After three days in the comfortable and scenic Higley Flow State Campground we drove into the Adirondack Park, home to the Adirondack Mountains.  The park is a mixture of state and private lands, and within its 6 million acres are 3,000 miles of lakes and ponds and 30,000 miles of rivers and streams.

It is larger in area than Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Teton National Parks put together.  And it is awesome.

The drive to the Adirondack Park Visitor and Interpretative Center, almost directly in the middle of the park, was – as so many of our drives have been – beautiful.  We stopped at the center (part of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry of the State University of NY) for information; it was also the start of the Peninsula Trail that followed the shoreline of Rich Lake: lots of interesting views, a grand variety of mushrooms and other plants, rocks big and small (see the large boulder below), and a foot and a half, very fast, black with white spots snake.

After the drive and the walk, we could only marvel that this was one very small part of the Adirondacks.  In fact, after looking through an Adirondack hiking guide, this area could surely keep someone busy for weeks or even months.

Once we left the center we started looking for a campground.  One we didn’t like, another was full, and we ended up at Eagle Point State Park, another in our list of NY state parks.  No water or electricity hookups, but we didn’t need those amenities, as we have our own.  What it did have was a beautiful view from our campsite of the Schroon Lake.  Well worth it.

Day 2:  Rain, Rain Go Away

The sun was shining as we left Eagle Point and headed for Lake Placid; we wanted to get into the high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains.  The drive led us past beautiful lakes and rivers, lots of trees – with the mountains always in the background or to the left or right.

Just before the turnoff to Lake Placid we turned into the farm of the abolitionist John Brown. The site includes his rebuilt house and barn and story boards telling about his life and the events of Harper’s Ferry.  There was also a group of archeological students with their professor digging shafts in the ground, looking for relics of John Brown’s second wife (the first wife never lived there and John Brown himself spent little time in the house as he was usually away, busy with his abolitionist work).  As the black clouds came quickly over the area, we just made it back to the RV.

Just before we arrived at Lake Placid it started raining, heavily.  We pulled over on the main street to see if it would let up; it did, so we went a little further, hoping to see Lake Saranac.  We changed our minds, turned around, and went back again through downtown Lake Placid, not that big a town, but crowded: lots of tourists, lots of shops.

We found a parking spot on the street, grabbed our rain jackets, and headed on a mission: to buy a Starbucks cup to add to our collection – which the local Starbucks did not have, much to our disappointment!

The rain let up, momentarily, and we were able to get some pictures of Lake Placid and see the Olympic winter training center and those enormous ski jump towers (notice them behind our RV) built for the 1980 Olympic Games.

As we said goodbye to Lake Placid, some even more serious rain started.  Driving down the mountain road, twisting and turning was fine sport, not worthy of the Olympics, but it could be.

We arrived in Ticonderoga, NY, needing supplies, and with the rain still coming down, we went to our favorite hangout, Walmart.  While shopping, I found the store manager and asked if he allowed overnight parking.  He said that it was no problem and told me to just park in the far lot and that’s where we are as I write this post.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is called “boondocking,” parking in an unofficial spot overnight.  Walmart is well known for being boondocking friendly as long as you ask permission first.  Other places that are often used, at least according to the blogs I read, are Bureau of Land Management Land (BLM) which is federal government land not being used, and Cracker Barrel; some people have been known to park on non-crowded city streets.  Anything private with permission, or public without a notice of no overnight parking or a city law prohibiting staying in your vehicle overnight is doable.

Personally, we prefer being in the woods in a rustic campground, but with all the rain we’ve had, the mud just doesn’t appeal to us.  Also, at Walmart we have good internet connection.