ASP FLT NCT October 19, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Schlick in autumn, hiking.4 comments
Today I hiked a very short section of the Allegany State Park – Finger Lakes Trail – North Country Trail.
Eventually, I plan to hike the entire stretch of FLT-NCT that goes through the Park in four consecutive days staying at each shelter. For today, this was all I could manage – in to a shelter, eat lunch, and out again…
The sign at the trailhead notes that this trail is for foot traffic only. No bikes. No horses. No ATVs. It is a hikers’ trail – and a really gorgeous one at that. The first bit of the trail from Bay State Road takes you through an open clearing. From the top of this clearing, you have a pretty view of the round-topped Allegany mountains with Route 86 – the Southern Tier Expressway – winding its way among them.
As you approach the edge of the woods, the trail gets steep, and in the woods it is pretty rugged until you reach the top of the ridge. In the woods, I was very grateful for the freshly painted white blazes. With all the newly fallen leaves, it would have been impossible to see where the trail goes without them!
Your descent on the other side of the ridge will be steep at first, then gentle. Eventually, you seem to be on level ground for the rest of the way to the shelter. The best part of topping the ridge is that the traffic noise finally fades, then is completely silenced.
I have now visited all three shelters on the trail. They are all relatively new and in good shape. The folks that use them seem to take pretty good care of them.
There are privies at each and a water source, though signs warn that you should treat the water. I don’t know when I’ll be able to do the 4-day. But I am really looking forward to it! This is a gorgeous trail and well-maintained.
Girl Scouts Learn Canoe Basics October 14, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Schlick in autumn.Tags: canoe, canoeing, Esther Keyser, Girl Scouts, Paddling My Own Canoe
8 comments
This has been just about the most glorious weekend ever. Especially cool was that a whole bunch of girls, including some who had never been there before, got to experience Camp Timbercrest during the riotous colors of fall. Girls came from around the council to work on a canoe and kayak Interest Project.
It is especially poignant to those of us who grew up coming to Camp Timbercrest every summer to see girls come here to learn canoeing. Esther Keyser (“Skipper”) was instrumental in establishing this property as a Girl Scout Camp and served as Camp Director in the early days. The lake is named in her honor, as is Skipper’s Rock. Esther went on to become the first female licensed guide in Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada. She wrote a book of her experiences there called Paddling My Own Canoe. Her legacy is great and her spirit lives on at Girl Scout Camp Timbercrest.
Karen Cotton and Concetta Young were co-instructors for the paddling part of the day. Girls learned basic strokes together in the Dining Hall on benches before hitting the water.
Out on the Lake, they stayed close to shore for a few practice strokes, then took off on an Amazing Race to the swim dock, then back to Jackman’s Bay, around the Peninsula to Skipper’s Rock, and home again to the Boat Dock.
I had to leave shortly after the paddling part, but there were more workshops in the afternoon with Mike from Evergreen Outfitters.
There are plenty more photos at my Flickr Site. Click here to see them. Any member of Girl Scouts of Western New York is welcome to download any of these photos. In Flickr, select the photo you want, then click “all sizes”. Select the size you want, then click download.
A Challenging Place for Photography! October 11, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Schlick in autumn, photography.10 comments
I’m working on a through-the-seasons project. So, over the last couple of years, I have been gathering photos from Chautauqua Gorge in Western New York and it is my opinion that a gorge is a very challenging place to make photos!
Because of the steep walls and tall trees, you end up with scenes that have very bright spots contrasted with very dark spots. Take this one for example:
The sky and leaves in the upper part of the picture are washed out compared to what my eye was seeing. I wish I could have gotten the same deep rich colors above as you now see reflected in the water below. (I suppose there is a way in photoshop to make that happen?)
Still, I had quite a bit of fun today, attempting awesome shots. I used my polarizing filter for all the shots and set the exposure compensation down a couple of notches (which is supposed to enhance the sky blue).
I consider the colors to be “peak” when there is still a bit of green and few, if any, branches are bare. Such is the case this weekend in Western New York.
There were some spots along the creek where the water was still enough to make awesome reflections. This made for some interesting, almost abstract photos:
I kinda like the way this one turned out, too. I just put my camera down near the rocks and snapped… Didn’t even look through the view finder…. Just let the camera surprise me:
Happy Autumn! And, Happy Thanksgiving to Canadian readers!
