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

Kip Trail Infrared

 The Kip Trail is a nature trail near Canton, NY That runs between CR27 and the Pike Rd.  You can find directions on the web or on the All Trails app.  I have hiked it before, last fall, and wanted to see what it was like in spring. I decided to take my IR G-11 that I described in the previous post. The trail was muddy and buggy. I used 'Adirondack Herbal Repellant' which is a salve in a tin that is nice for carrying because it doesn't spill like liquid. I got it from ADKfragrancefarm.com.* I should have worn waterproof boots. I didn't go all the way through to CR27 from Pike Rd. where I started.  I turned around at a mud hole that was too big and deep for my footwear.  I did shoot a batch of IR photos though.

I tried photographing wildflowers but all the green and the flowers registered as white in IR so the only ones that 'worked' were like the above where the background was dead leaves and wood.

The trail passes by a horseshoe bend in the Little River. This is a 6 vertical frame panorama of the bend.

The other cool feature along the trail is a series of vernal pools that are dried up later in the summer and fall. They were one of the reasons I wanted to hike it in spring.

False Hellebore (veratrum viride) along the trailside.

Another vernal pool.

And another. This is where I  turned around.

As always, the photos are copyrighted. Enjoy them here but feel free to share the link to this page with anyone you wish.
*Unsolicited endorsement

Exploring the Clarksboro Trail

 The Clarksboro Trail on Tooley Pond Rd. is named for a small community that existed around there in the 1800s. I have looked in my St. Lawrence County histories (Hough & the 3-volume Landon set) but find no reference to it consequently I don't know much detail about when it existed or how large it was. I have been told that it was an iron mining operation. The photo above is the start of the trail on the Tooley Pond Rd which runs from DeGrasse, NY to the vicinity of Cranberry Lake.

The trail follows a rough and rain-rutted old logging road up a fairly steep incline. The photo below looks down that road. It is not a promising start to the hike.

At the top of the incline is a clearing that served as a staging area for the loggers and if you look to the right there is a blue disk trail marker on one of the trees. After going through a copse of trees you come into a blackberry patch which is a bit confusing due to a web of herd paths created by berry pickers. It is even more confusing coming back out. I ended up bushwhacking back to the clearing on the way out. I was probably paying too much attention to the abundant blackberries and not enough to trail finding.

After re-entering the woods it isn't far to "the wall", a 70' high rock face. This is a 3 frame stitch panorama that really doesn't do it justice IMO but I didn't have anyone with me to provide scale. 

I shot a horizontal panorama which makes it look curved. It isn't. It is relatively straight.

In a large crevice high up on the right was a twig nest, perhaps for a Peregrine Falcon?

It did not appear to be occupied. The trail turns left along the base of the rock face and follows the contour of the land around and upward.

There is some impressive stonework on this section, the stairs in the photo below, and 2-3 shorter ones above it.

Beyond that and near the top was a lovely stretch of woods with ferns. The trail turns sharply right in the ferns and from there, it is fairly level to the two overlooks at the end of the trail, the first being a right turn that takes you past a glacial erratic and the other straight ahead.

Past the boulder is the viewpoint. It is a nice view at any time of year but I suspect a spectacular one in autumn.

The second overlook is to the left and can be reached by a herd path but it requires going down a fairly steep rock face which might not be a good choice if it is wet. In any case, it is only a short hop back to the trail and then to the right. The view is similar. I forget which one I found this small birch on.

As with any trail, you see different things going back down.

This thistle was in the middle of the logging road.

My AllTrails app failed to record the stats for the hike. The trail is not on AllTrails and the app insisted that I had gone to Sinclair Falls which is on the other side of the road. It is a fairly short hike that is not difficult. The rock face alone is worth the hike. The steepest bit is the old logging road at the start. I will be doing it again and I may make a video of it. Enjoy.

All the photos were made with an Olympus OMD E-M5 III and a 14-150 mm lens. All processing including panorama stitching was done in Adobe Lightroom Classic.

30th Anniversary as a 46er

 On July 17th of 1993, I completed climbing all 46 Adirondack High Peaks with an ascent of Whiteface Mt. in Wilmington, NY. I was the 3232nd person to be recorded as a 46er. In the 3o years since then, the total has risen to over 13,000. On the 15th anniversary of completing the quest, I drove up the Veterans Memorial Highway, and while on the summit I decided that I should commemorate the day every 5 years. On both the 20th and 25th anniversaries two 46er hiking friends joined me in climbing. This year only one, Dave Allen, was able to join me. These photos of this year's hike were shot on a GoPro with the exception of two which my sister-in-law shot on her phone as Dave and I reached the summit.

The trail from the Weather station HQ dips through a small valley and then goes up, straight up, where the Marbl Mt, T-Bar lift once was. Marble Mt is a sub-peak of Whiteface as are Lookout and Esther.

And more up. Imagine going up this for almost a mile and that is the start of the hike. That is what you do here. This is the toughest part of the ascent because it is steep and unmaintained with loose rocks and roots with no switchbacks. Just straight up.

After almost a mile the trail levels off onto the summit of Marble Mt and joins the trail from the Wilmington reservoir. That trail comes in from the left in this photo. We hiked that route on the 25th anniversary, It isn't as steep but starts much lower on the side of the mountain and is farther to walk.

We wandered over to the left a short distance to see the view. The smoke from wildfires in Canada was blowing over the area severely reducing the visibility and we could smell the smoke.

Turning right at the junction the trail heads along a ridge that connects Marble Mt. to Whiteface Mt.

The ridge goes up and down over rocks and roots through a stunted forest. It's a hard life for trees up here.

There's more up than down and this goes on for nearly 2 miles before you get to steep climbing again.

Along the way, there is an old shed where ski patrols stored rescue toboggans. 

When we did this hike 5 years ago they were finishing up work on this ski lift for the Whiteface ski area, It is right next to the trail and the "Lookout Loop" ski run crosses the trail in two places.

The lift was running and I mused that maybe next time we could ride up to this point, jump off, hike the rest of the way to the summit thus skipping all that we had hiked to that point, and then reverse it to get back down that way. Dave liked that idea.

The trail goes up more seriously from there until you reach "the wall" which is a retaining wall for one of the hairpin curves on the Veterans Memorial Highway.

The trail turns left along the base of the wall and heads up toward the Highway.

Where the wall ends you have to scramble up the rocks on the left and continue.

The trail parallels the Highway for a while with views of the road and the mountains behind you.

It wasn't quite so smoky on this side and we could see Esther Mt. (right over the deadwood) and the hump on the right edge is Lookout Mt. where there was a lodge/snack bar for skiers back when the ski area was on this side of Whiteface.

A short distance farther on you get a view of the summit.

Dave and a couple who were heading back down (they had passed us going up) looked off toward the other side of the ridge where there was considerably more smoke.

Looking down through the smoke at the ski area.

It is pretty open the rest of the way up.

Dave and I arrive at the summit. Photo by Kathleen Bullard with her phone...

She and my brother Pete drove up the highway to give us a ride back down. Thanks, guys. This makes around 8 times I have climbed Whiteface and going back down is always the hard part. You are tired after the ascent and gravity is not your friend going down. I have only fallen and injured myself (minor scrapes) twice while climbing, both times while descending. Dave and I are both in our 70s and we are already 46ers so we get to ride down but if you are doing it for the record to be a 46er you must hike both ways for it to count.

The summit photo by Kathleen.

It was an awesome day in spite of the smoke.