Sunday, September 20, 2015

Birthday Camping!!

Maddie's birthday is coming up. One of her presents from us is a camping trip to the North Lake-South Lake campground in the Catskills. What a beautiful campground! It is very large but the layout was made into loops containing 25-30 campsites within the loop making it feel much smaller than it actually is in reality. Glacial erratics are everywhere. Our campsite had no neighbors to one side and that area had 5 large erratics and many smaller ones. Maddie loved jumping from rock to rock investigating what was on and under them including a chipmunk hideaway. The campground contains many hiking trails that are part of the Art Trail created by the Thomas Cole Foundation and highlights many places visited by artists in the Hudson River School.

We hiked to Klatterskill Falls on Saturday morning. This was quite a climb but certainly worth the view when we got there! It was very crowded however and it took all of our patience to deal with the people surrounding us.We took our time and enjoyed the many views on the way up to the falls and inspected the jewelweed very closely.This was the monthly challenge from the Outdoor Hour Nature Study site. I read about it in our Handbook of Nature Study before we left and made sure to bring it along for study after we inspected it! We were able to observe all aspects that were discussed which was really neat! We saw bees flying in and out, we got the seed pods to "explode" and we plunged some of the leaves under water and watched them turn sliver with some purple on the edges then pulled them out to find they were practically dry! So not only did we see some beautiful views but we learned something new as well.

apple eating for breakfast! 

Our backyard for the weekend

The campsite

We got several of these as we went from spot to spot. Who knew the leaf rubbing materials would come in handy for something else?
 
The walk to the trailhead

First waterfall viewed from the road. Then it was an uphill climb to Klatterskill!

Orange spotted jewelweed


First waterfall right off the road

I love that rock sticking out from the right side of the bridge! 

How can she be 12??

Ready to go up!!

Pale jewelweed


Jewelweed Gall

Momma has to admit she was glad this part was closed. We had been steadily going up but the looks of that was heart stopping! 

Rock sculpture towers everywhere!!!

Klatterskill Falls!!! 

Maddie attempting to get some shots of the falls without people in the picture. She did succeed or came very close on quite a few.

More of the falls.


Doesn't that rock look like a turtle?? Its has been there for quite a while too because we noticed it in one of the sketches on the art trail sign.

Another rock tower!







After an ice cream cone and then lunch (it is, after all, Maddie's birthday!) we went to North Lake within the campsite to hike another trail to see the view from the former Catskill Mountain House. It was not as clear a day as we would've liked and so we couldn't see as far as it is possible but we still could see quite a distance! The Hudson was below us and mountains in the distance. While we were there both a hawk and a turkey vulture flew right next to us! 


North Lake


View from the former Catskill Mountain House

Another medallion!!


Then we went back to our campsite and hiked over to the other side of North Lake to view a spot where Thomas Cole painted "Lake with dead trees". The most of fun of this spot was that 2 artists were setting up to paint! Maddie got out her aquascope and discovered a crayfish.




Artists setting up!

Aquascope in use

At this point we got a little worried because the wind kicked up and the air had the distinct feeling of a storm coming!


Fortunately we only had a little bit of rain late at night which barely got things wet. We were glad of that. We tried to go back to North Lake again on Sunday morning before we left but the wind was really strong, the lake was choppy and it was cold. We decided to hit the road! 

Maddie found a freshwater clam. We took pictures because the resident was still home and alive! 


Maddie tried to use her aquascope again but the water was too rough.

It was all still pretty though!!




On the way out we stopped to check out the Yellowjacket hive we saw the day before. Maddie took pictures of it but we saw it had some damage. We think the wind and rain of the night did it. The we took another minute to see the totem pole at the entrance to the campground.




This is one of our new favorite spots and we will be going back for sure! 










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