Getaway to Lake Adirondack

(INDIAN LAKE, NY) For the past few days, we've been staying at the camp of some friends near Indian Lake, on Lake Adirondack. We'll be here over the weekend as well, and will have several friends and family coming to visit. Holly submitted the winning bid at a goods/services auction at her church, so here we are. It's a small camp on a small lake, but provides a good base camp for exploration of short hikes and ponds in the area.



Yesterday, friends John and Diane joined us for some paddling and dinner. We took a spin around Lake Adirondack, with its floating bog islands held in place by cables. We also saw a pair of loons with an immature but growing offspring.



This morning, we hiked Chimney Mountain, which in all my years of hiking, I had never been to before. First, we hiked to the "chimney" itself.



Then, we backtracked just a bit, and followed a well-worn herd path to the true summit, about 0.2 miles to the east. Here, there were views in all directions, dominated by Snowy Mountain to the west.



Finally, on the way down, we followed another of the many herd paths to another small ridge that faced the "chimney" from a short distance, giving a much better feel for its true size. Note the people at right.



There was also a nice view from this ridge down King's Flow, and included the Chimney Mountain Cabins, where we'd left the car.



From there, we followed more herd paths back to the main trail, and back to the car.

After lunch, we paddled the western end of Lake Durant, and saw another loon pair with a growing chick. Aside from the nearby highway noise from NY28/30, this was a nice place to paddle for an hour. We put in at the far end from the campground, near the Cascade Pond trailhead.

More company and more Adirondack adventures in the days to come.