Seasons Greetings

Several years ago I photographed the sculptures on either side of the entrance to a cemetery om Ellenburg, NY. The one on the left of the gate depicts Hope, looking up and away with an expression of tentative expectancy. The sculpture on the right of the gate is labeled Faith but both were made of concrete which did not fair well over years of acid rain. The surface has been eaten away and the aggregate is prominent on both but Faith has fared the worst. Sections of the face have fallen away leaving a grotesque visage.

I see symbolism in these sculptures. Of the two emotions, faith is the more fragile, the one more easily destroyed. We are in such a time. Our faith in our institutions and the people who run them are under attack as well as our faith in each other. For a significant number of us, this has resulted in a retreat to tribalism, a turning inward to those we still see as being “like us” and against the "other". Sadly this distorts hope. It turns hope for a better, more just and equal world into hope for power over others who we feel threatened by. Hope remains but it is diverted and becomes negative.

My hope for this holiday season, regardless of your race, religion, gender and all the other “differences” we label each other with, is that your hope remains positive for peace on Earth, goodwill to men and that you are able to resist the corroding influences that damage your faith in your fellow humans. I wish you joy and peace.

Happy Holidays to all

Ampersand and Baker Mts. - Saranac 6 - numbers 5 and 6

Friday, September 29th, 2017. A day that will go down in Saranac 6er history. The day that the OMG (Over the Mountain Gang) finished the Saranac 6. Okay, it is only a tiny footnote, but hey, we finished. Two mountains in the same day. Not bad for a trio of over 6 decade old guys.

We started with Ampersand. We had all done it before the challenge started so this was a repeat trip, in my case I had last done it in 2006. Rick and Dave were not sure when they had done it. I only know now because I looked it up after getting back. I love that digital cameras record such things for you.

The lower trail was in pretty good shape. I was surprised because based on rumors I had been led to believe that it was pretty bad. We encountered an interesting tree early on that had apparently begun life on top of an old stump that later rotted away leaving it standing on stilt-like roots. It almost looks like it is walking.

As we neared the top there were long stretches where trail crews had done a prodigious amount of stonework creating stairs. Nearer the top we came to this section which I remembered because of the leaning passage between two large rocks.

 And then we came to this (below). That rock the tree is on is taller than Dave, the tallest member of OMG. I don't know what a trail crew could do to fix this. A ladder perhaps. The roots were stable and firm enough to pull yourself up by but that won't last forever.

Tucked in among the roots was this fungus that I thought was pretty cool. If you look at the photo above you can see it in the inverted V of roots directly below the trunk. Below is a close up.

Finally the summit. Ampersand's summit is wide open 360° thanks to Verplanck Colvin who cut all the trees back in the 1800s to erect a survey tower when he was conducting the 1st systematic survey of the Adirondacks. Later there was a fire tower there. All that remains of that are the places it was bolted to the mountain. It has a view of Ampersand Pond and the Seward Range on one side and the St. Regis canoe area on the other.

A puzzling feature of the rock at the summit are these parallel grooves that go right across the unusual V notch between where the tower stood and the real summit which is a modest round knob sticking up above the rest. The panorama at the top of the post was shot from the summit knob.

The Gang posing while a willing volunteer did the honors of recording our presence for posterity.

Five down, one to go. We had a discussion back at the car whether to go for the last mountain. Dave's knees were a bit sore but he was willing. Rick was fine (he's part mountain goat) and I was a bit tired but I took an energy shot and some ibuprofen and we went for it.

Baker is the smallest of the Saranac 6 and only .8 miles up but it is a very nice mountain. I will have to climb it again. It is wooded over but there are places that you can look out over the village and beyond. Quite a few who live in Saranac Lake climb up it in the evening because it is right on the edge of the village.

Rick let his wife know that we had made it (above) and then we had another volunteer, a local young woman with two dogs, recorded our climb for us with my camera. We reached the top at 3:35 pm according to my camera data.

One of the interesting features on Baker is this tree near the summit that was apparently knocked over and pinned down when it was small but has continued to grow, albeit horizontally. I admire the persistence of trees.

One of the places that you can look out over the village and the Saranac Lakes. I wonder what it would be like to watch the July 4th fireworks from there.

I spotted this group of fungi on a tree while descending. Unfortunately, someone had shaved off a bunch of the lower ones. I wish they hadn't. I'd have liked to photograph them unperturbed.

Time to plan a new adventure.

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St Regis Mt. - #4 in our Saranac 6 Quest

On 9/11 we (The OMG) climbed the 4th mountain in our Saranac 6 quest. We had all climbed it before, twice in my case, but we either hadn't recorded when or it was before the start of the Saranac 6 Challenge so it didn't count. The start of the trail was new to me because they had rerouted it since the last time I climbed it. The reroute is interesting as it takes you by some very impressive glacial erratics and through a beautiful grove of hemlocks before rejoining the original trail where the serious climbing starts. Even then it was not an overly steep trail but it had a couple of "interesting" sections.

When we arrived at the summit we were alone in spite of having dawdled on the way up. Shortly though people began arriving and we had quite a conversation with a retired policeman from NJ or at least Rick and Dave did. I left the conversation after a short time to go about my photography. I tried shooting a stitched medium format image with my Rhincam adapter and a 35mm Mamiya lens but the light weight tripod I had carried apparently wasn't steady enough plus I was shooting into the sun and don't have a sunshade for that lens. The experiment was a bust.

Two people volunteered to photograph us, the first shot is with the NJ cop and the second is the three of us in front of the actual summit.

I made another panorama from the actual summit that included the fire tower.

I made some photos of interesting rock patterns around the summit before leaving.

Dave thought this area looked like a lightning strike. The rock certainly has a burnt look to it.

I liked the web pattern on this one and the tiny white lichens that looked like snow flakes.

I shot most of the photos on this trip going down. On the last trip it was mostly fungus but this time it was large boulders.

This had a tree growing on it and Dave decided to climb up and visit the tree.

I had to take two photos and stitch them to get all of this one into the frame without a lot of trees in front. It looks as if it was once one rock that split and the upper part slid to one side. It makes a nice shelter for small creatures though.

Rick likes to be on top of things, like mountains and in this case a very large glacial erratic.

As always, it was a good day in the woods. I have to return to some of those erratics on an overcast day though. The totally clear sky and bright sun made for very harsh shadows with very bright highlights.

Climbing Scarface

Two friends and I are working on the "Saranac 6" challenge, climbing designated 6 mountains near Saranac Lake, NY. We are all retired and are 46ers from years past. this challenge is more our speed these days (especially mine, they are 10 years younger). I refuse to be 'over the hill' so I have dubbed us "OMG", the Over the Mountain Gang.

This past Thursday we tackled Scarface near Ray Brook, NY. It was an interesting hike on what is the most moss covered mountain I can recall climbing. We found the two overlooks the guidebook mentioned and according to book we were not required to go to the actual viewless summit but we did because the guidebook said the trail to the summit was an "unmaintained path" but we kept seeing trail markers so we went all the way. The guidebook was correct about the summit being viewless but it was along a ridge through some interesting woods so it was no hardship.

We turned around and returned to an open area we had passed to take a lunch break before heading back down. There was no view there either but there were rocks to sit on. That was more appealing than damp forest floor. Thanks to a lot of conversation, stops for photography and the fact that I don't hike very fast these days, we took just over 9 hours, but it was a fun day and that was the point.

Dave Allen at the first overlook we came to

A tree with pine cones at the first overlook.

Dave (unintentionally) managed to get in this shot too. I didn't notice at the time.

Trail

Trail. I am standing in front of a step up. the camera is about 8" above the rock. My old knees won't do steps that high. I found a way around.

OMG at the summit.

A pair of trees at our lunch break site. They had blown over, apparently long enough ago that moss and grass were growing in the remaining dirt under where they had stood. In spite of that, they had new growth (the light yellow tips) on their branches. The roots on the downside are still feeding them. That is Rick Reed's pole and pack.

Dave and Rick having lunch.

This old yellow birch is nearly 4 feet across at the bottom. A beautiful tree.

Dave and Rick on the bridge near the trailhead. We also saw a lot of fungi/mushrooms. Here are a selection of those I stopped to photograph. A couple of them were varieties I had never seen before. And one autumn leaf photo. Yes, a few leaves had turned already.

That last one looks like pizza but I would be hesitant to eat it.

Postscript: This is part of the trail too but I didn't take that root.

(Sorry about the pun. I couldn't help it. It was too good to pass up.)

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