Sugar Island Road Walk

 

 

I went for a hike yesterday on the service roads for the Sugar Island Dam. It was breezy and cold, a bit uncomfortable at the start, but once my body warmed up from the exercise, it was a pleasant walk. Sugar Island Dam is upstream from the parking area, and the trail on that section follows the power company's service road. The trail continues off-road above the dam all the way to Hanawa Falls, but I didn't go there on this walk. I turned around and walked back past the parking area to follow the service road along the penstock to the powerhouse and beyond.

At the dam, the group of trees abovecaught my eye. With my lens zoomed all the way out, I still had to crop the above photo a bit. The photo below is the scene with no zoom.

I have photographed this group of birches before in the autumn. They are where the foot trail leaves the service road just below the dam. They were more photogenic in autumn, but I liked how they stood out against the dark evergreens behind and the rust-colored haze of their buds awaiting spring.

The service road continues past the powerhouse and comes out on the Back Hannawa Road closer to Potsdam. They don't plow that section in winter. Locals use it for X-country skiing & snowshoeing. There wasn't much snow, so I walked that section partway.

Coming back, I shot this photo of an oddity, a stairway, and a small concrete structure with a metal door. There are two of these little buildings facing each other about 40 feet apart. The other (that I didn't photograph) is leaning precariously toward its partner.  They are situated in a low area on the opposite side of the raised causeway from the channel below the powerhouse. From their condition, it is evident that they haven't been functional for many years. The puzzle is, what was their function? Any guesses?

Back at the powerhouse, I shot a couple of views of the small brick structure at the base of the water tower. For the last one, I had to crop the image because the lens was too large to peek through the chain link fence without picking up fuzzy fence wire in the corners of the photo.

I didn't get any great art images, but despite the grey day, the walk was good for my mood, which has been down lately. I walked almost 2½ miles. This morning I woke to 48°F and rain. The snow is retreating rapidly, and the temperature is dropping again. I won't be walking outside today.

As the Brits say, Cheerio.

A Walk at the Paul Smiths VIC

 

Yesterday, I went to Saranac Lake to deliver 3 framed photos I was entering in a show. On my way home, I stopped by the VIC. I did not anticipate taking a lot of photos. The autumn color is mostly gone in the ADKs, it was mid-day, and the light was harsh, bright sun/clear sky. As I walked, a 2.3 mile loop around Heron Marsh, I started seeing interesting things and ended up shooting 30+ photos. So this is my walk. There was no one else there, so the remainder of this post will be only what I saw.  You will have to imagine the nature sounds and smells. Enjoy it with me.

Copyright Jim Bullard 10/29/2025

Taking a Walk - Communing with Trees

 

 As I often do when I am in a funk, I went for a walk this afternoon. It had been raining off and on, and finally, at 3:45pm, just as the Weather Channel predicted, it stopped. That was supposed to be the end of the rain until at least 7pm, so I decided to take a walk on the Munter Trail and commune with the trees.  

The river is unusually low, and the remains of the old piers for the Hannawa RR are in full view. The foliage is past peak but still colorful. Despite the traffic noise from the road that parallels the trail and river, I enjoyed the company of the trees. 

I did get sprinkled on during my return trip, but the sun broke through after, highlighting the tree tops.

The leaf in the photo at the top came home with me after having its portrait made on a picnic table. We needed the rain, and we have gotten over 2" in the past few days. It was a good walk. Trees are good company. They teach us to persevere in the face of adversity.

Thank You & Photos From Owls Head

 Thank you to all who support my photography. In response to those who commented on my writing on my portfolio site at Zenfolio.com, I don't consider myself a writer or particularly good at writing. I write the blog like one would write a diary, a record of what I did to get the photos. Like Grady, I have trouble getting started. That's why my blog posts are infrequent. When I started the blog in 2006, it was my intention to write weekly. If you look at the number of posts next to each year, you will see that I rarely succeeded. I guess this is a long-winded way of saying I don't feel that I am the person you should ask for writing advice. I'd promise to add to this blog more regularly, but history does not suggest that will happen.  Also, you can leave your comments here on individual posts. Click on the "comments" at the bottom of a post to get a space to post a comment. They are moderated by me to avoid promotional comments that have nothing to do with this blog. Unfortunately, some people do that.

 As long as I am here, I should post some photos of my recent outing to Owls Head Peak. Owls Head Peak overlooks Keene Valley just off Rt 73. I try to climb it at least once a year. The trail is open from 7am Monday to 4pm on Fridays/closed every weekend and on holidays, because most of the trail is on private property. The closure is the result of hikers blocking the driveways of those who have homes near the trailhead. If you go there, please be considerate of the private property.

Here is a mixed selection of photos I made, both 'normal' and infrared images. Reminder: if you click on an image, you will get a larger version.

Completing the Quest

 Last week I failed to get IR photos at Chapel Pond because of a dead camera battery. Yesterday, I drove down to the mountains again. The weather was more varied, mostly sunny, mostly cloudy, and even a couple of sprinkles. I stopped first at Barnum Pond, where I shot several photos of St. Regis Mt across the Pond. For those unfamiliar with the area, St Regis is the dark peak on the left, off in the distance.

The highway curves around a bay here, so you can't miss this view. Every time I go by here, I am reminded that my grandfather photographed this scene over a hundred years ago. He had very different equipment, however, glass plates and a wooden camera. I have a few of his glass negatives and often wish that his camera had also been passed down. He died in the spring of the year that I was born, so I never knew him.

Back in Keene Valley after negotiating several sections of roadwork, I finally shot the photo (above) that I was trying to make when the camera battery died last week. The 'red barn' mentioned in the last post used to stand on the left side of the photo.

I was told quite a few years back that this copse of trees remained in the field because it was an Indian burial ground, but that was just local legend. I learned later that it is a geological formation, a pile of stones left by the last Ice Age.  The image above is a telephoto shot from the viewing platform that the state built by the parking area.  

My next stop was Marcy Field, a grass strip airport in Keene Valley with an excellent view of Noonmark Mt and several High Peaks.

The airfield windsock with Upper & Lower Wolf Jaws Mt, Armstrong & Gothics in the background.

And finally, Chapel Pond.

The cliffs here are popular with rock climbers, and there was a pair on the rockface near the middle of this scene.

To avoid the road construction on my way home, I bypassed Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, going instead through Upper Jay, Wilmington, Franklin Falls, and Bloomingdale. On my way by, I stopped to photograph the Veterans Memorial Highway Gatehouse across the pond.

My final stop of the trip was at Moose Pond, a side trip as I was approaching Bloomingdale. The scene above is along a trail that circles the Pond. I stumbled onto this spot several years ago. It struck me at the time as being the sort of place one would encounter leprechauns and fairies. I photographed it in color back then and wanted to see what an IR version would look like.

This last photo is a bit grainy. The Canon G-11 is a 10MP camera that tends to be 'noisy at anything over ISO 400. I had to shoot this at ISO 1600 to get a handholdable shutter speed. Thanks to modern editing software it came out well and is probably my favorite photo from the day.