Introducing...the Adirondacks.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

I slept pretty well on the floor, waking up only a few times.  We were in the breakfast area early and I had some eggs and toast, which didn’t seem to be giving me any stomach issues as we drove into the Adirondack Park.  I’d convinced them that we should take a longer route to Potsdam which would have us driving on one of the scenic byways through the park and allow me the opportunity to show them what I thought was so special about it.  Though we wouldn’t be going near any high peaks, I took them into the quaint town of Wanakana on Cranberry Lake.  It was here that I’d first camped in the Adirondacks in the seventies and again in 2001 when I returned after so many years to begin my rediscovery.  Wanakana is a little speck of a town with a population of about 50 people and a General Store and sits right on the Oswegatchie River flow into Cranberry Lake.  It is also the home of the Ranger School  where there is a functioning fire tower from which the beauty of the surrounding lake and mountains can be observed.  I brought them into the town and took them to the General Store so they could get an idea of what small town, North Country was really all about.

“I was at this store the day after the terrorist attack.  I’d been at a campsite on the lake and kayaked in here to buy some supplies.  I was wearing a three-day growth of beard and when I placed my purchases on the check-out counter, the cashier looked me over and said ‘you don’t know what happened...do you?’  She then proceeded to fill me in to my complete disbelief.  I remember seeing the pictures of three high school kids on the wall, too, and under their pictures was a congratulatory note from the town to the ‘Senior Class’...it had three kids in it!”

We went out on the walking bridge that spanned the flow and led to some cabins on the far side.  From this vantage point, you could get a view up the flow, which was ice covered and looked inhospitable.  We snapped some pictures and climbed back in the cars for warmth and continued to the beach at the head of the lake and stopped again before proceeding to our Aunt and Uncle’s place in Potsdam.

I again missed a day of exercise, though I feel I accomplished my primary task which was to convince my brother and my niece that the Adirondacks were a place that warranted further inspection.  I suppose it’s no mystery that I am a huge advocate and feel the more people I can encourage to use the back country, the longer they will remain available to me.  Resources follow people and the more users we have, the better and more valuable the resource will become...provided it is used correctly.  I can think of no better place to improve one’s health and fitness, either, and since that was the foundation of this blog, I keep pushing it.  I feel that getting out and experiencing nature serves the dual purpose of physical and mental conditioning.  You have to be in decent shape to get in the back country, and once you’re there, the serenity it provides takes hold of your mind and does nothing but good things for it.  It needs to be tried to be believed and I now know that I’ll be bringing two more novices for their maiden voyage next summer.