A Local Treasure Box of Plant and Wildlife

I had a great opportunity to go for a nature walk this past weekend, and was once again reminded that no matter how hard I try to remember to slow down and appreciate what's going on around me, I still take things for granted. I have probably been to Moreau State Park at least 50 times in my life. As a child, my mom would take me to the beach there because it was nearby and clean. My grandfather took me snowshoeing across the lake when I was younger. We've had a couple of family summer picnics underneath the pavilion, and my husband and I even rode our bikes there when we lived a few miles closer. Sister and I have been there several times, in all seasons, for hiking and snowshoeing. It wasn't until this hike that I realized exactly how much plant and animal life the Park actually has to offer.

Despite the rain, we were rewarded with many great photo-ops!

An announcement in the newspaper for a hike scoping the park for frost weed caught Sister's attention, so she asked Diane (my mother-in-law) and me to join her. I was intrigued - I never had heard of frost weed before. Frost weed is a plant that forms ice crystals as it prepares for the winter freeze. Unfortunately for us frost weed seekers, that weekend in November was unusually mild and they did not bear any ice crystals. We saw plenty of other interesting things, however, adding an extra hour to our tour, despite the rain.

Frost weed - unfortunately too warm for ice crystals

We came across an American Chestnut Tree, which is now a rarity since the chestnut blight wiped out about three billion of these trees. The blight was caused by an Asian bark fungus that was accidentally introduced by importing Asiatic chestnut trees. Underneath the lonely chestnut tree were open spiny burrs, once occupied by chestnuts. These nuts continue to grow through the end of the summer, and the burrs open and fall from the trees around the time of the first frost.

From American Chestnut Tree

A flying squirrel poked his head out of its dead and hollowed out tree home to investigate the noise that our group was creating. Sitting ever so still, with only an occasional whisker twitch, it posed for a few pictures before disappearing back into the tall stump.

Flying Squirrel

With the recent wet weather, we were surrounded by an abundance of mushrooms. We learned about edible varieties such as hen of the forest, which allegedly tastes like hen, and chicken of the forest, which is said to taste like chicken. We saw shelf mushrooms and learned how to make a spore print. We saw plants such as spotted wintergreen and Christmas ferns, as well as some offering berries.

Sister found an Earthstar mushroom!

Near the shore of Mud Pond sat a huge beaver dam. The busy beavers left gnawed tree stumps behind as evidence of their hard work. We were told that you can see osprey and bald eagles in the Park as well. Who knew that all these existed together so close to home?!

Beaver dam- Mud Pond

Osprey - Picture taken when my husband and I went to Florida in 2007

If only I had a pen and paper or a tape recorder that day so I could share even more. It will be interesting to see what we can find on our own when we go snowshoeing this year, and when the flowers are in bloom next spring and summer.

Here is a complete photoset.

Columbus Day Hike: Owl's Head Mountain

I usually work on Columbus Day, but this year I had it off, so Sister and I took advantage of the good weather and our free time to squeeze in some leaf peeping before the trees are completely bare. Owl's Head, in Long Lake, NY, was our destination. We chose this based on location and its climbable tower for foliage picture taking. It looked like we had just missed "peak" foliage, but the colors were beautiful nonetheless.



The trail was covered in crisp orange, red, and brown leaves - even the smallest chipmunks sounded like beasts with their feet crunching on the blanket of fallen leaves. It was an easy hike for the most part, despite the fact that it was our longest fire tower hike so far. After about 2.8 miles of hiking, we came across what is left of the old observers cabin. At a quick glance, it looked like a small cemetery, and in a way, the remaining cement blocks were like headstones marking the remains of the cabin.

Remains of the observers cabin

The tail end of the hike was the hardest part - steep, bare rock slimed with run-off from the top of the mountain. I lost my footing on a bare, wet rock and grabbed a tree for support. The tree trunk took off two small chunks of skin from my thumb, resembling a vampire bite, appropriate for the month of October I suppose...



The tower was climbable, and the cab was open! I was proud of my ability to recognize Blue Mountain without a map or guidebook. According to my Views from on High book, by John P. Freeman, you can also see Owl's Head Pond, Raquette Lake and Forked Lake. Because of its proximity, Long Lake is mostly hidden from view.

Blue Mountain from Owl's Head Tower

It was a 360 degree view from the tower, but even from the bottom of the tower you could see Blue Mountain, some foliage, and other gorgeous views.


The 35-ft Aermoter steel tower was built in 1919, and abandoned in 1970. DEC forest ranger Jim Waters, with the help of other DEC personnel and the Friends of Owl's Head Fire Tower, restored the tower in 2004.

See my Flickr set for all the photos from the hike!

Vanderwhacker Mountain

On our tenth fire tower hike, we were blessed with good weather and good company. The hike was Vanderwhacker Mountain, elevation 3385 feet.

There are elements of both good and bad when hiking in a group. One down side is that everyone seems to walk at a group pace, meaning the slower ones struggle to keep up, the faster ones take it down a notch so that they are not rushing everyone else. My sister and I don't actually take breathers, but we do take a lot of "photo-ops." If we get to catch our breath and grab a sip of water while photographing a pretty flower, an interesting creature, or the current weather conditions, then so be it. Luckily, we did not find the need to rest take pictures too often.

An obvious benefit to hiking in groups is the unexpected help that you will need at times. Our winter hike up Hurricane Mountain not only gave us safety in numbers, but the availability of spare emergency equipment - such as a kind companion lending Sister their extra snowshoes after her "wardrobe malfunction." You never know when your snowshoe will break! Besides the assistance, we enjoy hiking with the Adirondack Mountain Club because you get to meet interesting people with common interests, and hear about their adventures and even some close-calls. It's definitely a learning experience, from identifying wild flowers to history of the area, and even some advice on what to do, and what not to do in the wild.

Our convoy consisted of three small sedans, as we followed each other from a local restaurant to the trail head. Luckily we were greeted by a few other hikers, equipped with high clearance four-wheel drive vehicles. God knows my Corolla may have made it down, but not back up the narrow bumpy dirt road, at least not without wrecking its guts. A pick-up truck and an SUV served as our shuttles from the main road to the trail head, saving us about 2.5 miles each way of extra walking.


The ridiculous amounts of rain we had throughout a good portion of the summer left us large mudpuddles on the trail; some spots gave false illusions of being shallow little patches but left me stuck nearly up to my ankles in brown gunk. We bushwhacked to get around some spots, but we eventually found ourselves not caring anymore, tramping through the puddles, daring the mud to stop us.

The hike was rated B because of the distance, but there weren't really any tricky steep spots. We conquered the 2.7 trail to the summit in about 2 hours and 15 minutes, resting only a few times. Most of the wildflowers are gone now, though we did see Indian pipes, which I had seen for the first time a few weeks prior in the Catskills, and those dark blueish purple berries that look like blueberries - but they aren't.

Feel free to leave a comment if you know what these are called

We stopped at the observer's cabin for water and pictures. The cabin is all boarded up, and on the door is posted a sad sign dated from the week before, asking hikers to look for a missing dog that ran away at the summit. Next to the cabin on the other side of the trail is a dilapidated building, perhaps it was a shed at one time. I think the pretty orange flowers surrounding the cabin are called "touch me nots."






The summit provided a break in the trees with a nice view north to the high peaks. However, the best views were from the cab of the tower where there was a 360^o panoramic view.

There is an amazing views of Algonquin Peak, Avalanche Pass, as well as Mounts Colden. Redfield, Marcy, Haystack, Allen, Gothics, Sawteeth, Nipple Top, Dix, and Macomb. If you click on the picture, your will be directed to the picture on my Flickr page, where I hope I have accurately identified each mountain.

Click me! Click me!

The Aermotor tower was built in 1918 and remains in good condition thanks to the efforts of the DEC, AmeriCorps, and the Friends of Vanderwhacker Fire Tower. This tower replaced the original wooden tower, which was build in 1911. Operation of the tower ended in 1988, and officially closed in 1989.



Visit my Flickr set for more pictures and information about Vanderwhacker Mountain


Information from:
http://www.telenet.net/~ranger/towers5.htm
and
Views from on High by John P. Freeman