Saranac Lake

It was 99 and sunny in Winston-Salem today. In Saranac Lake, it was in the 70s with rain most of the day. The drops did not deter us, although they forced us to abandon our planned trip up Whiteface Mountain. The rain tapered off a bit in late morning, so we headed out to High Falls Gorge near Whiteface. This is a deep gorge on the AuSable River and quite spectacular, as you walk through on steps and walks nailed into the cliffs. There were fascinating lichens and ferns along the cliff walls, too.

Whiteface was still socked in after the gorge, so we headed west along a back road and discovered a nice peaceful lake in the state forest. Alas, no loons as we had hoped (we still haven't seen one), but the lake was beautiful even in the clouds (see below). Then we continued on to a walking trail close to where we walked yesterday. This one had old growth pines and hemlocks, many nonblooming wildflowers on the forest floor, and several small ponds called eskers created by the glaciers 10,000 years ago.








We stopped walking just in time, as the heavens opened up with the heaviest rains of the day. Back at our motel, we drank our wine and tonics on the balcony and watched other guests go out in the kayaks in complete disregard of the rain. Looked like fun. It is supposed to clear tomorrow mornings, so we can't wait to get out and see more.