Thursday 12th October we left the motel and continued to drive north on I87 leaving it to drive a circuit of the Catskills area. The interstates are useful for getting somewhere quickly but, like all motorways, they aren’t very scenic plus there was no where to stop when I saw something I wanted to photograph. I was looking for a white church, with red trees, green grass and no power lines!

 

 

The Catskills is a mountainous region west of the Hudson Valley and hosts a mixture of cultures, both manmade and natural.  In 1894 the state constitution was amended so that thousands of acres will be kept as wild forest lands. It’s the closest place to New York city to see the Autumn leaves.

 

 

We left the I87 and drove onto route 28 to join the country roads passing through Arkville. This house in Arkville had one of many Halloween displays we saw. Halloween is big business here and the shops were full of costumes and decorations for your house. This garden had so much going on.

 

 

 

In Arkville turn north to Roxbury then head back east on Rte 23 which passes through colourful Tannersville. All the houses and shops were painted in lots of interesting colours.

 

 

The Halloween display outside this shop was a bit scary. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this had been someone dressed up but I don’t think it was.

 

 

 

After coffee we continued for a few miles east to the Kaaterskill falls. There are so many wonderful hikes in this area and the Kaaterskill falls was recommended to us. With a change of shoes we were ready to go. There were a lot of leaves on the ground already from the recent rain but still a lot on the trees.

 

The Kaaterskill falls are at the end of an enormouse gorge. It was very autumnal to start with but we soon warmed up when we started walking. The views were stunning. The walk was downhill into the gorge until we came out into a clearing at the middle level. The falls were in the shade but you can still see the strata in the rocks. The falls were greatly reduced at that time of the year but it would be spectacular with the snow melt.

 

Looking up you could see the observation deck which is only a short walk from the car park.

The surrounding colours were beautiful. The water fall continued and so did we.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last part of the path was steps which made it easy to get to the bottom pool. I’m sure in the summer it would be lovely to have a dip but a bit cool that day. I counted the steps back up- 198! My poor knees but it was good to get out of the car for some exercise. The views across the gorge were glorious.

Once back at the top we walked to the observation deck to look down onto the falls for more amazing views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our walk had taken several hours but we really enjoyed it. Afterwards we headed back to the I87 because we had about 120 miles to travel north in New York state to the Saratoga springs area for another airbnb. After dinner we arrived at a beautiful New England style house hosted by Joanna with a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room just for us. Really nice and completely different from our Philadelphia experience.

The Adirondack mountains cover 9375 sq miles from the centre of New York state to the Canadian border. With many peaks over 4000ft high. Like the Catskills to the south, much of the Adirondacks’ dense forest is protected by the state constitution. It’s also a great place to see the colour show of the Autumn leaves. Lake George is the gateway to the Adirondacks. A 32 mile lake with paddle-wheel boats rides on the crystalline water’s. Friday 13th we stopped there for breakfast before our hunt for more Autumn leaves continued.

 

 

 

There were many more smaller lakes and rivers to see on our onward quest towards Lake placid.

 

 

 

Lake Placid is a tiny resort town made famous by the winter Olympics of 1932 & 1980. It is sited by the mirror lake. Unfortunately with the wind that day there weren’t any mirror reflections. We parked up and walked around the town. Every where was fairly small including the local library and this beautiful stone church on a small rise.

 

 

We had a delicious lunch overlooking the mirror lake.

 

 

 

After lunch we drove further north and up towards the Whiteface mountain toll road where the Olympic ski races were held. Whiteface is the only peak in the Adirondacks accessible by car. Unfortunately it had clouded over and the colours of the leaves weren’t great. Furthermore when we got to the toll gate we found it was closed until May!

 

Not to be put off we decided to walk up. It was nice to have the road to ourselves apart from a couple of bikes who also got round the barrier. At first the view was obscured by trees in the fore ground but after about an hour of walking up we came to a clearing designed for picnics where the scenery was magnificent. The sun came out in bursts to improve the colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back down to the car the light had brightened and there were some lovely reflections in a small lake by the toll gate.

 

7

 

 

We continued to drive through the forest towards Platsburgh where we stayed in a wonderful airbnb with KC in her querky house. Again we had a bedroom, sitting room and toilet to ourselves on the lower floor. We sat in the garden with her in the twilight drinking her homemade wine. Airbnb is certainly the way to meet local people.