Whiteface Mountaintop and Waterfalls - Friday, August 2, 2019

A visit to the Lake Placid/Wilmington area of upstate New York is not complete without a drive to the top of Whiteface Mountain. In 2019, you'll pay $25 for your car and two people for the honor. (No large RVs!) 

The road is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and you have to be out of the gate by 6:15 p.m. At the entrance gate, they post the temperature at the top of the mountain, the weather, and visibility. Today, we will be able to see 50 miles (part of Canada and we will see Lake Champlain).

As we drive up and up, the plant life changes. The higher we go, the smaller the trees and plants get. This is because of the harsh weather conditions up high. Trees are stunted due to the short growing season.

I am fascinated by these pine cones that
grow straight up in clusters.

Looking up to the top of Whiteface Mountain.

Beauty looks great from this vantage point!

As soon as you arrive at the parking lot, the attendant has you go all the way to the end by the gift shop, turn around, and come back down to the angled parking spots. 

After you are parked, you have two choices for how to get to the top of the mountain: elevator ride up 27 floors or hike 1/5 mile up a steep trail. We opted to walk through the 426' tunnel to the elevator and save our soles for hiking later today.

Bob ready to enter the tunnel.

Our adventure continues into the mountain!

Mountain identifier sign at the summit.

I'm glad we didn't climb the stairs!

The photo below has a little story behind it. First, we had to wait for our turn to have our photo taken here. Second, the granite is slippery. We sat down for the photo. You can see our feet are jammed into a crack and that is holding us in place. It wasn't far down, but after the photo, I scooted down a bit and two guys helped me get up.

Lake Placid is the large horseshoe-shaped lake;
to the upper left is smaller Mirror Lake.

Bob inserting himself into the Adirondacks.

My handsome man. (You can see it's a bit hazy today.)

We wandered all over the rocks at the top so as not to miss any views. There are historical markers up here to be read as well. Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest peak in the state of New York.

The Adirondacks and Lake Placid. What a view!

The Summit House. The elevator opens up inside.

In the photo below, you can see the Depression-era Whiteface Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway which was entirely funded by the state of New York (as was Whiteface Castle). Then-State of New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremony. 

Five-mile long Whiteface Mountain Veterans
Memorial Highway with 8% grades.

The Adirondack Mountains provide fresh water for millions of people in the Northeast. As you can see in the graphic below, the water flows from the mountains to Lake Champlain, and then northwest into the St. Lawrence River, west to Lake Ontario, and south to the Hudson River.

The Alpine Zone - life is tough up here.

The Stairway Ridge Trail is an alternative route
if you don't want to take the elevator.

The fireplace in the Summit House which has
not had a fire since the Beatles last played. 

This is why there are no more fires in this fireplace.

How Whiteface "Castle" in the parking area got its name is spelled out in the letter below. The castle is located at the end of the parking lot and contains restrooms, a cafe with splendid views, and a gift shop. It is currently undergoing a facelift but is open.

After a short visit to Whiteface Castle, we headed down the mountain. There are roadside reminders on the way down to use a low gear to save your brakes. Once again, the views are incredible.

Next, we decided to hike to Stag Brook Falls, which is at the Whiteface Mountain Ski Area. We hadn't had lunch so we each ate a power bar to tide us over. The directions said it was a short hike. The day was sunny and quite warm with no shade on the hike up to the trailhead from the parking lot.

From Whiteface Ski Area's parking lot, we had a great view of the top of Whiteface Mountain (where we had just been).

Whiteface Mountain Ski Area.
We were just at the very top!

We crossed the Ausable River on the way to our trail.

We found the trail right where the directions indicated. Thankfully, the trail was in deep shade, but it was very steep with lots of rocks and roots. 

Bob on the trail.

Stag Brook Falls

More about the Ausable River.

But wait, our day isn't over yet. All of the places we're going today are close to the Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain KOA RV Park where we're staying. We figured we could pack a lot in.

Our next destination is just a few miles down the road from Whiteface Mountain Ski Area. We're headed to High Falls Gorge Waterfall Walk. This gorge has an admission fee of $12.50 per person.

The area is very dramatic with four waterfalls within one-half mile and many, many stairs!

The Ausable River before it drops.

Cute denizen of the gorge.

We just came down these to a viewpoint.

Deeper into the gorge we go!

Bob was far enough ahead for me
to show him at the head of more stairs.

Bob checking out a natural spring on the hillside.

All four falls in one photo!

These powerful rivers create deep potholes in
the granite.

Years of scouring action erode away the rock.

 Our walk finished with a climb out of the gorge. We thought it was a great photo-op spot.

After High Falls Gorge, we went back to the 5th wheel, put the cat in his carrier and listened to him cry all the way to the vet. It was time for his rabies shot. Campgrounds on the East Coast want the current rabies certificate and he was three days overdue for his shot.

An interesting factoid we found out from the vet in Ray Brook is that rabies shots in New York state are good for three years. In Texas, they're only good for one year. The vet told us they're exactly the same shot. Each state sets its own laws regarding the frequency of the shot. I asked Bob's sister, Laura (who was a vet tech for a number of years) about it. She said the rabies shot is good for three years and that states that require it more often are over-medicating the animals. That really ticks me off!

Anyway, Sunnie got a clean bill of health. We took him back to the fifth wheel where we changed out of our hiking clothes and into something nicer for dinner at The Hungry Trout. 

The interior of The Hungry Trout is decorated like
an upscale Adirondacks hunting lodge. 

Both of us ordered trout in different preparations. It was wonderful! We recommend it if you're in the area.

So, that was our last day in the Lake Placid area. Tomorrow, we are heading to Burlington, Vermont.

Hiking the "Inner Sanctum" - Thursday, August 1, 2019

A beautiful 35-minute drive through the Adirondacks took us to Ausable Chasm which bills itself as the "Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks." While it is impressive geologically and the scenery is awe-inspiring, this is no Grand Canyon. That being said, we explored the Rim Trail and Inner Sanctum Trails today.

One lady we talked to beforehand told us that going to Ausable Chasm is a little like going to Disneyland. We were going to have to wait in lines. 

Upon entering the Visitor Center/Gift Shop/museum, we were perplexed as to where we should go. There was a line right at the front door, but no way to get into it. Not to worry, a nice gentleman (who worked the front door) directed us around toward the gift shop. There, another very nice fellow gave us a numbered ticket and told us we could get in line when our number came up on the board, he said "about five minutes."

In that "five minutes," we had time to use the restroom (even with a line in the ladies' room), look around the gift shop, and stand around. It took about 10-12 minutes just to get in line. It was at least 15-20 more minutes in line to actually buy our ticket. This was at about 10:30 a.m. on a Thursday morning. The weekends must be a madhouse!

All kinds of packages with different activity levels and prices were listed on Ausable Chasm's activity menu. We could "Explore It, Raft It, Tube It, Take the Adventure Trail, the Rappelling Tour, go Rock Climbing, or go on a Lantern Tour at night." We got up to the desk and said we just wanted to go hiking. For the two of us to hike the Chasm (which included a shuttle bus) was about $39. The lowest price package they advertise on their wall is hiking plus inner tube or raft ride for $29.95 per adult. At least we saved a little. 

Once we had our wrist bands, Bob made a trip back to the truck in the upper parking lot to retrieve his shade hat and my knee brace. We then made our way to the turnstile entrance to the chasm. Along the path to the turnstile were three exhibits: two about geology, and one about the Great Floods of 1996 that washed away all the metal walking bridges in the chasm. They had a big twisted metal part of one bridge out for us to look at.

See photo of these fossils below.

Protichnite fossils

The write-up below describes the TWO devastating floods in 1996. There is also a very informative display in the small museum in the Visitor Center about the disasters that have happened here in the past 23 years.

Twisted metal walking bridge from the gorge (1996).

From the exhibits, we followed our trail map to the Elephant's Head formation. There is an overlook to see it. The sun has to be just right to visualize the Elephant's Head. It wasn't in the right place for my photo today, so you can see it in their display photo.

Elephant Head rock formation.

We headed back out the turnstile we had just entered so that we could walk across the bridge to get to the trails on the other side of the gorge, where 90% of them are located. We started out on the Rim Trail and had a gorgeous view of Rainbow Falls from a lookout. [HINT: You can see Rainbow Falls from a free parking lot on one side of the bridge.]

Rainbow Falls from Rim Trail lookout.

Our favorite portion of the day was the Inner Sanctum Trail down in the gorge/chasm. Stairs went down and down (150 according to their numbers). We went to about mid-canyon and stayed at that level on narrow rock ledges, stairs, and suspended walkways. It was awesome! The temperature was perfect there even though the trail was in the sun at the time of day we were in the chasm.

One of the packages you can choose is the Adventure Trail. If you look at the photo below, you can see some of the "challenges" that have been set up for guests to do: a climbing route through the chasm with cable bridges, edge walks, cargo net climb, and more.

Cable bridges, part of the Adventure Trail.

Wait! More stairs?

The Chasm.

Center of photo: An Adventure Trail
instructor showing how it's done.

An Adventure Trail bridge.

Devil's Oven

The stairs just keep a-comin'!

The Chasm.

We're "danger"ous!

The bridge below was supposed to be part of the Inner Sanctum Trail, but it was closed. No one mentioned that when we bought our tickets. I think we'll stay off it. If you enlarge the photo, you will see a worker on the left side of the rope a little past half-way. I guess they plan to reopen it soon.

More stairs. I should be used to this by now, right?

These walkways are about half-way-down
the chasm.

Narrow, cliff-edge walk with railings.
It was very safe.

The area is breath-taking!

I'm loving this adventure!

More bridges over the chasm.

Stairs and viewpoints. Bob is lower down on the right.

Yep, narrow passages.

If you chose the more expensive package with the raft trip or inner tubes, this is where we split off. They went down to the river and we climbed out on the stairs.

I love the rocks here.

Rafts and inner tubes go in the river here.

Cable lift lowering rafts into the chasm.

We are back on the Rim Trail and we
will take the shuttle back to the
other end of the park.

Crossing the chasm on a high bridge
to get to the trolley.

View of rafters and tubers from
the high bridge. (This looked
very inviting right about now!)

As we walked back through the woods to the trolley stop, we saw the trolley coming and we started running and flailing our arms hoping the driver or someone on the trolley would see us. The driver did and she stopped. Yay! 

The trolley took us to the other side of the highway and we were dropped off at the top of Rainbow Falls. We were able to read the history of the area. 

Way back when, many companies tried to make a go of using the falls to power their companies, but because they had to perch their building on the edge of the 60' drop, harsh winters and ice build-up, most gave up. Finally, in 1876, at least three factories did take advantage of this location: a paper mill, a starch mill, and a sash (door and window) company. In addition, travelers had discovered the excitement of descending 166 stairs into the canyon and taking a boat ride past the beautiful rock formations. This location had a bridge over the falls and the route became the main road between Albany, New York, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Rack House

What we are seeing on the other side of the river above where a majority of the falls flow out is the Rack House, a part of the hydroelectric plant. Here's how this works:

~ The dam above the falls channels water into a 260-foot-long canal dug into the bedrock of the bluff, and directs it to the Rack House.

~The Rack House contains a trash rack system for removing branches and other debris from the water before it enters two large pipes called penstocks.

~Water flows through the penstock to the powerhouse about 100' below.

~The powerhouse contains two turbine-generators. The water drives turbine wheels causing them to spin. The spinning wheels each turn a vertical shat connected to a generator, producing electricity.

~The plant was built to hold three turbine-generators, but only two were installed.

~At full power, this facility produces 3000Kwm sent out to the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation (NYSEG) grid from the transmission yard behind the Rack House.

Rainbow Falls through the trees.

Rainbow Falls and the Power House.

At the end of our hike, we went into the Gift Shop, bought a souvenir hat pin, and checked out their little, but very interesting, museum. The museum is all about early tourism, and the effect of water on the natural order of things.

Next, we wanted to take photos on the highway bridge which overlooks the falls. And after that, we were off to the North Star Underground Railroad Museum (NSURM) across the street from Ausable Chasm.

Bob with Rainbow Falls behind him.

Me with Rainbow Falls in the background.

North Star Underground Railroad Museum.

As we walked up to the museum, there was a bell outside the front door with a sign that said, "Ring the bell for freedom." So I did. That makes a good doorbell for the docent inside. She gave us an introduction to the Underground Railroad and we watched a six-minute movie. We were then free to check out the rest of the three-room museum. The museum was free with a request for a donation.

Any time I start reading the stories of slavery and man's inhumanity to man, I usually end up crying. Today was no different. Not only were there stories about the Underground Railroad in the Civil War, but also the Chinese Underground railroad, and even a current underground railroad still in existence now.

It was the second, longer movie that really got to me. It told individual people's stories. So sad. What I really embraced was that there were (and are) good people out there, risking their lives for those who needed (and need) help. 

I really appreciated going to a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad. Up until now, we have seen snippets about it at other museums, for example, the Dover, Delaware Old State House Museum had an exhibit in one room on their second floor. I now want to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Twelve Years A Slave." I know I will dissolve into tears reading those books.

When we are in Washington, D.C., we will take a day to go to Harper's Ferry and learn a lot more about John Brown and the Underground Railroad.

After the chasm and the museum, we went to lunch at McLean's Diner. It had good food at a reasonable price. The docent in the NSURM recommended the restaurant to us.

This afternoon we wanted to go on Veterans Highway to the top of Whiteface Mountain. We went home to rest a bit, ended up taking a longer nap than we thought, and with the highway closing time of 5:30 p.m., we wouldn't have time to do that today. We took the rest of the day off.

I just have to note here that AT&T phone and internet have sucked in most of New York. We have had terrible reception and couldn't even use our phones or internet for a few weeks unless we drove to where we had a signal (which we did on a couple of occasions). There, I got that off my chest!

That's it for today. I'm a couple of days behind in my blog, but now we are in Burlington, Vermont, in a campground with blazing fast internet and we're happy as clams.