New England - July 2013

Friday June 28:    We were ready to leave around 9 AM but immediately I noticed that the camp stove was rattling and knew it would make me crazy once we got on the road;  I stopped and packed it full of newspaper.  So it was closer to 9:30 when we actually left. We are heading to New England, hoping to hike and camp in Vermont and New Hampshire, but our first overnight stop was at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.   We had lunch at the Great Sauk Trail rest stop along I-80 in Illinois; in spite of lots of traffic around Chicago, we got to the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center around 3:30 PM.

We first walked out to an "observation deck" in a marshy area (pictured at right) near Beverly Shores but didn’t see much other than geese. It started to rain so we thought we'd drive along Lake Shore Drive - but the  rain stopped as quickly as it started, so we stopped at Lake View access to walk the beach (pictures left and right).  It was breezy but a perfect temperature - we enjoyed watching the kids building castles and moats.

We checked in at the Super 8 in Michigan City (adequate, nothing great but nothing awful either) around 6 PM, and headed to dinner at the El Bracero Mexican Restaurant down the road. The food was authentic and they were quick, reasonably priced and had Negra Modelo on tap. While we were eating, it poured but that squall passed and after supper we drove through Michigan City down to Mt. Baldy (the tallest moving dune in the National Lakeshore - close up picture taken at the back at left) in time for the Ranger-led walk.  Nick, our guide, took us around to the front of the dune, through the woods (lots of poison ivy, but also sassafras and other interesting flora) and to the beach. We saw a great sunset over the Chicago skyline (left below) in spite of the heavy clouds. Then we climbed to the summit of Mt. Baldy – 175 feet. He told us a lot about the movement of the dune and how and why the park service is trying to revegetate the area. We enjoyed the views of the Michigan City East Pierhead Lighthouse (center), the bank swallows and gulls.   The picture at right, below, is looking back down to Lake Michigan from about half way up the dune.   It was  fun, interesting and great exercise after sitting in a car most of the day.

Saturday June 29:  A long drive today through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and half of NY. We stayed at a Microtel near Rochester, NY.  We got a great rate for a nice room, except that they had "cooled it off" for us and we had to actually shut off the A/C and open the window to warm the room back up! We had dinner at Chili’s (where we had never eaten before) that was just a couple blocks away - we needed the stretch so we walked. We had a great $20 "dinner for 2" including an appetizer to share (chips and guacamole) and 2 selected entrées.

Sunday June 30: Breakfast at the Microtel included yogurt and fruit, various muffins, oatmeal plus bagels, toast.  A nice start to the day.  Even in the western part of the state, it was clear we had left the midwest behind (picture above right).  We left around 8:45, drove to Utica on the turnpike, then turned off onto Hwy 8 and wove through the Adirondacks.  It was a beautiful drive!  We stopped in Speculator at a lovely little town park on Lake Pleasant (left). We made a short roadside stop at Georgia Brook (right) to mess about on the rocks for a while and arrived at the Microtel in Plattsburgh right at 3 PM.

After checking in, we went up to Point au Roche State Park where we spent a couple of hours walking down the trail to Long Point on Lake Champlain.  The picture at left is a good perspective on the size of some of those trees!  While there is a fee for the beach section of the park, there is no charge if you use the entrance by the nature center (unattended but open when we were there) and trails. It was awfully muddy in places but a nice hike – beautiful wildflowers (at right) and plenty of birds that we heard but didn't see. We enjoyed the great views of the lake: Vermont on one side and NY on the other.  The pictures below show views along the trail - left looking east towards Vermont (see the mountains in the background?); the center is Treadwell Bay (facing west, towards NY) and the last one is my favorite view from Long Point.

   

We drove back to the motel via "back roads," had showers, and then went to dinner at Koto Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar. We enjoyed our meal there and then we went downtown where we saw the Macdonough Monument (commemorating a War of 1812 battle) above a nice park along the riverfront.  We walked along the Saranac River (left),  and then at the Lake/ Marina (center). Excellent exercise and a nice sunset (right - you can see the monument's silhouette on the left side).  

 
Monday July 1:  We left around 9 and headed to Vermont.   First picture below left is crossing the bridge over Lake Champlain from NY to VT.   We stopped at a Vermont Welcome Center just over the bridge, picked up a road map and got some ideas of things to do in the rain (the weather doesn't look very promising).  The nice folks gave us specific directions to the Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge visitor center where we were heading first.  It was pretty wet, so some of the more interesting trails were under water.    We did go down Tabor Road and stopped at a viewing point where we saw a cedar waxwing but couldn't get a very good picture of it because I was facing into the sun.  Then we went to the Stephen J. Young Marsh (picture right) and walked a long loop trail there.  Saw a blue heron in flight, heard lots of birds and frogs. Back at the trailhead, we then set off down the Rail Trail where we were somewhat more successful with pictures!   We saw a mother mallard and her brood crossing the grassy trail (below) and a bobolink who really didn’t want us there (below right) - he followed us most of the way out and complained constantly! I saw a bird with a small black cap; a white streak above a black streak around the eyes, then another white band that went around the neck – seemed a little larger than a sparrow – yellow/buff top of chest, wings brown and white.  Very frustrating because it seemed it would be "easy" to ID (it's not!) and I also couldn't get a good clear picture of it.

It was a nice morning, in spite of the frustrations.  It didn't actively rain on us and we got some good exercise.

I know this section is short, but the trip divided up mostly by state - this was an "add on" at the front!  So - on to Smuggler's Notch State Park!