Kirukkalkal

Originally, we had thought about doing the Cascade Mountain trail after Owls Head, but because of the time we spent at Owls head, we decided that it would be too late to start Cascade Mountain trail that late in the day. We had a plan B to go to Mt. Jo near Heart Lake in the Adirondack Loj area. When we got to the parking area, there were signs that the parking lot was full – and it seemed like a huge parking area! Luckily, we were told that there is couple of spots that we could park. The trail head for Mt. Jo started within a few yards from the entrance to parking and the trail went past the shores of Heart Lake.  Within a few yards into the trail, there was bifurcation to take either a short or long trail. We were told that the short trail is steeper than the long trail. So, we decided to take the short trail on the way up and come back in the long trail.  The short trail is the steepest we have ever encountered. It was not just steep, but too rocky as well. In many spots, ...

This time, for the leaf peeping, we went to Adirondacks region again. But, to do something different from our previous visits, we chose first Owls Head Trail. This trail and trail head resides in a private property and the owners have an understanding with NYSDEC for providing access to visitors. But, this access is only during week days and is closed from Friday 4PM through Sunday 4PM.  Considering the limited space available for parking and the awesome location of this peak, this restriction seemed to make sense.  We planned our trip on a Friday morning, making it possible for us to make hike. It was a short hike, but there are several viewpoints along way and each one of them was so amazing. While the fall colors have been very spotty, the views along this trail showed the expanse that was as good as it gets with a peak appearance of colors for the season! While no pictures or videos could capture the amazing landscape, we took as much as we could, spend ample time at each ...

Green Lakes State Park  Just as the name indicates, as soon we parked the car and got out, we could see the greenish-blue/turquoise colored water in the lake. As we got closer to the trail around the lake, it was so amazing and it appeared like lakes formed closer to glaciers.  Entire perimeter of the lake can be covered by a trail and at many places the water was so transparent except for the bluish-green tinge in the water. Fish, swimming several feet deep, was clearly visible at places. Though the trail was along the shore, it was just a bit inside the wooded area that it felt like the lake peeked every often from the trees along the shore.  Just about when we reached the mid-way, there was direction for a trail leading to another lake ‘Round Lake’. The trail around the round lake was a bit smaller than the one around the Green Lake, but it did join back the Green Lake trail, pretty much at the same spot from where we took a diversion for the Round Lake trail.  Co...