Whiteface Mountain- June 26

We drove from the eastern side of New York to the Adirondack area. After driving through the town of Lake Placid we arrived at our campground in Wilmington New York. Our campsite is not far from the AuSable River- note the picture of the small lake with mountains in the background. Needless to say, the scenery all around here is beautiful. The highest mountain, MT. Whiteface, height to the summit is 4,867- John figured that to be as far up from sea level as Denver. Hey don’t laugh- I loved the Ozarks back home, and they are not as high. Mountains do not have to be all that tall to make me happy! Today we drove to a castle near the top from which we took an elevator to the summit. We could have hiked up; and I am glad we didn’t, as it was rough enough going down. The picture here is of John taking the stairs down. The view at the top was breath-taking, and it was possible to have a 360-degree panoramic view. In the picture of John and I at the summit, Lake Placid is in the background. There were signs at the top about some of the birds at the summit- one of which was the Bicknell Thrush. The sign explained that the park service was holding off work on some of the ski trails because they were afraid of disturbing the nesting habits of that particular thrush. I thought I saw that bird at the summit but can’t be sure as it moved away the minute I spotted it. It is noted for its flute-like song. There were also signs warning against disturbing the vegetation (I have posted that here). There were few flowering plants at the top, but in the lower elevations the bunchberry, lupine and orange hawkweed were in bloom. This area is a lot more popular during the winter for the ski trails; my hope is that however the area is used that we are always mindful of the fragile ecosystem living on the mountain. Plants and animals already have enough to deal with during wind, rain and snow storms!