ADK AIRPLANE ADVENTURE

One of the most unique experiences that I had in the Adirondack mountains was back in 2003 when some of my friends and myself got an opportunity to fly over the ADK wilderness in an airplane. We were heading home from the first ever hiking trip in the high peaks down route 30 south. As we were heading through the town of Long Lake we noticed a plane that was flying low and was going to land on the water. So we decided to pull over and check it out. We also noticed another plane parked on the bank of the lake. Approaching the plane we realized that these were charted planes and we could pay $50 and get a 30 minute plane ride. We had an opportunity to speak to the pilot and we quickly connected. There was 6 of us in a group and since we all wanted a plane ride, we got a nice group discount. We all piled into the plane and before I knew it we were taxing down the lake for take off. The views that we experienced were spectacular.

LAKE PLACID FAVORITES!

Over the past 11 years, I traveled to Lake Placid over a dozen times. Especially over the past 5 years or so, my wife and I have discovered new things to enjoy every time we visit. Hiking in the high peaks is always a must. But apart from the hiking there are some great things that we enjoy doing in town.

LODGING

The only place that we stayed at has been Lake Placid Bay Inn. It's located on the bay as the name says. There are great views of Whiteface Mt. from the room. It's a 5 minute walk to Main Street. The rates are reasonable all year round and the facility is accommodating and clean. 

CANOEING/KAYAKING

Another great thing about the Inn is that it has canoes and rowboats that you could use to go out on the lake. 

DINING OUT

One of the first places that we go to for lunch is the Blue Mountain Deli & Creperia. They have 46 plus sandwich options as well as crepes. So it's a great option for breakfast or lunch. 

For dinner we usually try out new places every time we are in town. We don't have any favorites but we have enjoyed every place where we dined out. 

WINDOW SHOPPING/SHOPPING

There are many stores on Main Street and sometimes it's just fun to walk down the street and enjoy the weather without actually walking into the stores. On the other hand I have found some really cool deals and collectible things (coca-cola) while checking some stores. We even bought some rare jerky meat from kangaroo, alligator, and buffalo. Kangaroo was surprising very delicious. 

SCENIC

One could just simply go to Lake Placid to soak up the beauty that surrounds the town. There are mountains to the north and south with lakes and rivers throughout. Walking down Main Street provides the best views. 

MARCY DAM MEMOIR!

I was recently reading the ADK EXPLORER which had an article titled "DEC to remove Marcy Dam." The reasoning behind the removal sounds good and environment friendly but at the same time I have many great memories of the dam. So I decided to share the photos and memories of the Marcy Dam.
Some interesting facts that I recently learned about the dam. It was built in the 1920's and used in the logging industry on the Marcy Brook. It was rebuilt 10 years later. The current remaining structure was constructed in the early 1970's. It was partially destroyed by floodwaters triggered by Hurricane Irene in 2011. If it was to be rebuilt today it would cost a few million dollars. Instead the DEC decided to remove it for $50,000. And over the coming years the mudflat will become a wetland with a stream running through it. The DEC also built a bridge a few hundred feet downstream to be utilized by hikers in crossing over Marcy Brook.

BLACK BEARS & HUNTING!

Recently I came across an article in the ADIRONDACK EXPLORER March/April 2014 Issue titled DEC: too many bears. I personally have never hunted black bears but have considered it several times. This article captivated my attention because we have heard of friends encountering black bears in places they have never seen them before. One of our friends in Binghamton, NY while on the telephone recenrly said, "Oh just watching a black bear walking around in my backyard." Binghamton is 3.5 hour drive from the Adirondack Park. Six year ago the city of Syracuse experienced its own excitement of black bear activity. A black bear began to hang out around a Burger King in the Geddes /Camillus area. It would go through the trash containers, scavenging for food. Then it expanded its area of interest and it compassed a greater location that included a school and several housing developments. Eventually the bear was shot and killed when it was found hiding in a tree.
The article touched on the subject of expanding the hunting grounds where bears can be hunted as well as the methods used for luring the bears in. The DEC is considering in allowing hounds, bait, and traps for hunting bears in the Adirondack region.
One of the reasons that very few hunters are interested in black bear hunting is the strict limitation of how to hunt them. If these other methods are allowed, there will be more interest and therefore more bears will be taken during the hunting season.

The DEC posted these harvest results.

2013 Black Bear Harvest Comparison

	2013 Total	2012 Total	Recent 5-year Average (2008-2012)	Historical Average (1991-2000)
Statewide	1,358	1,337	1,288	722
Adirondack	380	606	560	515
Central-Western	342	289	231	38
Southeastern	636	442	497	169

BEAR DETERRENT!

After having a fair amount of black bear run-in's, several years ago I researched online for a black bear deterrent. I didn't want to get a personal firearm but it needed to be something that was light to carry and easy to use. UDAP BEAR DETERRENT was exactly what meet my expectations. This device has the following specs:

1. Formula 2.0% Capsaicin and related Capsaicinoids

2. 3.3 million heat units

3. 30-35 foot range

4. Fire extinguisher style spray pattern

5. Non-flammable

6. Highly visible fog

7. Comes with a carrying holster

There are other specs and they can be found at www.udap.com.

The downside of this device is that expires in 3 years and if the wind isn't in your favor than you may be the one running for your life with pepper in your eyes. 

Since I've purchased this product I haven't seen any bears nor had any serious encounters. And I hope to never encounter them any closer than I already have. It would be nice not to have any more bear stories, 4 is more than enough. 

ADK CAMPING BEAR ENCOUNTER #4

The final encounter that I would like to write about took place in 2011 on a camping trip in Inlet, NY. My family went camping with a church youth group at Limekiln State Campground. I have camped there several times before but we have only heard people share around the campfire about bears breaking into cars, campers, and even tents in search of food. In the years prior we have never encountered a bear during daylight hours only well after dark, when we could faintly see the bear outline lurking between campsites.

 At check-in I always like to ask the campground rangers on the bear activity and sightings. Like always they said, " Oh yes, they are here, out and about!" They also warned that a cub has been hanging around a little more than usual. And so like every year, I thought we just hear the stories but in reality never see them. 

But this year was different. As soon as we had set up our tents and started to prepare a late lunch, the cub everyone has been talking about came to say "hello." The cub was far from full size but it wasn't small either. It came from behind our campsites where there was a wooded area with low brush. It minded it's own business but it was definitely a show spectacle for many campers who just checked in. Many of us followed it from a distance as it went from one unoccupied site to another, looking for food. 

This day one sighting was only the beginning. The same day we saw the bear two more times. And in the following days we saw the bear on average 3 times a day. One of those days, after we ate lunch and all of the remaining food was put away in the bear resistant lockers that are part of every campsite,  I was sitting alone reading a book and there came along the cub again. As soon as I stood up and was going to go and grab something to make noise with, it got startled and ran away. 

Over the course of our camping trip the bear was seen but we didn't hear of it actually breaking into any of the campers property. We did hear the rangers discuss the possibility of tranquilizing the bear and removing it from the campground if it continued to hang around. But we never found out what actually happened to the cub before we left.

ADK HIGH PEAKS BEAR ENCOUNTER #3

The ultimate black bear encounter took place when I took my wife for the very first time to the ADK high peaks on Labor Day in 2007. The drive from Old Forge, NY to ADK Loj was longer by 40 minutes than we had anticipated. We parked at South Meadows Road and had a lovely walk to Marcy Dam. However, when we got there it was already dusk. We didn't stop anywhere for dinner, thinking we will make it into Marcy Dam a lot sooner. Nevertheless, when we located an unoccupied lean-to on the western side of the dam, it was getting dark fast. Without much thought we prepared dinner not far from our lean-to. We ate a quick dinner, washed our utensils, and packed our remaining food into a bear resistant canister. I then brought the canister far enough from the lean-to and wedged it between two pine trees. After dinner we settled in and got ready for bed. And thats when all the excitement began. No sooner did I turn off the flashlight when I heard a faint rustling outside.  Without hesitation, I quickly turned on the light and there at the foot of our lean-to was a huge bear peering inside. The face was literally 3 feet away from our feet under the sleeping bag. This would have been enough.

I began to yell "get out" as loud as I could. I instructed my wife to do the same, but she could barely speak out of fear. We happened to have two spare tent pegs laying nearby and I told my wife to start hitting them together to make some kind of noise. I then proceeded to look out of the lean-to, praying that bear had run away. By then I was standing outside and quickly scanning nearby bushes and trees for the bear. After a quick scan I located the bear about 50 feet behind and to the right of the lean-to. After continuing to yell at the bear, the bear just stood there. At the same time I also heard a scarping sound in the trees above. So I began searching the trees nearby with a flashlight. About 10 feet to the right of the lean-to was a pine tree and sitting in it were 3 bear cubs. It dawned on me that the reason the big mother bear wasn't going anywhere was because I was standing right beneath the tree where her cubs were hiding. I immediately jumped back into the lean-to and stayed quite so that the cubs would come down. It felt like eternity but we finally heard them slide down and run away.
Like that wasn't enough, the bears kept coming back the whole night. From time to time we would hear a rustling in the bushes nearby, I would start yelling "get out of here," my wife would hit the two tent pegs together and the noise would diminish. We had this routine going for the remainder of the night.

At some point we heard some really loud thrashing noises and yelling across the dam. Interestingly enough we had meet a newly-wed couple across the dam while searching for a lean-to who had just begun their honeymoon in the wilderness.

It felt like the morning would never come. The morning light was very welcoming. Although we were very exhausted, we still managed to hike Mt Phelps. We stayed at the summit for 2 hours and most of that time was spent napping on the warm rocks and no bears lurking around.  

ADK HIGH PEAKS BEAR ENCOUNTER #2

The second encounter came in 2005. There were four of us hiking in the ADK high peaks. We had hiked Algonquin on the first day and set up camp at the lean-to on Lake Colden. We  hiked with full packs and our day camps changed every day. This was also before the days of food bear canisters. And so on the first night out in the wilderness we had to be creative in how to securely hide our food. We thought of suspending our two small daffle bags about 40 feet in the air between two tall pines. Conveniently several yards behind our lean-to there was an already existing strong cable that was strung 40-50 feet in the air between 2 trees by previous hikers. Since it was getting dark and there was no better way of hiding the food we decided to utilize the cable. The bags were attached to a rope that we tied to the tree.

We had a restful night, without any furry friend visitors. Therefore, we had thought everything was okay. As we started to to get ready for breakfast, one of the guys went to retrieve the food bags from the tree, only to find nothing there. We then found the rope that held the suspended bags was chewed off. To our dismay we found one of the daffle bags torn to shreds and wrappers of our granola bars and beef jerky scattered on the ground. This was devastating because we had planned to hike for 2 more days, and we needed food in order to continue our trip.

One of the guys decided to look around and see if we could find the remains of the other bag. A few minutes into the search we noticed a trail of food, still unopened, that lead deeper into the woods. In a few yards we found the other bag with more unopened food. After we had collected the scattered food we had enough to feed all four of us for another day.

After a smaller breakfast than anticipated we began hiking Day 2. We ended up hiking with all of our gear to Marcy Dam. As we were nearing Marcy Dam we took a break at one of the lean-tos. There we meet an elderly couple who were packing up and hiking back to their cars. They had some leftover food and after we told them our story they gladly gave us their leftovers. I will never forget that caring couple that gave us enough food to feed all of us for one meal. They ended up giving us some salami, really delicious aged cheese and a few slices of bread. We had a feast later that evening for dinner.