Bouncing between countries

Originally e-mailed 10/7/16

Hello All,

Sorry for the silence. It seems I've been on a treasure hunt to find tiny hidden pockets of recreational opportunities. Apparently the average person thinks 'hiking' is walking a short distance. I've been hard pressed to find hiking opportunities that have been more than 5 miles. Most are 2-3 miles. By the time I find some place to get out and get moving, there's a big drive between those opportunities. So I've been playing where I can and driving until it was almost dark, finding a place to camp (mostly freebie sites after turning down a gravel road and looking for a place to pull off). Often times by the time I park, get some dinner, and research my next destination (if I'm lucky enough to have cell coverage), it's too late to think about catching up with all of you.

But, maybe, my days of way too long driving for way too short of recreational opportunities are drawing to a close? I am now in Adirondack Park in NY. But first let me catch up on my other news.

Fall colors are still lagging behind the normal time frame (I'm finally seeing good displays today as I drove up into the Adirondacks, but they're just warming up). I’ve been getting a good ‘dose’ of the Great Lakes on my journey thus far (see map photo), missing only Lake Erie. 

As I cruised along Lake Superior in Canada I found some good hiking including a 17 ¼ mile hike in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (including getting to the top of the giant) and 2 days of hiking on the Coastal Trail in Lake Superior Park. No wonder fall colors are late. It’s still summer. On both of those rugged rock-scrambling hikes along the shore of the lake I went for a swim in the largest lake in North America. Granted, it was a brief, very invigorating dip, but served to cool me off.

Very rugged hiking on the coastal trail.
This really IS the trail! You can see the
trail marker sign (blue diamond).

From the top of Sleeping Giant, overlooking Lake Superior.

My plan had been to cut across to Algonquin rather than following Lake Superior down the east shore, but the price of gas in Canada changed my plan. At nearly twice the price after putting $76 US in my tank in a single day, I decided to head south. I have never explored the US this far east either so I headed back into the US into Michigan. I went over the bridge into the US with my gas tank on fumes. I wasn’t the only one coming through the border and directly to the first gas station.

On the advice of the tourist info center, instead of heading east as I’d planned I headed west and south first, along the shores of Lake Michigan to Tahquamenon Falls (2^nd only to Niagra according to the woman at tourist info). I managed a 10-mile hike there (pics attached) so it was a worthwhile detour but I had to laugh at myself… I’ve been fixated on heading east, so to be heading west seemed very wrong. But I have all the time in the world and no set schedule with my primary goal still being to see fall colors (which are east, right???).

Tahquamenon Falls; the brown color is from tannic acid from decomposing trees.

I got a bike ride in the next day after I headed east again over to the west shore of Lake Huron. I’d thought about heading into Ohio but on the advice of former Ohio resident and fellow avid hiker (Rachel) to “keep driving”, I decided to take a direct route across Canada (on a single US tank full of gas) to Niagara Falls. The Canada side of Niagara was picturesque (see attached) and offered quite an array of bike trails. I did a 40 mile ride from Niagara Falls to Niagara on the Lake and back and then headed into NY and camped along the southe­rn shore of Lake Ontario.

Niagara Falls from the Canada side.

Today, sadly, was another day of many hours of driving and little exercise beyond the stroll I took this morning while I enjoyed my morning coffee. But I’ve arrived in the Adirondacks and things should change. The park is a vast area but it’s not like a national park where you arrive and they hand you a map that says ‘here are the hiking trails’.  No tourist info, no hint. I had my road atlas but little cell coverage to do any research as I began my drive into the Adirondacks. Fortunately, this evening I’m pulled off the side of a quiet road and have cell coverage to research hiking opportunities. It looks like there’s a good overnight backpack to Mount Skylight (the 3^rd highest peak in NY), just 30 miles from here and it’s on the way to Mount Marcy (5,344’) – the highest peak in NY. That’s a must-do. So it looks like I can spend a fair bit of time here getting in some hikes to taller mountains while enjoying fall colors that are just kicking in. I don’t know how much cell coverage I’ll have in the next few days but I’m looking forward to more hiking and WAY less driving. I’ve logged >2700 miles so far – enough already! I want more trail miles and less road miles!

I’ve arranged to have my absentee ballot sent to General Delivery in Bar Harbor Maine, where Acadia National Park is. Rumor has it you could spend a month hiking there (including the tallest peak on the Atlantic coast) and the fall colors should be happening big time when I get there.

I really do need to look into blogging. It would probably be easier to attach and label photos and would give me a lasting journal of my adventures. Maybe now that I can play more and drive less I’ll have time for such things (in a while…).

I hope all’s well with all of you!

Cheers, Gail