Vagaries Abound: Upstate NY

By Jen.

Dates: 10/13/2020 - 10/15/2020

When we lived in Charlotte, I would have Jonathan drive me to the airport, where I would catch the free shuttle to the AA Flight Training Center, which was just across the street from work. It was often quicker than trying to drive myself through Charlotte traffic. As I was a regular customer, I got to know two of the shuttle drivers pretty well. The morning guy retired to Charlotte from upstate New York, and he loved it here. However, he did mention how beautiful it was up north, including mentioning the area around Whiteface mountain as being gorgeous. So, I put it on my “Places to Visit” map, and we made our way there after Vermont.

On the day we started off into the heart of upstate NY, it was rainy. But it felt a bit mystical with the fall colors and low-lying clouds.

Upon arriving in the Whiteface Mountain area, we started planning what we would do. Figured we should try and drive to the top, and then right before we got to the road, we discovered it was an expensive toll road. With the weather, we decided we should wait until clears.

So we continued driving and found a place to camp.

Jones Pond.

Check out the beautiful trunks! Maroon vs mint green!

Found out that there was a Lake Placid to which we could walk. With fond memories of watching the horror movie with my family, I knew we had to stop.

No monster crocodile in sight! Also felt too cold for them.

That might be Whiteface Mountain there in the background.

Looking for other things to do, we thought maybe a bog would be interesting, so we made our way to Bloomingdale Bog.

We found evidence of beavers and the old railway.

Next up was The Flume. The colors! I love fall colors!

There was a decent amount of distance between this POI and the next, so we started our way south. Upon trying to find our next campsite, I found a slew of campsites in a place called “Moose River Plains.” I was intrigued, so took a slight detour to go through there. I am glad we did. We checked out the Lost Ponds trail, and Helldiver Pond.