Driving Home From The Farm Through The Adirondacks

The dogs and I had a wonderful weekend up at the farm and a great hike on the Wolf Lake Loop Trail. But Tuesday morning I was up early and preparing to drive home to Albany. I had to be back at work on Wednesday morning. I loaded up the car and began the homeward journey on Route 458. Daphne watched out the car window as we passed by fields of corn seedlings.

Then we traveled down Route 30 until I saw this sign for Follensby Clear Pond. I pulled in to take a look:

Follensby Clear Pond was a glorious Adirondack lake:

But there wasn't much of a place to let the dogs run, so I left them in the car. There were Swallowtail butterflies flitting about everywhere:

A little farther south I pulled into the Raquette River Boat Launch:

Again, there were Swallowtail butterflies in great numbers all along the water's edge:

And the Raquette River was stunning. Once again, however, there was not good place to let the dogs out to run. I continued driving south:

Route 30 took me through the town of Tupper Lake:

I passed by the Northwood Cabins, a motel which reminded me of many we'd stayed at on our summer journeys across the U.S. when I was a boy:

I passed by the Sunmount Development Disabilities Services buildings in Tupper Lake. This is a state run facility and its campus is quite lovely:

I continued south through the town of Long Lake:

I turned east on Route 28N, passing through the town of Newcomb and then on to Blue Ridge Road. I pulled off at the little rest stop along the Boreas River to let the dogs out to play. Like most of the places I'd stopped in the Adirondacks, there were Swallowtail butterflies everywhere:

So many Swallowtails that the place seemed enchanted:

I noticed that the Adirondacks was filled with Swallowtails but there was none up at the farm. According to what I've found on the Internet, the Adirondacks hosts only the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus. St. Lawrence County, where my farm is located, is home to only the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio canadensis. I am unable to identify the species by looking, so I am assuming that is the reason I saw so many in the Adirondacks but none at the farm. Can anybody out there identify this species by the picture?:

Tupper Lake - The Lake, Not The Town

I was traveling up to the farm and had taken a new route, beginning on Blue Ridge Road. I traveled through the towns of Newcomb and Long Lake and then north to the town (and the lake) of Tupper Lake. I pulled off the road into the parking area of the boat launch:

Tupper Lake stretched out before me, shimmering in the morning light. A small boat with two people and a large dog floated out in the open waters:

But I turned my attention to the grassy area on which I was standing, beginning with this Red Admiral butterfly resting on a Dandelion blossom:

And wild strawberries in bloom:

And Dandelions. If they were difficult to grow instead of invasive, people would be lovingly cultivating them in pots and greenhouses, developing new varieties and forming Dandelion Lovers Societies:

And many small patches of Bluets:

Tupper Lake is very long and narrow. I could only see the area closest to me. It would have been a fine time to lauch a boat and go exploring:

But this place was too public to let the dogs out. They had to wait in the car and watch me. I'd look for another place to give them a rest stop:

I bid farewell to the lovely shoreline of Tupper Lake and continued on my way:

I investigated another boat launch area as we traveled north but concluded that this one wouldn't be a good place to give the dogs a rest stop either. So I continued on my way along Route 30:

Driving Through Two Adirondack Towns

We were on our way up to the farm, the dogs and I, for a weekend visit and traveling Route 28N. When we arrived at the wonderful Adirondack town of Newcomb, New York, I at first stopped at the park with its nice views of the high peaks. But I've photographed them many times before and they just didn't look much different that day. So I turned onto a side road and followed it a short distance until it ended at the Hudson River Information Center. No one was there, but I got out to take a look:

There was a small logging museum and out behind the building was, not surprisingly, the Hudson River. Folks in southern New York would be surprised to see the mighty Hudson so small, so pristine, so lovely, The river runs almost east to west at this point and this view is looking west:

And looking east:

But that was all there was, so I hopped back into the car, returned to the highway and stopped again at Lake Harris, also in Newcomb. Again, no one was there so this time I let the dogs out:

They were all excited and happy to be out, exercising and giving everything the sniff test:

Crabby little old Winky, however, was moving very slowly and needed a lot of encouragement to get him to join us:

But join us he did, and seemed very happy about it:

The next order of business, of course, was getting all the dogs back into the car. This went quite well except for Winky. He was as slow as usual and required a boost to get him up into the car:

When we arrived in the Adirondack town of Long Lake, I stopped at Hoss's general store. It was decorated with real birch bark and twig art. And if that's not enough, there was a giant bear outside. Their website is here:

Hoss's had a giant eagle or two plus more bears, ducks and herons on and about its front porch:

I went inside to buy myself a sandwich, but as has happened before, their deli was abandoned and nothing was available. Luckily there was a convenience store right across the street, so I bought a sandwich and we continued on our way. I'll post more tomorrow: