We left St Albans Bay with low cloud cover and headed south and out through The Gut to travel to the New York side of Lake Champlain. As we get to The Gut, the sun started to peek through the clouds and it turns into a beautiful day.
Anchor note: retrieved anchor with minimum weeds and mud. Much easier today.
As we thread our way through the bridge and old railroad line, we turn south and pass two small islands and enter the narrowest part of Lake Champlain. Getting closer to New York State, the shore is forested with homes and farms similar to Vermont, but the houses are bigger.
Turning into Cumberland Bay, we can see the marina and Plattsburgh. We tied up at the boat dock to get the holding tank pumped out and then moved to our slip. Once here, we met two gentlemen who shared the dream of doing the Loop, and of course, Bill shared our experiences. I stole local knowledge of restaurants and places not to miss in the Adirondack Mountains for our excursion tomorrow.
Next, we will get the laundry done and walked through town. Plattsburgh is a town steeped in history from the War of 1812. It was in Plattsburgh Bay that the Americans won a decisive naval victory over British ships and on land Americans restrained a larger British force on September 11, 1814. The historical museum in town displays paintings, artifacts and dioramas depicting the battles of Plattsburgh.
The town has a SUNY University campus in town and also used to be the site of an Air Force base which is now closed. Here are some shots of Plattsburgh, NY.
We took possession of a rental car for our mountain excursion tomorrow and then went out to dinner and got our groceries for the next 10 days. Now time to relax!
August 25. Day 130. Adirondack Mountains
Today we are on land with a rental car. First we head 20 minutes south of Plattsburgh on the very east side of the Adirondack mountains to visit Ausable Chasm. The chasm is a carved canyon formed by glaciers and continues being carved by the Ausable River and the rocks and waters which each spring flood the area. The rock formations, fractures and rapids and waterfalls make this canyon of the Adirondacks fascinating. We walked along the rim and into the canyon and watched others tube and raft down a portion of the river. You could sign up for a hike which requires rock climbing and zip lining in the canyon. We passed up that option!
Here are some shots, although the photos don’t really do the chasm justice.
After a picnic lunch we drove further into the Adirondacks to White Face Mountain. We could drive up and then hike a very steep and rocky trail to the summit at 4,865 feet. Was 55 degrees at the top. Was very glad I layered my clothes today!
Whiteface Mountain is surrounded by lakes, the most famous is Lake Placid. Even though it was cloudy at the top, we could still see the lakes! Unfortunately it was too much cloud cover for us to see Lake Champlain from the top.
It was time to head back and return the rental car and then head back to the boat. Both Bill and I will sleep well tonight. All that mountain air and exercise! In fact, Bill rested all along the way.
