daytripper
there’s plenty to navigate if you have the time to discover places, roads, people, flora & fauna
Summer Suggestions:
most of the back road drives through small towns can be rewarding…as an example, on thursday mornings, the quaint town of Clinton has a farmers market in their center square with a plentiful turnout! (bring your own shopping baskets/bags) *take route 365 and enjoy browsing the neighborhoods through the historic towns of Barneveld and Holland Patent….and perhaps on your return, you can choose a different route 8 through quaint neighborhoods of Poland, Norway & Cold Brook) https://clintonnychamber.org/farmers-market/
speaking of backroads, when first driving up to the cabin, we prefer setting our GPS to take us up through Little Falls, NY, (should you decide to stop for some vintage shopping in a 3 story stone mill factory building or a taster wood oven pizza, you can then head onward onto EITHER State Rt 70 OR State Rt 69…both taking you through a high valley view of Amish farmland with soft patinas of stone & wood barns and wild flowers & grasses…it then leads you winding through the lush Black Creek State Forest and Grey Wilmurt Road, until alas, finally coming up to our Route 8..taking a right, the cabin is just a few miles away.
Hiking:
for a nearby scenic hike, 15 minutes from the cabin, there’s Panther Mountain hike (approx 1 1/2 hour hike R/T) It’s not a dainty wood chip trail ..rather, it’s a climb straight up the bed stone of a dry stream up Panther Mountain. The views are well worth it but make sure you wear appropriate trek shoes (i wore sneakers and it was a bit dodgy on the slick bedrock slabs hiking back down) To get there: Traveling northeast on Rt. 8 toward the town of Piseco & Speculator, exactly 15.4miles from our driveway (set your car meter) you’ll see a road on your right called “Indigo”, directly on the left side, is a brown sign reading “Piseco Lake Lodge & General Store Lodging” Take that left onto the unmarked road which is actually County Route 24
Tours:
of course the obvious tourist attractions are skattered about…but if you find yourself tempted, 35 min in town, the Utica Saranac Brewery Club might be worth a tour for it’s grandeur and historical value as well as the quaint downtown brewery district as a whole https://www.saranac.com/
The Ultimate Adirondack Museum:
give yourself time to explore nearby Blue Mountain Experience Museum, it’s phenomenal! From a plethora of vintage canoes/pristine antique racing boats to educational logging installations to original paraphernalia from the Winter Olympics back in the day both from 1940’s & 1980’s in Lake Placid, to architectural replications and original Adirondack structures on campus. https://www.theadkx.org (1hr15min from cabin but a pretty drive)
Outside Winter Activities:
besides exploring, plunging snow angels & snow shoe-ing throughout our 24 acres property, 5 minutes away, there’s also a cross country ski path fairly easy-less than 2 miles long which can be found tucked up the steep hill 50’ off to the right from Haskell’s tavern parking lot (near the junction of state route 8 and route 365) it loops back to finish where you’ve parked
nearby just down the road 25 minutes in Speculator, oak mountain ski resort has something for all levels oakmountainski.com
less than an hour away, just one more mountain to conquer: Gore Mountain Resort goremountain.com
