each July. This has never stopped. Since I just quit my job and found myself with all sorts of free time to travel and fill out pre-college paperwork, I decided to go to Camp this year. It’s the first time in a few years that I have been able to go up for the entire week. It's a fine balance, going there, being there, and coming back. I can't decide if it makes me feel like my real life is suspended, or I've time traveled. Or, both, or neither. Camp always feels the same but different. The Adirondack Mountains are part of the Canadian Shield and are 3.5 billion years old, my family is crazy and fun, we always eat salt potatoes with at least one meal. But I don't live in NY anymore and I keep becoming more "me" in my own way, as everyone does, and sometimes it's hard to fit back into the space that my family has kindly reserved for me to jump into whenever I can. But I jump, and I'm welcomed with open arms, and it's fun, my new me traits, everyone's issues, and all.
Anyway… that’s the brief history of Camp, and also, my feelings… here’s some of the highlights of Camp ‘08.
Camp generally includes a few classic events. These are: going to the “boat launch”, going to Raquette Lake and Buttermilk Falls, going hiking in the High Peaks, and attending a quasi-formal wine-drinking and dinner event at the Woods Inn with the ladies of the family. The rest of the time is filled with a lot of chaotic planning, swimming, running, shit-talking, reading, wandering around various small towns and generally enjoying the beautiful Adirondack scenery. It is actually quite difficult to portray the utter and complete chaos and dysfunctional fun that ensues at Camp; I’ll just stick to the facts. The boat launch is at the northeastern end of 7th Lake; it looks like this:
We swim there because the "beach" is better than at the Camp. You can wade out really far before the water gets waist deep and there's a little bit of sand to set up things like towels and coolers full of cheeses of various sharpness. Raquette Lake and Buttermilk Falls are both north of Camp, on Route 28. Raquette Lake comes first. I guess it's the largest, non-human made, lake within the Adirondacks. It has 99 miles of shoreline and was not named because it looks like a Raquette. Rather, I guess some dudes walked across it with snow shoes on one winter and made a bunch of raquette-like snow prints. Dudes get to name things whatever they want. It is a beautiful spot, but the highlight is the Raquette Lake General Store. Its full of shit you don't need - ranging from ice cream to squirt guns to moose-shaped miniatures filled with cedar chips. Here is a photo I took in the store last week, it was a sign on something filled with cedar chips.
Buttermilk Falls is, well, a waterfall. The water is dark, full of tannins and moves pretty fast some times. We often try to "swim" here, but this year it was cold and rainy. I stuck my feet in and sat and stared at this for a while. Buttermilk Falls is in Long Lake, NY which is also home to the Adirondack Hotel - don't get the ravioli. In fact, stick to the pizza and pints of Ubu Ale and sit on the porch if its nice. Sometimes we drive up to Long Lake one evening of the week to wander around, drink at the Hotel or buy some crap at a tourist shop. This year though, my mom, cousin, and I went after hiking up Nippletop Mountain (yes, it is really called that). Nippletop is #13 on the list of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. In order to be considered a High Peak, a mountain has to be above 4000 feet. The hike was hard and we didn't bring enough of the following things: bug spray, sunscreen, water, ability not to fall down. Needless to say the last couple hours were miserable. But, check out the view:
If you're interested in such things, the land management of the Adirondack Park is very unique (I think). It covers a huge amount of land and some of it has been designated "forever wild" and you can only walk around on it and some of it is fully of houses and snowmobiles - all within the Park boundaries. To get to this particular trailhead we had to "hike" through parts of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve.
It sorta looks like the resort in Dirty Dancing.Ok, but remember the houses they stay in and stuff? Like that. So, we walked out of the wilderness, all dehydrated and miserable to find a big, unguarded water cooler, full of ice water, complete with little cups sitting on the side of the tennis court. Luckily, the yuppies were all inside enjoying some prime rib - er, mountain wilderness - and we were able to gulp down 6-7 cups of water apeice.
Finally... the Woods Inn ladies evening. I know, this doesn't really sound much like camping - none of it is, really. Just go with it. The Woods Inn is interesting because it is one of the real-life places portrayed in the novel An American Tradegy. Read it, it's a good book. The Woods Inn is where Chester Gillette stayed after he killed Grace Brown. Asshole. Anyway, we get dressed up, and go drink wine and stare at 4th Lake.
Lots of other things happened at Camp... I learned a lot about baseball from my dad, we sat around the campfire and drank beers, my cousin and I ran up a mountain (ok, the trail was a mile long but it was still really hard), we had tons of zany meals together, went boating around the lake, saw loons, and so on.My trip to Camp this year was sandwiched by a few days in Syracuse on either side. Or, Navarino, where I grew up. Even people in Syracuse don't know where it is. Anyway. Being home is always interesting... comfortable, easy, quiet, beautiful, full of cats and dogs and family... There's always new gadgets, homemade Italian food, and a huge garden. It;s never boring, but never really calm either. Also, these days, it smells like cow poop. But, that's what happens when you live in the country.
More photos here.
I'm going back there tomorrow. The person I've known longest in the world - who I'm not related to - is getting married. I'm looking forward to escaping the heat and humidity of DC, to swimming, eating raspberries, hanging out and visiting with some friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment