Dale & Debbie Part 58 - Upstate New York
29th May 2025
Scenic Lakes, Time with Friends & An Unexpected Tumble on Whiteface Mountain!
After leaving Debbie’s home state of Maryland, we headed north to New York—and what a journey it was! From peaceful lakeside mornings in Harpursville to unexpected adventures in the Adirondacks, our travels were filled with scenic beauty, warm reunions, and a few surprising twists. We explored hidden trails, glided across sparkling waters, and even found ourselves navigating both mountain peaks and mishaps. Join us as we share highlights from Caroga Lake, Lake Placid, Keeseville, and beyond—where lakes and memories ran deep.
Oops…we can’t drive the motor home under this bridge!
This was our view at a campground in Harpursville, NY.
We stopped in Caroga Lake, NY to visit long time friends, Lynne & John. One day we hiked up to Nine Corner Lake.
Lynne & John’s friends took us on a relaxing boat tour of Caroga Lake one evening.
Sherman’s Park is located on West Caroga Lake and features a restored carousel from the turn of the last century.
The guys relaxing on the dock of Lynne & John’s very own lake named no other than Lynne Lake! It’s just out their back door on their beautiful 200-acre property! Dale has fished it a time or two over the years!
Have you noticed a theme? Lakes, lakes, and more lakes! Yes, there are many nice lakes in this area!
Next we moved to the Lake Placid area. We rode bikes on a trail from Lake Placid to Saranac Lake. On one section of the trail, there were hundreds of butterflies!
There is a restored carousel in Saranac Lake also, but this canoe light over the ticket counter caught our eye. People find interesting ways to repurpose old things.
More on Lake Placid later…
Our next stop was Keeseville, NY ~ the Ausable River runs through town.
Outside of town is the Ausable Chasm and the Rainbow Falls Hydroelectric Plant. There’s a high bridge over the river that we walked across for the views below!
Looking down from the other side of the bridge, the river forms some serious rapids as it rushes through the narrow gorge. Some refer to this area as the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks! And it’s one of the United States’ oldest natural attractions.
Why is this sign so high? It’s also used as a snowmobile trail in the winter!
In July, there were pretty wildflowers along it.
Built in 1836, this was once a factory, then used for storage. In the 1970’s, it was turned into apartments. Today it stands empty in a park.
This was a great hike up Rattlesnake Mountain overlooking Lake Champlain.
We had a lot of cloudy days while in Keeseville, which made us enjoy the hike above even more.
Lake Champlain near Burlington, VT
This is one of several beautiful views from the bike trail I mention below.
We rode bikes on the Island Line Rail Trail, of which 7 miles is on a causeway across part of Lake Champlain to Grand Isle. There’s a cut which allows boat traffic to pass through.
This is the end of the line unless you take the bike ferry (shown to the right) a very short distance around it, which we did.
Here we are back in Lake Placid. The weather was very hot and rainy when we stayed there. Therefore, we did not get to explore as much as we hoped to. So we decided to drive down from Keeseville on a pretty day in hopes of squeezing in a few activities. First, we headed to Whiteface Mountain where we had planned to ride the gondola, but when we found out it didn’t go to the summit, we decided to drive up.
After enjoying the views from the above vantage point, we drove up the Veterans’ Memorial Highway to the summit nature trail. We couldn’t see it from where we parked, but the sign said 1/5 of a mile. As we walked around what is known as Whiteface Castle (a small restaurant, gift shop, and restrooms), we saw these steps and the observation area and weather station in the distance. But little did we know how rocky it would get. I should have put on my hiking boots!
On the way up I didn’t realize Dale had stopped behind me to take pictures when I suddenly found myself on the ground stuck in between some very large rocks. My head was downhill against a rock while my feet were pointed up. I could not get myself out! Luckily, Dale heard me fall and came running. I knew I busted my head open, but wasn’t sure how bad it was until he said I had blood running down my face and neck. I ended up with 10 injuries, the worst being my head and back. It could have been a lot worse though!
I didn’t mention how slick some of the rocks were due to people walking in the same places. I remember stepping up on a rock and my foot sliding back so I quickly stepped up with my other foot and they both slid down and knocked me backward.
I had nothing to grab. I know…I should have been holding the railing. Lesson learned!
After getting me semi-cleaned up, Dale asked to see the bottom of my shoes. They had no tread left; I had no idea they had gotten so bad. I guess I walked too many miles in them! I liked those tennis shoes, but in the trash they went.
Btw…this picture isn’t where the accident happened. I included it to show the size of some of the rocks on the trail.
Now for the crazy part…since I knew I hadn’t broken any bones and I didn’t pass out, I wanted to continue to the summit. Yes, I was hurting and shaking, but I thought it would be good to keep moving rather than heading back and sitting in the jeep for a couple of hours on our return trip. And so I slowly made it.
You may be wondering if it ever occurred to me to go to the hospital. Oddly enough, no. Maybe I was too stunned to think straight, and Dale didn’t really know how bad I was hurt. It did occur to me later on when it was taking me so long to heal (weeks/months), but I felt too much time had gone by. I’ve since decided it’s never too late as I still have a small knot in my back and will be having it looked at soon.
Lake Placid
Once at the summit, Dale explored the other side while I sat on a bench.
I might add that you can take a glass elevator to the summit for free! It was renovated in 2019 for $5 million. And it rises 27 stories in 90 seconds! The elevator was out of service on the day we visited, but we would have walked anyway.
Heading back down
Remnants of Hurricane Beryl slammed parts of Upstate NY with heavy rain, which caused some major flooding and damage. This is the campground we were staying at in Keeseville on the Ausable River. We were parked where the arrow is pointing. When the forecast came in the day before the rain hit, the owner had everyone in this area move to higher ground. Thank goodness!
This truck was driving on a road in the campground. The river rose about 20’.
I’ll end on a happier note ~ another pretty waterfall!
