Travels with haRVy

From Bill’s house in Rochester, NY we headed directly north to the shore of Lake Ontario, an area we had not yet explored. He suggested a few stops along the way, which we checked out. What we did not know is that the Great Lakes are actually flooding their banks in many places due to abundant rains this year. Can you say Climate Crisis?

We had a snack at Sodus Point. Many of the homes here were surrounded by walls of sandbags.

We ate lunch and took a brief but strenuous hike at Chimney Bluffs State Park.

Not much of a beach left at Selkirk Shores State Park, where we camped overnight, due to the high water level.

We might have paddled this picturesque marsh had we planned to stay longer.

Another Westy owner, suggested we could boondock at the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, which we did.

The setting sun cast a nice glow upon the lighthouse.

The old foghorns.

This turned out to be one of our all-time favorite boondocking spots. We were about 6 feet from the waters edge with the sunset in clear view. Once visiting hours were over at the lighthouse we had the whole panorama to ourselves.

Next we drove eastward along the shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway to the charming town of Clayton, NY in the Thousands Islands district. We have explored this area before, but it was nice to see the familiar territory again.

Our ultimate destination lie at higher altitudes in the Adirondacks. We followed some winding back roads into the mountains and on to The Wild Center in Tupper Lake. This was our third or fourth visit to the center, but we still found it fascinating. I especially wanted to stop again to see two new outdoor attractions.

The Wild Walk – it’s not just for kids!

View from the eagle nest platform.

The Wild Walk is wild, the movies fascinating, inside exhibits enlightening, and watching the otters frolic is fun, but our favorite activity at the center is iForest, which we went through twice. Actually could have spent hours there. It is that enchanting. This installation is impossible to explain in a few words and really must be experienced to appreciate, but you can read about it and watch a video here.

A friend’s sister allowed us to stay overnight in her driveway. The property, right on a secluded point on Tupper Lake is spectacular. View above is from our campsite, below is their dock behind the house. I wasn’t quite ready to accept that it was time for Fall foliage, but it made for very pretty accents to all the green.

Nearby Bog River Falls passes under this picturesque stone bridge.

Camped on Square Lake at the Fish Creek Ponds Campground for two nights so we would have time to kayak.

Paddling beautiful Fish Creek.

One of our favorite signs – the other is “Overnight Parking Allowed.”

Picnic lunch stop on Copperas Pond. This is actually a designated wilderness campsite, but we prefer the luxury of haRVy.

Heading back to Square Lake on Fish Creek.

Our last ADK night was spent alongside Lake Harris near Newcomb.

Typically foggy Adirondack morning.

Established boardwalk and hiking trail near Newcomb Visitor Center.

Sucker Brook as viewed from trail.

Our second hike was on an obviously much less traveled Hewitt Eddy Trail near Minerva.

It got a bit challenging at times. Can you find the way through this mess?

This guys seems to be waiting patiently, which you will now have to do, since I have no idea when my next post will be. We have no definite travel plans at the moment, but I am sure our feet will get itchy before too long. Stay tuned.