BIKING THIS FALL!

For the first time this year I will be biking in the fall. I quickly realized that a small investment was needed in order for me to be prepared for the cooler weather. After doing some research online and talking to some biking enthusiasts I felt ready to do some purchasing.

RETIRING HIKING BOOTS!

After hiking in the ADK High Peaks for 10 years and 22 peaks (Marcy and Algonquin twice), my Hi-Tec leather boots are showing many signs of being old. There are many scratches on the toe, several wrinkles throughout, and the sole isn't as firm as before. They are still great shoes but only to be used on camping trips and other little adventures on the woods. I really liked the idea of being all leather and waterproof. I did waterproof them a couple times over the years just to make sure. Although they weren't really water resistant during a hiking trip when we walked in pouring rain for 4-5 hours. But they were great once again after they were nicely dried.

So this year sounded like a good year to invest in a new pair of boots. After a couples of hours online,  I was able to find something that I thought would work well for me and my adventures. With a few brand names in mind, I went to EMS and Dicks Sporting Goods to try out some boots. I was surprised that the boots that received good reviews, like Vasque and Keen,  actually didn't fit well on my foot. I wanted to make sure that the new boot would work well for backpacking trips, had good arch support and it had to be mostly leather. Cost and tread were also important factors. At Eastern Mountain Sports I tried on a pair of Oboz Bridger Mid BDry. Out of all the pairs that I tried they felt really good. A unique thing that these boots had was an insert very similar to the SuperFeet inserts. Other features that I liked was: rubber randing (glued-on outer layer) on toes and heels, high-friction, nonmarking rubber outsoles, and toothy side lugs and 1/6th" (4mm) directional lugs underfoot.

After acquiring these new Oboz boots I have been breaking them in, in preparation for some hiking coming up in the near future.



 

VISITING COOPERSTOWN, NY

The thing that really intrigued me about traveling to Cooperstown was James Fenimore Cooper. I have enjoyed reading his novels of the wild New York State during the times of the Native Americans and early settlers. The novel that especial stood out was The Last of the Mohicans. The movie was also very good. 

After visiting Howe Cavern's we made a 40 minute drive back to Cooperstown. It would have been fun to hang out on Main Street and go to a museum or two, but being Labor Day not everything was open as usual. So we skipped most of the touristy stuff and went straight to getting lunch. We got some recommendations at City Hall and decided to eat out at Lake Front Restaurant. As the name states it was on Otsego Lake near a marina. It had great Italian and American food. It had a nice area to walk around after lunch. So we relaxed near the lake for a few minutes. Our next stop was Glimmerglass State Park.

At Glimmerglass we had the kids play on the playground and the biggest attraction was the water. Although we had not planned a swim nor took our bathing suits, the kids still enjoyed getting wet in their clothing. 

While driving into the park we noticed a horse tied to tree and grazing in the shade. When we got to the parking lot we saw a carriage sitting at the entrance. So our next thought was that the Amish came to enjoy the beach as well. Sure enough at the waterside we meet a pleasant Amish family as the kids played alongside each other. Our clothed kids blended right in in the water. It's something that we don't see very often in the Central New York area. 

HOWE CAVERN'S

I have always wanted to check out Howe Cavern's. Although my wife, Lesya, has visited them before, it was 10 years ago. So we decided to take a family trip on Labor Day 2014. It's a 2 hr drive from our house so instead of taking the Thruway we decided to check out Route 20. It turned out to be a very scenic drive with many hills and little towns along the way. I noticed at least a dozen antique shops along the way. My wife's sister, Oksana and her daughter Karina also came along with us. 

I was quite impressed at how long these caves were. The tour took 90 minutes and was worth the $25/person. We were a little hesitant on taking the trip because of Adrian's age but it turned out fine. 

Mr. Howe himself had a presentation on how he found the caves. He had cow's that roamed the pasture and during very hot days they hung around a certain location. Mr. Howe wanted to find out why they were there so he went to check it out and it turned out that he found one of the entrances to the caves. The cool 52 degree temperature created a very nice relaxing spot. The depth of the caves is 15 stories deep. The entrance was actually on his neighbors property so he purchased the land for $100. Most recently the cavern's were sold for over $3 million. 

Underground stream

Calcium deposits

This is my favorite picture of a stalagmite. The colors are amazing.

This is a stalactite which was deposited here when washed down by strong waters. The tour guide said that there have been several floods that rose to the several feet about the walking path seen in the picture above.

The ceiling was very impressive at times because it had many fissures in it but it held well and there was no falling rock. We also saw a fault line in the wall.

The camera had a difficult time focusing on faces so most of the faces are not in focus.

This was called the Majestic Wall, simply because it was really beautiful. Apparently this is where Mr. Howe used to hang out a lot. 

This rock wall was called the Pipe Organ because of the beautiful design of the mineral deposits.

There was a boat ride 45 minutes into the tour on the underground river. It was 3-6 feet deep and a cold 40 degrees. At the turn around point the tour guide demonstrated how dark it was in the cave when all the lights were turned off. It was so dark you could feel the darkness. You could put your hand in front of your face and you couldn't see it. It was a very unique experience. 

Who would have know that people actually go married underground, right in the caves? The first weddings that took place was when Howe's daughters got married. Since then they had 600 plus weddings. Karina and Alexis stood on the heart that glowed in the dark where the ceremony part of the wedding took place. 

At the end of the tour we had to go through a very narrow passage way, called the Winding Way. It was only wide enough for one person to pass. The ceiling was some times only 8 foot high and at times it was 45 feet. It was very unique. It reminded me of something that you would find out west in the Grand Canyon.