Upstate New York, Continued

KOA, Herkimer, NY

I picked the campground mostly because it was in the right area, and I needed to do my laundry.  (I've quickly discovered KOAs are good for having consistently clean laundry facilities.)

The creek behind my campsite came as bonus.   I'm not sure why they call it a creek, and not a river.  In Missouri, even if it's shallow, as this one was, if it's that wide, it's a river!
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Adirondack Mountains, NY

From Herkimer, I headed up into the Adirondacks, and was treated to several hours of some of the prettiest driving I've ever done.  I really wished I weren't traveling alone - I had to keep my eyes on the road, and couldn't spend as much time marveling at the scenery as I would have liked.

It was beautiful.  Colors layered on trees, trees layered on hillsides.

Hillsides layered on mountains, mountain layers fading off into the distance.

The colors on the trees ranged from just being touched by early fall to the reds of late fall, depending on where I was along the road.

From what I saw, you can keep your peak color season; I'll take the preseason show.
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Ausable Chasm - New York

The forces of nature will always fill me with awe.  I couldn't resist stopping by the Ausable Chasm on my way out of the mountains.  The park is privately owned and they charge you $15 for the view - but it was all they billed it to be.

Unfortunately, the most dramatic views are unavailable, and will be for a while.  Irene roared through the area, filled the bottom 50' of the chasm, and took out most of the rails and several of the bridges on the trail that led down into the inner part of the cleft.  (THAT, had to be awesome to see...)  Bummer.

Until Irene came along, the 200+ lb. boat in this picture was stored INSIDE the shed.  The storm managed to pick it up and float it through the side of the building.