleasure of seeing Niagara falls as did his sister some years back. I think he will like it, and we may also take a cruise on the Erie Canal while in the area. Then the next night's stay is yet to be determined, but it has to be on the way back home as this would be Friday night, and we have to be home by late Saturday. We will see where we land on that last night; just the same as on most of the others it will depend upon what we feel like doing and where we feel like going. I guess really not being sure of where we will be going is one of the fun things about a road trip, even if I already have a route planned out. As I said earlier, it could all change based upon our whims and fancies of the moment.

I am figuring that hotels, yes we will probably stay in hotels each night of the trip (I pretty much have ruled out camping), and for the first two nights I have reserved rooms in the Best Western at Saranac lake. For the next night, it will be Motel 6 in Syracuse or Geneva, that is if we go the route I have in mind. Then it will be Holiday Inn (a free night from credit card points, and the last hotel stay I will get for those points in a long time based on how slowly they build up). Then the last night who knows, but something not too expensive. I look at it this way, Motel 6 would be fine again if we can find one on the way back home through NY or PA. I know there is a nice one in Binghamton, and my bet is Brendan would probably like to visit my uncle's old neighbors, and some fishing spots, from when he owned a farm up that way. I have been to some Motel 6's that have been horrendous but now have discovered that if you do not see the ACCOR decal on the door or in the office of the Motel 6, then it is a franchise, and not a corporate run Motel 6. All my bad experiences with Motel 6 have been at franchised ones, not at the ones displaying the ACCOR Motels insignia. I avoid the franchises like the plague. The ACCOR Motel 6's are usually very clean, with small but adequate rooms, a small pool, and free telephones for local calls, and cable TV with HBO. The people working at them are usually very nice. They are priced pretty inexpensively. One other thing I like about them is that they allow pets. Sure other hotels allow pets, at least some of them do, but do they allow these. Motel 6 let me keep this guy in my room after Brendan and I caught him in Arizona near Madera Canyon 4 years ago. It was a Sonoran Gopher Snake, around 5 1/2 feet long (click on the pic for a larger view). Yes Motel 6 does have its good point as far as I am concerned. Besides that, I look at a motel, especially on a trip like this, to be little more than a place to stop and sleep. If clean, safe, dependable, and reasonably priced then I will stop over there if along the way especially since I do not have money to burn on fancy hotels. Yes all I can think about is the washing machine I just bought, the mortgage, the college bills, and such. Yikes, but the road trip goes on, and I will scrimp and save by going to Motel 6.

Well, just a bit more to get packed. Then I have to clean up my animal enclosures. Thank goodness my wife Linda will care for all the critters for 5 days or so. She does not have to do just about anything with the snakes, but does have to feed the tortoises, the turtle, the hamsters, and the mice (5 tanks of mice alone) while we are away. She is a good woman putting up with all of this especially since she does not like any of my choices of pets.

Later for all of you, be back next weekend.

All the best,
Glenn B

Summer - Heck That Means A Road Trip...

...is upon us, or at least the time to take one certainly is upon us. Brendan's last day of school was yesterday, I have vacation that starts on Saturday, and we hit the road on Monday (or maybe Sunday afternoon, after he gets out of work). I sort of figured that this year, instead of doing something far away and over the hills, we might just keep it local sort of, and visit upstate New York. Of course, this will require driving pretty far away, and over lots of hills, but you get my drift.

New York State has a lot to offer in the scenery department, and it has a lot to offer the outdoorsman. Along those lines, if we actually decide on upstate NY as our road trip for this year, we will probably go hiking, herping (looking for things like snakes, turtles, frogs and salamanders), fishing, swimming, canoeing, and so on. There will also be lots of other things to do, and we may go sight seeing at places like Fort Ticondaroga, Ausable Chasm on the Ausable River (and we will fish there too if we visit it - can you say nice trout), Brewery Ommegang (if we get over that way, near Cooperstown you can bet this will be one of my stops), Howe Caverns, and whatever. We only have 5 or 6 days to enjoy, and we will probably cram in as much as we can. Then you never know, we may just find one place that is paradise for this trip and stay there. One of the great things about a road trip is the spontaneity with regard to places you visit, and things you do.

I will start getting ready tomorrow night. I have a list all prepared of the things we will need. A car that is fueled up, cash and credit cards top the list. Maps are optional; I mean heck this is a follow you nose kind of a trip, so who needs maps! After those I figure I'll bring along some things like:

5 days worth of clothes
Raingear
Fishing Gear (poles, reels, full tackle box, minnow traps, minnow bucket, aerator, nets)
Fishing licenses
Ice Chest
First Aid Kit
Flashlights
Tent
Sleeping Bags
foam ground mats
Lantern
A couple of rifles (so we can have a blast if we get bored)
Ka-Bar Knives
Handgun (I like to have protection)
Pepper Spray (so we taste better if a bear eats us)
Maybe a live catch animal trap (for nature study purposes only, so we can see what was eating our food, and keeping us up all night, if we camp out)

Well, you get the idea, we are off to have out of doors fun. I only hope all this junk fits in the Corolla so I don't have to take the Taurus.

If we do head upstate instead of to some other state, I figure we will try to make it to Lake George or a bit north of there on our first day. That will get us close to a lot of places to which I'd like to take Brendan. Then again he may have some other ideas. We will see what happens once we put the car in gear.

I guess a road trip kind of precludes a lot of blogging, if any, being dome by me while we are away. If we stay in any hotels with a computer that has Internet access, I will try to bring you up to date, if not, well then I guess I'll blog about it on our return home Friday or Saturday next week. I'll still be blogging up until the day we depart though, which will likely be Sunday or Monday.

All the best,
Glenn B