November 1, 2018 – Exploring the Lake Champlain Area
Today we thought out of the box, and rather than staying in familiar territory we branched out and went North! I wanted to bring my camera and try to photograph the Flora and Fauna of the area. It was challenging trying to limit what was n my bag because for the past 9 years we have been packing for 5-hour hikes, cold, snow, rain…
you name it…our thinking was to expect anything, and everything that may come our way while we were on the trail. Today was different. Lighter pack, camera lenses packed, and camera around my neck we set off on the Wildway Overlook Trail.
Easy hike, beautiful view of the Valley and plenty of colors left on the trees.
November 2, 2018- Lewis Clearing Bay–Day two of the Champlain area
Another rainy day, so on with the precip pants and raincoats. On days like this, there is no reason to go summit anything because you take a chance of seeing nothing but fog. On occasion, the cloud cover may be high enough to see all you need, but we opted to stay shoreline. Lewis Clearing 1.9 miles in, so roughly a 3-mile day.
Horsetail grass in habitat
It was quiet, canopy drips and swishing leaves is all that was heard. It was a level trail right up until the end when a 35-degree slope led down to the shore. The rain had picked up by the time we were there but stopped by the time we had our coffee and snack for the trip back.
A great trail overall, there are many more in this area that offshoots off this one, that basically went straight to the bay. Definitely worthwhile going back, we barely scratched the surface of the area
November 3, 2018- Silver Lake Bog Preserve
Last day of hiking this time around. Rain persisted throughout our stay this time without more than a 2-hour break. Today we continued to stay low altitude, no need to 
summit and so we did the Bog preserve in Ausable Forks. The first portion of the trail is a boardwalk over the bog. A beautiful spongy array of mosses carpet the ground, while Lichen and bearded moss hang from the trees on both sides of the path.
Perhaps the rain added to the atmosphere of the place, but it was a peaceful contemplative walk. At the end of the boardwalk, the trail to the Bluff started. Low incline, very do-able in weather like today. This trip also brought us to other parts of the territory that were not the “high peaks”. 
Another day of exploration! Bill read about this trail from our 2014 hiking book, at the time it was “just opened and not thoroughly marked” however, by 2018 the trailhead is marked, and the foot trail clearly visible. It was level 3 mile round trip with a beautiful view of surrounding mountains (never know which is which) and the summit of Whiteface peeking through (look carefully and you can see it). It was still, and silent as we sat and had our coffee and hot cider. It actually felt warm (14 degrees) and so we took in the view and headed back.
Instead, we went to High Falls Gorge an old classic Café Souvenir type spot, that supplies yak-tracks and has a 1/2 mile round trip enclosed boardwalk trail that tours the beautiful roaring waterfalls below the Gondolas of Whiteface. The staff there was warm and welcoming. With a cup of coffee and the yak-tracks on our boots, we did the gorge trail (like tourists) and had a great time.
beautiful Pine stand forests, running brooks and a manageable incline with a 2995 ft. peak. We paced ourselves taking pictures and taking in the early spring blooms like this violet . The summit was impressive, although not the highest peak it is a great span of Wolf’s Jaw, Noonmark and the Brothers.
about Horseback riding, but we opted exercise ourselves rather than give the horse the workout. It was the right choice as the hike was a great one! With a summit at 2860′ and a gentle
that was wooded and slightly snow covered. It was a beautiful clear day and the crunching sound of the micro spikes was all that could be heard.
Spotting moose prints was a pretty exciting event for us. I feel its the closest we will ever get to “seeing a moose” but, we will be coming back, there is always a next time.
Grafedie in the Library 
