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Too Hot! Move to The Coast
Category: State Parks
Driving Across America on I-70 and I-80
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Lehigh Gorge
With heavy rains, we couldn’t explore much, but we did walk down the the Lehigh River. It is a 32-mile gorge with raft rides and bike paths. You can put your bike on a train and then ride back to the town, Jim Thorpe, a 25-mile trip with a slight down hill train slope. You can also kayak or canoe it, but it is not for amateurs. A lot depends on how much water is released from the dam. There are a number of free shuttles to carry bikers to towns for lunch or exploring.
The Lehigh River flows for over 100 miles and is the largest tributary to the Delaware River. According to dryflyfishing.com there is a healthy population of brown and rainbow trout. There are also smallmouth bass “that fight like hell.”
Between the Delaware River and the Lehigh River and Hickory Run State Park, this area has a lot to offer. I’m sure it gets busy in the summer.
Catskills to Poconos
33℉ with 3-5 inches of snow in the forecast
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
We drove west through the Catskills, then turned south on 47. We drove the length of the Catskills reservoir that supplies New York City with water. We noted in the last couple of posts about the lack of rain in this area. My pictures don’t do justice to the dramatic low levels of this water system. You can see a bunch of small fishing boats to give you some perspective. Every stream we have crossed is very low or dry. This is home of some of the most famous trout streams in America. There was still water in these, but not a lot. A little research shows that New York consumes 1.1 billion gallons of water from this reservoir. I thought about the similarity to Mexico City, which was built on an area surrounded by huge lakes that are not gone, and underground reservoirs continue to drop.
Then we drove through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. This is a very pleasant drive through a well-managed wildlife area along the Delaware River, which looks quite pretty. Fields are planted for wildlife, but it also is a great buffer for the river. A nice bike trail runs the whole length, and trails go all through it.
Stopping for lunch, we studied options for places to stay the night and agreed on Hickory Run State Park in Pennsylvania, open until the first of November. It will be cool here for a couple of days with rain/snow tomorrow. Then it turns nice for a week. It looks like a very nice park with a lot of trails. Although it was chilly, we built a fire and enjoyed sitting out for a while. Martha cooked sweet potatoes in the fire along with pork chops and peas.
The showers are closed for the season and there are no flush toilets, so I’m pretty sure Martha will be wanting to move on tomorrow. For the first time, she took a shower in the trailer! Out came the exercise ball, the roller log, LL Bean bag and the yoga mat. I asked how it was and she said, “Great”.
Kilburn Loop Trail
44℉ at 5:00, high of 57, windy
Monday, October 24, 2016
We walked the Kilburn Loop Trail in Pisgah State Park. It is a 6.2 mile hike through beautiful forests of Hemlocks and Beach trees. You pass Kilburn pond, which is very pretty. it took us about 3 1/2 hours with a stop for lunch. No bears, no moose, no ducks, no deer. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but we couldn’t feel it much on the forest floor. The trees, however, were talking, rubbing against each other as they moved with the wind. It’s pretty cool the different sounds they can make. It would be eerie if you were camping on Halloween night!
We hadn’t hiked for two days, so it felt good to get out. By the end of the last uphill climb of .7mi, we were tired. We drove back down to the Connecticut River to investigate the bike trail along the river. We walked on a side trail that goes out through a marsh. It was lined with 10-foot bushes loaded with berries of several sorts. Tons of little birds were stocking up for the winter. A photographer passed us, complaining the little birds wouldn’t sit still long enough for him to get any pictures. They are no doubt tough to catch. The strategy might be just to sit down and wait for them to come to you. There were several beaver huts, but this beautiful area was strangely devoid of any ducks or geese. I haven’t seen a flight of geese or ducks at any time along the Connecticut.
Back at Hinsdale Campground, Martha did the laundry while I cleaned out the cook box that had gotten wet with the snow and rain. It is a toolbox I set on its side for better access, but that means the lid doesn’t prevent water from getting in. The bikes and the cook box are covered with a tarp, but the heavy snow was too much for it. Sagging with the weight, it allowed water to get in along the sides. I had everything spread out all over the place when Dave (who works the camp) came by. He looked the place over strangely, and I wondered if I had violated some code. He asked if Martha was doing laundry and if I had my water connected. Then I asked him what was up. There was going to be a freeze tonight and he was going around cutting off the water so the pipes don’t freeze. The campground closes this weekend, and this seems to be the determining factor for closing – freezing pipes. I’m not sure how old Dave is, but we got to talking about the area and his growing up here, fishing the pond where we had hiked. It was hard to get all the facts right as he talked. I didn’t want to stop him because the stories were good. A very nice gentleman, and obviously smart, I wondered why he worked the campground as the manager came up. They went over to several campsites turning water off. When he came back, he continued. He works about half the time for pay and half as a volunteer. He said he would go crazy if he sat at home all the time. He and his wife had sold their house, bought a big camper and went on the road for 10 years, thus his great knowledge about campgrounds. “Oh, I’ve been to Virginia many times”. Nova Scotia was one of his favorites. He worked for the State, the Federal government and different companies that dealt with hazardous waste – mostly cell phones. When ownership of his plant changed hands, they always wrote in the contract that Dave had to stay. Government regulations hold people like Dave responsible forever if something goes wrong with the hazardous waste. He talked about being retired and on the road, when the company called him to help solve a problem, so he came back for a month to solve the issues. I was enjoying his great stories, but he had to go cut water off and I was getting the evil eye from the laundry lady. Dave was pleased when I gave him a coffee cup. I hope he is still here should we pass through again.
Connecticut River Valley
We broke camp and headed out, stopping at the office to say goodbye to Jack. No one was there, so we wrote a note and left it on the door. Living Waters Campground is a nice one – not very large, reasonably large campsites, and any time you can camp next to a trout stream is good. It’s unusual to have a deli at a campground, so that is nice. There is much to explore in the White Mountains, and they are very pretty. Probably there are too many people here in the summer for me, but there are many hikes that would be fun.
We followed the Ammonoosuc River on Rt. 302. This is a beautiful river that would be fun to float. It doesn’t look too complicated, but with just enough to make it interesting. A trout stream where we camped, there surely are smallmouth down lower. It was raining, but trees and mountains were coated with snow, fall colors still showing through. It is a sometimes rough road, but pretty. Quaint little New England towns with grassy malls broke up the farmland. After a while it turned into the Connecticut River. I was surprised by how pretty this river is. With a beautiful farm valley, the river is also beautiful and would be pretty to float. Scattered marshlands followed the river. Islands dotted the wandering river, and a rails-to-trails bikeway followed it forever. We passed a field with more turkeys than I have ever seen in one place. There were two groups of maybe 30 in each. With someone following closely behind, I couldn’t stop, but when I saw another group, I pulled over for a few pictures as traffic zoomed past. This is a scenic byway, but there are no pullovers or viewpoints. You just say, “Oooo, Ahhh” and have to keep driving.
We crossed over the river at Lebanon, a pretty town, and stopped at a large boat launch place for lunch. The winds were howling, but it was 57 degrees. A guy was zooming around on his jet-ski. We drove down the Vermont side, with Pisgah State Park as a stopping point. We passed a number of campgrounds, but found Hinsdale Campground to be open. The owner, Dave, checked us in. There are few travelers staying here, but lots of full timers. It closes next weekend. The attraction seems to be ATV trails. He told us about a hike in Keene with spectacular views. With no more information than that, we drove 30 miles to Keene. It is a very interesting, large town with a pretty downtown area. We had no idea where to go. A quick Google search showed a ton of rails-to-trails, but no mountain or high hikes. I was tired now with all this wandering, so we headed back. We had seen a leather store on the way over, and Martha has been wanting a pair of furry moccasins to keep her warm on the cold morning floor. If you want leather anything, Howard’s Leather Store is a great place with reasonable prices. It is a family-run business for 50 years. Hats of all sorts, boots, vests, coats, wallets, pants and gloves. I could have bought five or six hats, but wasn’t in a buying mood. Fortunately Martha found a pair of moccasins she liked. We asked the ladies about Dave’s suggested hike, and they knew exactly what he was talking about. It was an obscure road that is now paved, but the views are great. I was shot now and ready for cocktail hour.
On the way back, we stopped at a trailhead saying something about wildlife viewing area on the edge of Piscah State Park. A young man was coming off the trail so I asked him if he had seen any wildlife. No, he hadn’t seen anything significant, but raved about how pretty it was, showing us on the map where he went. There were lakes and small mountains and forests and plenty of places to explore. He had driven from Boston for the day to hike, an hour and a half drive. His enthusiasm was contagious. We’ll have to try it tomorrow.
Travel to Wellesley Island State Park
August 2nd
We had a leisurely morning, then got cleaned up and headed back to Rome to see Fort Stanwix. It was worth it as it has been rebuild beautifully and really gives you a feel for what it was like in the late 1700’s. Our guide, Willie Scott, did a great job of explaining why it was so strategic. There is a narrow land bridge between two rivers that allowed travel and trade, while everything around it was marshy or water. Right behind the fort is beautiful St. Peters Roman Catholic Church, so we went in for a quick visit. What beautiful architecture and stained glass windows!
Returning to the campground, we hooked up and headed up Rt 46 over to Rt 12, which is a scenic byway along the Black River. Rt. 12 is a beautiful road with little traffic and we could easily hold 60mph and enjoy the scenery. We missed a turn, so we only got a glimpse of the Black River, but it was gorgeous. If we had no itinerary, this would have been a great place to stay and explore the Black River. There is trout and salmon fishing on the river and sounds like a pretty exciting raft trip. I started to turn into Pixley Falls State Park, but Martha said we would probably have to pay to get in, so I drove on. Am I with Kelly or Martha? By the time we got to I81, we were happy to see light traffic and a very good road in contrast to what we saw in Pennsylvania and southern New York, where this major highway is in poor condition with very heavy traffic. New York has some very nice rest areas.
It is a very narrow and high bridge crossing the first half of the St. Lawrence Seaway to Wellesley Island with a 40mph speed limit. The trucks don’t seem to mind, but it seems like you are almost touching side view mirrors when you pass them. The campground is full, so there is a lot of activity, which can be entertaining, but not my kind of place, but we are happy to stay in one place for three nights and rest up a bit. It was 86 degrees, which was plenty hot as we unhooked and put out the awning for the first time. We love our outdoor mat that our neighbor, Leslie, gave us, full of color and we can now wipe our feet before coming into the trailer.
A little exercise will be good tomorrow – maybe a bike ride to explore a bit.
