Life is good!

I’ve been a few days in the Adirondacks and in spite of the attack of the bugs, I’m having a good time. Humble brag – I bought a screened canopy because I knew I’d be encountering bugs from here until I get pretty far west. A review of the canopy I wanted specified that you need two people to put it up; the instructions specified you need two people to put it up. I decided to give it a go, figuring the worst case scenario was that I’d be asking a camp neighbor to help. Here’s the brag – I did it all by myself! It is true that I couldn’t figure out what to do with the guy lines and the stakes wouldn’t hold in the sand so it’s not keeping 100% of the bugs out, but I did it! And it’s better than sitting out in the open! Plus, it just started sprinkling and I’m sitting peacefully inside the canopy, looking out at the lake as the sun starts to go down.

I arrived relatively late in the day, having spent more time at the Mennonite Heritage Farm than I intended and then stopping for groceries. My plan for Wednesday was to ride my bike to The Adirondack Experience, the Blue Mountain Lake Museum. The ride was only 5 miles but there was a good long uphill stretch…I felt the fact that I haven’t been on my bike as much as usual and it motivated me to ride more. The museum was great with a nice variety of exhibits – a gallery of the art of the Adirondacks, a boat building and history center, a history of work and the workers in the logging business, a rustic furniture exhibit. There’s also a train that use to take people to and from a ferry that traveled several of the lakes. Really interesting and engaging stuff. Plus, the cafe had a spectacular view of the lake AND multiple vegetarian options! It’s been. months since I’ve felt like I had multiple good veggie options at a restaurant.

On Thursday I set out on the 6+ mile hike to Stephen’s Pond, the trailhead leaving right from the campground. This trail is along the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT), a continuous 138 mile trail that goes through the Adirondacks. I kept my eyes open as bears are fairly prevalent here, wondering if I saw one would I turn back or keep my distance and keep on hiking. I had my bear spray, just in case, but the reality that they don’t pose much of a threat is sinking in more each time I go out and I think I would have kept going. The only wild life I saw was a frog but I heard lots of birds, including an especially loud woodpecker.

Really random and really unlikely – when I signed into the registration book at the trailhead I saw that the last people who signed in yesterday were from Seattle! They listed their phone number so I texted them thinking maybe they were staying in the campground and we could meet. I haven’t seen any WA plates around here nor have I heard back from them; that’s disappointing, but I really like that something with such a low probability actually happened.

I’ll be heading out tomorrow and staying at a couple of Harvest Hosts before I get to Portland, Maine where my friend Tracy will fly in to join me in Acadia National Park and exploring Maine. I’ll stay first at a Vermont syrup farm and then a mini-golf place. I spent some time reorganizing the garage of the van, wondering why on earth I brought some of the stuff I brought, like snow shoes. I had no intention of going to snowy places, so why did I think that was a good idea? And my snow boots, too. And way too many bags…plastic bags, cloth bags, gigantic industrial garbage bags, and gift bags. What the heck?