From Lake Champlain to Lake Placid

Mary and I left Vermont via a ferry across Lake Champlain from Grand Isle, VT to Plattsburgh, NY. The ferry was small and the 5^th wheel looked pretty large. It was the trailer’s first ride on a boat.

We stayed in a campground just across the street from Whiteface Mountain, which was the site of many alpine skiing events for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. We also drove to the top of the mountain via a toll road on the backside. This trip also included a great hike to the summit observation area along a rocky exposed ridge. We then returned to the car via a 260’ vertical elevator ride and 400’ long horizontal tunnel - quite a neat arrangement. As a side note: unlike the west, a lot of the scenic features and wonders of the Northeast are privately owned. Therefore, you often have to pay private tolls or fees for roads and hikes into the scenic wonders. For the most part they seem to be well run and not too exorbitant…kind of like paying fees to enter a state park. This actually makes sense since the northeast was settled and privately owned for the most part, long before the state and federal forest and park systems began.

At the top of Whiteface Mountain they have an observatory that is tracking the acidity of the air and moisture. Acid rain is due historically from the heavy smoke stack industries of the Ohio Valley, and is still now an issue primarily from coal fired power plants. The high acidity affects the general health of trees and lakes and also serves to modify the mix of flora and fauna. We heard that the infamous biting black flies are doing especially well in the acidic environment. We were also told, and did notice, that some of the higher elevation deciduous trees were impacted and dying.

The town of Lake Placid and the surrounding area are very beautiful and US Winter Olympic training facilities are in evidence everywhere - an outdoor speed skating oval, huge ski jumping towers and large arenas. There are also several lakes in the area for swimming and boating. Lake Placid’s small downtown area has a similar feel to Whistler or Park City.

We only stayed one night since the cold weather is starting to settle in but Mary and I both agreed that this would be a nice place to spend a few weeks some summer.