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.

Adirondacks in Infrared

 

On the 21st, I drove south to the mountains to visit some old haunts and shoot them in IR.  I planned to drive as far as Chapel Pond on Rt 73 and possibly farther east to Split Rock Falls. I started with a stop at Mountain Pond, where there was a group of locals canoeing. 

There were no clouds, with a bright sun, which is perfect for infrared. After Mountain Pond, I stopped in Saranac Lake to visit my brother, then drove down to the Cascade Lakes, where I photographed a roadside boulder and Lower Cascade Lake.

 

My plan to go to Chapel Pond was aborted after a stop in Keene Valley. I stopped at the turnout across from the road to Elizabethtown, where 'the red barn' used to be. It was for many years the most photographed barn in the Adirondacks, but a few years ago, the state tore it down because it was in bad condition and people were using it as a toilet. I was setting up to photograph a tree there when my IR camera signaled that it was shutting down due to a low battery. After a futile search through my camera bag, I discovered that I didn't have a spare battery with me. That was when I aborted the rest of my plan and went home. When I got home, I searched for the spare but couldn't find it, so I ordered two new batteries. The ones I had were getting old (10+ YEARS), so it was time to get new ones anyway.