Bloomingdale Bog

 I'm back. Long time, no post.

This was a rough winter for me. I had a serious case of seasonal affective disorder. I got out to exercise and shoot photos very few times. The weather is improving, and so is my mood.

Yesterday I drove down to the mountains. Spent some time on the Bloomingdale Bog trail, the section that runs from the Gabiels to Bloomingdale Rd to Rt 86. I hiked in and back out about 3½ miles total. On the way in, I stopped at the bird feeding station and shared a bag of seed with some birds and the squirrel in the photo above. The birds there are sufficiently accustomed to humans that they will feed from your hand if you are patient. I had about 6-7 Chickadees land on my hand to take seed, but it was awkward trying to take the photo at the same time. The camera spooked them because it was so close. I only managed two images.

After 20-30 minutes, I continued down the trail to kill time. I was going to the opening of a juried show in Lake Placid and had about 3 hours before the opening. It was a grey day, and nothing much was green except the evergreens. There were still patches of snow and ice, so I had to look a bit deeper to find interesting subjects. I found a few things that I thought might make good B&W images, but in the end, I left them as color images.

The Bollingdale Bog Trail is an old RR bed that is currently used for hiking, bird watching, and biking. In the winter, it is a snowmobile trail.

I hope you enjoyed this Bog walk with me. If you wish to share these photos with friends, please copy the URL above and refer them to it. Do not copy or repost any of them elsewhere without my permission.

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.

Chaumont Barrens - June 5, 2024

 

Every year for several years now I have made a pilgrimage to Chaumont Barrens to photograph wildflowers. It is a unique environment for the Northeast that belongs to the Nature Conservancy. It has some flowers not normally seen in the NE including Prairie Smoke, There are Yellow Ladyslippers in late May/early June but I missed those this year. Apparently because of our early spring they had already gone by.

Columbine

Prairie Smoke

Woods's Rose (according to Plant.net)

Viburnum

Tall Cinquefoil

Woods's Rose

Wood Lilies

Beardtongue

Golden Ragwort in a clump of grass on an area of exposed bedrock.
There is quite a bit of exposed bedrock.

Herb Robert - This was in a wooded section. I was fortunate that a patch of light was on the blossom.

About the Barrens

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/central-chaumont-barrens/?en_txn1=bl.ch_ny.eg.x.g

I have trouble remembering names*, people's names, and the names of things, especially flowers. I can recall a few easily but I usually end up looking them up in my wildflower books or lately using an app that allows me to take a photograph that it then matches to several possibilities. I won't swear to the specific ID of some of these, the roses for example. I'm not an expert and don't care enough to become one. I ID them as best I can because I know someone will ask.

*My inability to readily remember names is not due to age. It has been a lifelong thing, a trait that also showed up on a personality test I once took. It's a random thing. I never forget Herb Robert but I have a hard time remembering Columbine which I see far more frequently. I even have it in my garden.

Enjoy the photos and share the link to this page if you want to share with others.