My Neck of the Woods

[J_A_S_G]

The story of the Adirondacks is told through a series of passionate characters, each with a distinct perspective. Through their stories The Adirondacks explores this remarkable region and reveals a delicate and dynamic relationship between progress and preservation.

https://youtu.be/8vj7alOguio

[J_A_S_G]

Spring in the Adirondacks on Cheney Pond.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RW5M83KYL6TxhF3o8

[J_A_S_G]

Boreas Ponds Tract with the Adirondack High Peak Wilderness in the background. https://photos.app.goo.gl/nGmKWM4U3GsrkCvu9

A moose checking me out as I paddle by. https://photos.app.goo.gl/NuFdHuYG6Fuoxtvo8

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by J_A_S_G

The story of the Adirondacks is told through a series of passionate characters, each with a distinct perspective. Through their stories The Adirondacks explores this remarkable region and reveals a delicate and dynamic relationship between progress and preservation.

https://youtu.be/8vj7alOguio

Brings back...... childhood memories.

I remember as a little boy, following and helping a chap with his muskrat traps.

........ and then there is the beauty of the Black River.

and I did a lot of square dancing in Lake Placid.

........ and I can not forget the deer hanging in the wood shed. When the deer was 'gone', after a while, it would be replaced with another deer.

One of my favorite memories is meeting up with a pole cat. I wished I kept account of those encounters. Fortunately, I never did get the worse 'end'. LOL!

Must not forget..... the Adirondack Chairs! Seems, everybody had one or more at one time or another.

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

One of my favorite memories is meeting up with a pole cat. I wished I kept account of those encounters. Fortunately, I never did get the worse 'end'. LOL!

Yeah, I tend to give skunks a wide birth. Lol!

A few years back while coming out of Siamese Ponds wilderness I encountered a mountain lion maybe half a mile from the trailhead. It was a decent-sized cat too, probably somewhere between 100 & 150 pounds. I don't know who was more surprised, me or the cat.

By the way, I make an awesome venison jerky!

[BigJohn]

I use to get closer then 1 foot to skunks.......

One thing I miss as a boy is going to a place that harvested maple syrup. They would boil it down and I was given a 'stick', to stick in the thick syrup, and let it twirl around the stick till I had a really nice maple syrup 'sugar' stick.

Venison jerky sounds great.

I had a close relative that spent his whole career as a guide in the 'wilderness'. He could tells some amazing stories.

Later in life, I moved to Arizona. One day, while up in the mountains, I saw some mountain lion footprints. The next day, I saw the deer carcass. I guess the mountain lion got their 'full'.

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

One thing I miss as a boy is going to a place that harvested maple syrup. They would boil it down and I was given a 'stick', to stick in the thick syrup, and let it twirl around the stick till I had a really nice maple syrup 'sugar' stick.

That's a sweet sucker. Lol!

When I did a lot of backpacking I always brought bannock mix: flour, baking powder, powdered milk, a pinch of salt and cut in some shortening.

I'd use it for pan bread and dumplings mostly (can't have a good jerky stew without dumplings!) but also doughboys, which is it wrapped around a stick and baked over a fire. When it's finished slide it off the stick and fill the hole with something tasty. I'd use trail mix and dribble in some honey.

It was always a nice treat at the end of a long day, sitting at a small fire with a cup of coffee and a doughboy.

[J_A_S_G]

On Schroon River at the crack of dawn. Fish were biting and deer were grazing,

About an hour or so after sunrise - https://photos.app.goo.gl/D829QAGb2tpxmq94A

Deer nibbling at fresh growth along the river - https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dx39MZcofXfUHfG96

[Miss Hepburn]

This is so cool you're sharing these pics!! xxoo

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

This is so cool you're sharing these pics!! xxoo

I've been out and about all over the Adirondacks as far back as I can remember, and that's the early 60s. That initial view shortly after launching on Boreas Ponds with Gothics in the background blew me away. It's perhaps the best view in the 'Dacks.

Boreas Tract is interesting. It's about 21,000 acres the state acquired through a land conservancy that purchased it on the state's behalf in 2007 from Finch-Pruyn, a paper/logging company. It was their corporate retreat. It adjoins the High Peaks Wilderness just to its north. To its northwest is Dix Wilderness, to its south is Hoffman Notch Wilderness and to its east is Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest. It's prime remote real estate and one of the less-used areas of the park.

Turning off Blue Ridge Rd about 6 or 7 miles out of Schroon Lake there's a seasonal road (read dirt) that goes back about 6.5 miles through several gates that are progressively opened as the mud season winds down. At the last barrier it's about a mile hike to Boreas Ponds.

I bought a Hornbeck pack canoe end of April. It's 12' and the hull is made of Kevlar, weighing in at only 18 lbs. That was my first time packing it in and I picked the right place!