Getting Away from it All!

After putting it off from last week as we did not feel well enough then to go camping, Kathy and I decided on Sunday to go for it. Getting up in the higher altitude might help with the coughing and choking. We left in late afternoon to head up into Somerset to dry camp in the free sites, figuring with the weekend over they would have emptied out some.

The Airport Campground had a few sites open, but was pretty muddy, so we went on north on FS-71, finding some sites taken, the others mudholes. We have had a LOT of rain lately! Finally, when we were about to turn around and head back and try the State Park, we found a reasonably dry site near a vly at Lat. N 43.04993756, Lon. W 72.99411523 and set up there.

The Campsite

A vly is a meadow left when a beaver pond reaches the end of its life, the beaver move on, and the dam washes out.

The Vly

In spite of it being on the road it was very quiet and peaceful. There was no other campsite within about a half mile and no one was staying in those, probably because of the mud. So we didn't drive other campers nuts with our coughing.There was almost no traffic after the Sunday afternoon crowd went home just before dark.

Lucy enjoyed the campsite and my taking her for a long walk, but we forgot her food. She did enjoy eating our people food, though!

I walked her down FS-71 to where the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail crossed the road and up that a very short distance. (I didn't have my hip boots on!). There was a sign warning of bears and explaining how to hang your food. Which made me laugh, for two reasons. One, I remember my Dad doing that at Little Rock Pond and his bag, containing a full dozen eggs, slipped and crashed twice during the night. We had egg flavored everything for breakfast! Two, I hiked this section of the trail years ago and all I saw was mosquitoes and porcupines. I ran head on into a fallen tree during the night while chasing off two noisy porkys through the woods in the dark waving a club, and ripped my forehead open, then I built a smudge fire to keep them and the mosquitoes off the rest of the night! When Kathy picked me up at the water tank on Harbor Road in Woodford the next day I smelled and looked so bad she almost wouldn't let me in the car!

On Monday we drove to Arlington to get Lucy some canned dog food. Along the way we stopped and took a few photos. I was experimenting with B&W, so the ones from my camera are B&W, the ones from Kathy's in color.

Beebe Pond

Beebe Pond

 My older brother and I swam in Beebe Pond when young. Mostly I remember the endless mosquitoes and the incessant swamp gas burbling up from below. You couldn't see it from the road back then, I don't think. We lost our dog on the trail there once and had to wait for what seemed hours before he showed up.

Below is an area where the Kelly Stand Road washed away when Irene came through. The water was washing down the rock face when we passed by. Kathy got a nice photo of it.

Rock Ledge on Kelly Stand Road

I got a photo looking upstream from this spot. It was taken handheld, bracing the camera against the bridge railing, at 1/4 second at f22 and ISO 100.

The Roaring Branch

It isn't over until the fat guy takes his photos and comes back to the car!

Returning to the Jeep

We got what we wanted in Arlington and returned to the campsite for supper. The evening was nice. Cool enough so I had to throw on a sweatshirt!

This morning we got up and had a "healthy" breakfast of pancakes, bacon and coffee. The Health Coach from my Insurance Company called just after breakfast. I did not answer the call! We did the dishes and leisurely packed everything up.

Packing Up

Trying to dry the tablecloth. It is now hanging on the railing at home.

As we were leaving, a couple of butterflies were on these flowers behind the camper. Of course, when I took the photo one flew off and the other folded its wings. There is the one in the photo - see if you can find it!

We took the camper down Kelly Stand Road into Arlington - a long slow trip, then Rt. 313 to NY 22 and home. Unpacked everything, cleaned most of it for the next trip.

Two days without hearing one word about Trump or the Russians! How peaceful it was. I read half of one book and finished another. I could have stayed there a lot longer, but we were out of food and it is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow morning.