DAY NINE
 
Back to Day 8 | Map | Northville Placid Main | Towns and Trails | On to Day 10


5.5 mile hike from Blue Mt. Lake to the Adirondack Museum to Tirrell Pond
 

Anyone that is even remotely interested in the history of the Adirondacks should really make an effort to check out the Museum while in this area.  It is really a great thematic and visual tour of early life in the region.  Highlights for me included the great boating exhibit building where you are treated to a visual evolution of the 'poor man's yacht' - otherwise known as the canoe.  There was also a huge 3-D raised relief geographical representation of the park in one of the buildings (I forget which).  This large map had various locations pinpointed by points of light that you could select or de-select by pressing their specific buttons.  It gave me some perspective to light up the points along the trail and to see exactly how far I had come, and of course, how far I had left to go.

But my favorite part of the entire museum, by far, was the Photo Belt exhibit.  There wasn't much to it, just a moving conveyor belt with old pictures.  But I was absolutely spell bound by these images.  I sat there fixated on them for what seemed like an hour.  Watching each belt pass by two or three times, soaking in the faces, the scenery and the atmosphere - I couldn't help but wonder what it must have really been like back then.  Was it a simpler existence?  Was life physically tougher?  Did the people in these photos have the same fears and dreams and longings as I?  Looking at them, their eyes, I couldn't help but imagine they did.

I found myself nostalgic for a time I never experienced, missing people I never knew.

http://www.adirondackmuseum.org/


Tirrell Pond

8/28/02

7:00 pm Tirrell Pond:  Had a GREAT breakfast this morning at the restaurant across from my cabin.  Then I hit the road.  Today I basically performed a jug-handle walk around back to the main Northville-Placid trail by walking up Rt. 30, visiting the Adirondack Museum and then hiking east on a trail down to Tirrell Pond.  The walk up Rt. 30 is about a mile and half up a fairly steep, winding paved road.  I fully taped my feet and wore just my sport sandals for this stretch.  After visiting the Museum and grabbing some lunch I made my way up to the Blue Mountain trail head and actually got a bit confused as to where the Tirrell Pond trail started.  I started off in the wrong direction for about a quarter mile.  The trail to Tirrell is not exactly clearly marked from this trail head..... but I eventually got my bearings straight and worked my way down to the pond, which put me back on the NP.  I stumbled upon a small medical breakthrough as far as my feet are concerned.  In a fit of frustration over the pain I was experiencing after putting my boots back on I literally took an entire square of moleskin and folded it once and then put it over my sore spots.  Creating a huge bulky barrier between my wounds and the boots.  PAIN REDUCED!!  It eventually wore down and moved out of place but I got a pain free 3 miles of hiking in.  Ahhhh the joy.

Pond here is nice, good shore and mountain view.... saw a family who warned me to stay out of the pond because their daughter picked up a few leeches in there.  Yummm sounds like fun.  You can tell this lean-to is a short day hike from the road, as it is not in the best of shape and a lot of garbage has been left behind.

 

When I first noticed the leeches in Stephens Pond, I wasn't quite sure what they were.  I actually thought it was a tiny snake or worm at first.  My impressions of leeches have always been from the movies and books, ya know, like from African Queen or Stand By Me.  The big blood filled slimy blobs attached to some unfortunate souls body.  It never occurred to me what they looked like before gorging themselves.  The ones in Stephens Pond literally looked like ribbons floating around the water - and the little bastards could sense me somehow.  It was fascinating, every time I put my foot in the water they would come racing toward me.  Very interesting animal - wish I knew about them and their senses.
 

 
Back to Day 8 | Map | Northville Placid Main | Towns and Trails | On to Day 10