Hello everybody and welcome to my
new blog! My name is John and I have decided to start writing about my
many trips that I take throughout the year. I am a land surveyor and
work/play outdoors all over the state of New York. I would like to
share some of the awesome experiences I have and maybe meet others with
similar interests. In the next year and beyond, you will read about
hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking, traveling in general, and anything
else that pops up on my agenda that I think might be cool to write about
and show.
This
post’s purpose is mainly for background and has a couple samples of
this year’s past trips. Also there is some info. on a recent waterfall
trip that I made earlier this month. As I am new to this program and
writing in general, its going to take me a while to get this webpage up
and running the way I’d like. For now I want to just get the ball
rolling and maybe build some interest for people who enjoy the same
things I do.
The
2010 year brought me a new and intense interest in hiking. I currently
live in northern NY (Watertown to be exact) and have easy access to the
Adirondack Park and mountain range. Starting early summer, I began my
hiking adventures with climbing a few of the high peaks. To those who
do not know… there are 46 of these mountains that summit over or around
4,000 feet in elevation. Click Here for 46rs
Below is a picture from the top of Colden Mountain as a sample of the
many beautiful and awesome sights that can be seen from the high peaks.
In
early fall I was introduced to the "fire tower challenge" that involves
climbing the NY mountains that have old fire towers on them. This is a
lot of fun because you as a hiker have a goal to accomplish… and the
mountains are usually smaller and easier than the high peaks to hike.
The challenge webpage can be found at: Click Here for Fire Tower Challenge. Below is a picture of the tower on top of Balsam Lake Mountain in the Catskills and the view from inside it.
Lastly,
Hamilton County has a challenge where you hike and boat to find a
number of waterfalls around the county... they set this up in the hope to generate some
tourism to these remote areas and small towns: Click Here for Hamilton County Waterfall Challenge.
It so happens that I have two close friends that live in Speculator and
we started collecting these waterfalls on the weekends when I would go
up and hang out with them. Below is a picture I
took of the rushing “Buttermilk Falls” on January 15, 2011. This is
located right off the road near Long Lake, and about a 5 min. walk
through the snow to the falls.
Beyond
my fascination of working on completing challenges, I frequently go camping around
the Cranberry Lake area with friends. We either take a canoe, kayaks,
or hike in and camp out for a night or two. This is a typical weekend
getaway that is always enjoyed by all.
I
also found myself acquiring a small fishing boat this last year. I
love to go fishing so that is another likely topic that might be brought
up in future blog posts.
I
hope you enjoyed this preliminary blog post… I don’t anticipate any
large trips coming up in the next month or two. This is due to recent
surgery I had to fix my shoulder that had a tendency to dislocate back
in the woods. I also prefer warmer temperatures so it may be a while
before I post again. Feel free to comment on anything I post. I always
welcome suggestions and new trips to try out!
