Fall in the Adirondacks October 12th & 13th, 2004

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Salmon River Falls, October 2006
Other Trips:
Adirondacks Trip, Fall 2007
Adirondack Trip, Fall 2010
Adirondacks Trip, Fall, 2015

Although the leaves are just starting to change here at home on the Southern edge of Lake Ontario, the Foliage Network says it's now or never to see the leaves in the Adirondacks. Although we live less than 100 miles from the park, because of the Fall Theatre Department production schedule, we never had the time to take even a short trip till now. We almost didn't get the chance to go this year - we had to wait for a door to fill a big hole in our living room...

.

Once the windows & doors were finished we were ready to go.

The plan was to spend a day going & another returning, making a loop through the southwestern part of the park.

Although everything is still green along the lake, as soon as we moved inland the fall colors jumped out. The bright reds of the sumac, gold, orange & red of the sugar maples, and yellows of the poplars were wonderful. We were a bit worried that we had waited too long, but most of the trip seemed to be at near peak color.

The first stop for photos was at the South Branch of the Grass River a bit east of Cranberry Lake.

I don't know if it was the days of the week we went (tuesday & wednesday), gas prices or what, but the visions of bumper to bumper leaf peepers & filled motels never happened. Many restaurants & motels were already closed for the season, and most of the roads were empty. Almost felt like Wyoming!

We switched to NY Rt 30 in Tupper Lake, one of the larger towns on the trip, and stopped for a photo of the Raquette River (which, even though there is a Raquette Lake), looks more like a lake than a river.

. A little south of Long Lake we stopped to take some photos of Buttermilk Falls. There is another Buttermilk Falls just south of Ithaca, NY, but since this is one of the most visited Adirondack falls I had to stop to add some images to my waterfall page. By the time we got there the sun was shooting into the camera lens causing flare on most of the photos. I did get something useful in the rapids above the falls, but was disappointed with photos of the main falls.

Buttermilk Falls, Long Lake NY	Rapids above Buttermilk Falls, Long Lake, NY

After spending far too much time taking photos of the falls & river, we started south towards Blue Mountain Lake, planning to stay there for the night. Bad move - although the Adirondack Museum is in Blue Mountain Lake, and was quite crowded, we couldn't find anywhere to sleep. So, back to Long Lake & the Sandy Point Motel. A small room with a sliding glass door onto a screened porch looking out over a beautiful view for $50.00. It was a bit cool for sitting on the porch, but the view from inside the room was great!

The next morning the temperature was 28 degrees at 7:00AM with the entire lake fogged in. By the time we were up & out, some of the fog was burning off - the shore looked like this:

As we headed back to Blue Mountain Lake & the trip home we drove past Buttermilk Falls, and I decided to try it again. I'm glad we stopped - the light & fog was wonderful:

Buttermilk Falls, 8:30AM, Long Lake, NY	Buttermilk Falls 2	Buttermilk Falls 3

I love the almost paint like quality of the light but hate the two branches in the upper right in the first image. I move the camera a bit closer to crop them out, but miss the foreground & framing of the evergreen on the right. I guess I will have to spend some time with Photoshop removing the branches...(Note - they are removed as of today 10/21/04) Anyhow, I feel much better about my images of the falls.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, although lots of beautiful scenery. Many streams, lakes & ponds like the one below.

We Left the park at White Lake on NY Rt 28, took NY Rt 12 to Boonville, and after that, many county roads into Camden, NY and home on NY Rt 13 & 104. Overall, 361 miles, 2 days, and some wonderful scenery. We are already making plans for a longer trip next year.

This page is maintained by: vermilye@oswego.edu
Last Update: October 8, 2015