I was feeling much more confident traveling to the ADK this weekend than I was traveling to Letchworth only 2 weeks earlier. I knew what to pack and had some more clothing that would help me sleep better in the cold: a wool base layer shirt, long johns, a wool beanie cap, and wool liner gloves. I had acquired a small collapsible kettle and a warming lid for my food when I cook it on the stove. I figured that I had everything that I needed and I was right.
I had decided to stay in Tupper Lake to try to photograph more scenes than the high peaks to the east would afford me. I could walk short hikes to find lakes and ponds that I had never seen or explored. I could hike up small mountains to enjoy nice views. Don’t mistake me, the high peaks offer higher and more expansive views, but they aren’t always photographic and the often require a 3 hour investment of time one-way, and they don’t give someone a chance to photograph at golden hour and still have a walk back to camp in daylight.
Earlier in the week, the forecast looked promising but chilly. By Friday morning it was clear that I would have half a day of fair to good light with increasing winds and clouds into my first full day in the area, so I packed efficiently and was on the road by 0900 and I arrived near Tupper Lake by 1230.
I had plotted a series of hikes in advance of my departure and there were 3 of them south of Tupper Lake; I would be passing them on my way to camp, so I elected to save a trip to camp for later and would get out and enjoy the weather while I could.
The first hike was much nicer than I had expected. It was at John Dillon Park, a joint venture between Paul Smith College and International Paper Company. There are over 4 miles of trails and a variety campsites, all of which are ADA accessible. The trails were remarkably well groomed and travel to 2 small bodies of water, Grampus Lake and Handsome Pond. Being that it was mid-day, there wasn’t much in the way of nice light, but there wasn’t much of interest at Grampus (the nearest to parking) anyway. Handsome Pond had a beautiful – even if not photographic – view. Don’t get me wrong, I took pictures, but it is an image for a telephoto lens only and is very 2 dimensional. I took a panorama image to stitch together in the future if I were so inclined, but I suspect that it is data that I will never need.
The same is true for the panorama that I captured from my next location before sundown: Coney Mountain. I had never visited this mountain before, but it is very, very pretty with a nice view for little investment in time (I think it only took me 35-40 minutes to reach the top from my car. There were nice enough clouds to add interest to the images, the light was warming, and there were interesting shadows from both the surrounding hill and mountains, but I realized that I was there one week early as there was more green on the trees than I would have preferred. Still … it was incredibly beautiful, not-at-all cold, and a lovely spot to spend 90 minutes before walking down the mountain to return to camp.
On the way to camp, located to the east of Tupper Lake, I drove through town in search of a covered gazebo/pavilion for breakfast the next morning. The forecast had made it abundantly clear: it was going to be wet and rainy on Saturday morning and I was not going to pack up more wet gear than I needed, especially since I had already decided that I would NOT be staying Saturday night.
I arrived to the camp at dusk and was gone before daybreak, so I honestly don’t know how horrible or nice the site was. I think I have an idea that it was not terribly nice if someone wanted to spend a day there, but it suited me well enough: there was a picnic table to set my stove on and a flat space to set-up my tent. I didn’t need anything else other.
What I REALLY wish I had, though, was my fish eye lens, because I could see the Milky Way from my campsite. Somehow, the skies had cleared for a few hours and the cool autumn sky was dark. I suspect that it would have provided me with the a better chance for a quality image of the Milky Way without light pollution than I have ever had, but alas, I was surprised and unprepared.
I was in bed by 2200 and was asleep in less than 15 minutes.
I was awake by 0300 almost sweating. The temperatures had dropped down to the low 50s, but had not descended any further and were actually beginning to climb. So while I was bundled for temps in the mid-40s, the air outside was closer to 55 degrees by the time I gave up on falling back asleep and started packing my things into the car by 0500.
The early part of the morning would be spent walking in the rain while trying to capture some moody images near lakes and ponds. I started at Tupper Lake, where I had seen a scene of interest.
I would try to capture some images at a boat launch without success before heading back through town and to the eastern-most hike that I had plotted. I would make a small hike to Middle Saranac Lake and Stony Creek Pond. Middle Saranac Lake had a nice island that might look good at another time with more foliage, but the compositions there were otherwise weak from the southern shoreline. Stony Creek Pond proved to be more photographic despite the increasing intensity of the rains.
Even though I couldn’t capture and image with expanses of trees in fall color, there was a small pocket of trees on the shoreline that tempted me to try some ICM too.
And although I had only looked at hiking options going into the weekend, I had coincidentally parked adjacent to a seasonal road the led to a Corey Pond, where I was able to capture a few more moody images, one that was a bit minimalistic but suited my nicely in the moment. As I used the camera at Corey Pond, the rains increased in strength even further; I had the umbrella opened above me with the handle of the “brolly” wedged between my back and my backpack.
That was it … I was done and it was time to make some breakfast. The day before, I had found a gazebo in the Tupper Lake Municipal Park with a picnic table that would offer me shelter from the rain. It would not offer shelter, however, from the 20 mph winds that were blowing across the lake. The bad news was that I needed to eat my food directly off the grill before it cooled, so breakfast was consumed piece-meal. The good news was that the winds quickly cooled my griddle and I was able to pack up my gear almost immediately after finishing my meal.
After breakfast, I decided it was time to head home. It was going to be windy and damp for the remainder of the day and I had no intentions of staying until the following morning to suffer through poor morning light and packing wet gear into the car. I was also confident that I was too tired to travel home in the dark. No, I was heading home.
But I had a one planned – and one unplanned – stop to make on the way. On my way to the planned stop, I was compelled to finally stop and photograph a scene that has caught my eye for years as I travel between Tupper Lake and Long Lake. I knew the light and color weren’t great, but I wanted to get out of the car and see if I could put a composition on the scene and I could. It isn’t perfect, but it is the best that I’ll be able to do there, I think. I would love for the background trees to fall lower on the tree in the foreground, but doing so reduces the separation between them by reducing the view of the water between them in the foreground. It would also bring the mid-ground islands more inline with the foreground, which I wouldn’t want either.
As for the planned location, a map had pointed out waterfalls south of Tupper Lake that I hadn’t seen before and wanted to take a peek at. Bog River Falls are small cascades, but they are in an appealing setting. The west side of the river was filled with painters with their easels, so explored the east and captured what I think was my only image of the weekend with foreground, mid-ground, and background interest. I also tinkered with a 10-stop long exposure to see what patterns would result in the water before again getting chased away by the rain.
As I traveled home, I called Christine to discover that it was sunny and 18 degrees warmer at home than in Tupper Lake. Old Forge was still cloudy by dry. By the time I passed by Old Forge, I could see the end of the clouds. By the time I reached Rome, I was bathed in spiteful sunshine.
My bed that night? It helped me quickly forget about the wind and rain. After all, there is always next weekend.