I’ve had a taste of fall over the last week, and while thunderstorms ring in the air and moisture gathers on the wide-open screens still here in Philly, change is in the air. After 9 days in the Adirondack woods, I am almost ready to embrace that change. My dismount from the mountains is never fully smooth. By mid-camp, the mind opens, the brain declutters, the ears hear warblers and waxwings and leaves turning in the trees, the eyes relax with the views of lake sparkles and voluminous clouds. Mountains cascade upon themselves under the brightest blue sky and the smell of campfires resets a switch in there somewhere. I don’t want to lose that. And while I know that relaxed feeling is already gone, I hope to keep the perspective a bit longer.
I picked up a notebook to jot down some notes, but it was late in the week (I had forgotten mine at home) and so unlike my usual self, I didn’t do too much journaling this trip and for that I’m a little remiss. Hoss’s General Store in Long Lake of course had a lovely little journal and we decided on the last night to write down a few things and then bring it back the next year to keep adding to it. A communal journal in the making.
This year we had old and new players, folks coming and going, new foods, new music, new fun. A particularly challenging new thing for me was a hike up Owl’s Head mountain to the fire tower. It overlooked everything and the 360 view was worth the hike up the scary tower. It turns out, I don’t dig heights so much and man that tower was moving in the cold wet wind, I swear. The rains began in earnest as we made the treacherous decent. We thought the hike up was difficult scrambling up nearly vertical rock faces and stream beds and slick rooty rocky scrabbles. All of that in reverse now with pouring pounding rain made for rather technical 3.2 mile hike out. Really, it was only the part near the summit that was rough, and anything you read about Owls Head generally indicates that it is an easy to moderate hike, but I would beg to differ. If you go, buck up and hope for non-deluge situations.
After signing out at the trail head and ringing out the pants, we stopped for a coffee on the way through town and discovered we had about an hour window before the heavy stuff came down. We headed back to Forked Lake, kayaked out to our site, prepped all the fixins for dinner and snacks and settled in for a rainy night under the food tent. Dinner that night was leftover pasta and what we lovingly refer to as Bear Locker Pasta Sauce (leftovers and veggies that need to be cooked – all thrown in with a few herbs and spices). It turned out to be a great evening and dinner and lovely day under the clouds. One of many great days all strung together with good people and good fun. 
I hope this new bloggy journal will hold me to next summer when new memories will be made with the call of the loons. Music, games, stars, and of course, more food to come. It is good to share the memories.
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