-
Lake Lila road update
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 2 comments Add a comment >>A few hours after my last post, I returned to the Lake Lila road. It was still gated, so I began the long walk in to pick up our gear and two canoes. On the way I met a DEC truck that was raking the road. When they finished, they opened the gate, so I was able to drive in. That saved me five to six hours of pulling a canoe buggy on a dusty road swarming with black flies. I was grateful. In the hour or so that it took me to retrieve my stuff (including two carries from the lake) and drive back up the access road, three vehicles with paddlers arrived, including one from Ithaca and one from Vermont. Imagine the disappointment if these people had shown up on the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend and found the road closed.
By the way, should you ever drive to Lake Lila and find the road gated, turn around and drive down the road a piece to the put-in to Little Tupper Lake or Round Lake. If you choose Little Tupper, I recommend canoeing to the west and and taking the Rock Pond outlet to Rock Pond, a beautiful lake with several nice campsites and a big island. You also could head north on Route 30, take the turn for Horseshoe Lake, and look for the access road to the Bog River. You can canoe up the Bog to Hitchins Pond, where there are campsites. If you want to go farther, portage around the Upper Dam to access Lows Lake.
Of course, the black flies were still out in force Friday evening at Lake Lila.
-
Lake Lila road closed
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 1 comment - Add a comment >>If you’re planning to paddle Lake Lila this Memorial Day weekend, be forewarned: The road leading to the lake is gated. I found this out the hard way after spending two days this week paddling from Little Tupper Lake to Lila. To make a long story short, I had to walk about six miles from the lake to the Sabattis Road to get my ride–this on top of two tough days of canoeing and portaging. DEC posts road closings on its Web site, but before my trip, I called up the wrong Web page. I also sort of assumed the road would be open before the holiday weekend. Bad assumption.
By the way, the black flies were horrible.
-
Art and nature
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 1 comment - Add a comment >>
A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks. Painting by Homer Ransford Watson.
The July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer will include two pages of paintings and photographs from “A ‘Wild, Unsettled Country’: Early Reflections of the Adirondacks,” an exhibit that opened today at the Adirondack Museum. It runs through Oct. 18.Lovers of art and nature may be interested in a similar exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts called “Expanding Horizons,” which will run June 18 through Sept. 27. The museum has assembled nearly two hundred landscape paintings and photographs created between the Civil War and the outbreak of World War II. The museum says the works portray landscapes in the United States and Canada in “an era of artistic and historical transformation coinciding with the westward expansion of the two countries.”The Montreal exhibit includes A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks, painted by Homer Ransford Watson a Canadian artist, in 1879. The musuem’s spokesman did not know if the oil painting depicts an actual landscape in the Adirondacks. It doesn’t look like anyplace I know, but if I were to speculate, I’d say it was inspired by the Hudson Gorge.Anybody have another guess?
Profile
Name: Phil
Bio: Phil Brown has been editing the Adirondack Explorer since 1999. When he isn’t at his desk, he’s usually out hiking, paddling, skiing, or doing something else important. You can follow his adventures and his musings on the Adirondacks in the Explorer and on this blog.
36 Church St. Saranac Lake, NY 12983
(518) 891-9352
Recent Comments