[ApproachingLight]

Thanks Kyle. The flat area (parking) right next to the bridge did look like people had parked there many times.

[L_G_D]

I was in the Adirondacks for the weekend, and it was cold and rainy there too. Did manage to get to Split Rock, Wilmington Flume and Cascade Lakes. But mostly we drove around looking at the damage from Irene. Keene Valley & Keene are getting back in shape, the roads are passable, but you can see where some people are going to have a hard time of it for a while. The greatest change that struck me was Cascade Lakes Falls. I will be posting some pictures later as soon as I process them, but let's just say for anyone who has been there and is familiar with what the falls used to look like, well, it doesn't look like that anymore. The falls themselves are pretty much the same, that was solid rock, so no big change there, but they are about 8-10 feet taller now that the flood has removed that much fill from the pool at the bottom. The stream leading down from the falls to the lake looks like a large buldozer drove down it scraping all the gravel and boulders away down to bedrock in some places. There are no trees or underbrush for 50 to 100 feet on each side of the stream and there are large piles of broken timber on both sides of the stream. The old trail is almost obliterated, and you just walk up the streambed for the most part, which has also changed course slightly. Amazing the power of water. There were so many trees cleared from around the stream that you can easily see the falls from the road driving by, and even well above the falls to the next set of falls that you could never see before.

[hobkyl]

We crossed a freshly made slide on our way up to Gothics on Saturday. I concur the power of water is quite amazing.

[ApproachingLight]

LGD,
Glad to hear Keene Valley is rebounding. A favorite. In a sad way, the power of water/clearing has meant beautiful opportunities for photogs. Let's see the pics!

[L_G_D]

Check the Cascade Lake Falls thread. I really should have taken more pictures of the lower stream, it was pretty dramatic. The video grabs don't do it justice.

[hobkyl]

it didn't look anything like that last fall. Hopefully heading back up next weekend if the weather is good.

[Kelly]

Letchworth Art Show

[Eddiebauer]

Plotterkill Creek Preserve. Hopefully not to much has washed out from huricane Irene.

[ApproachingLight]

So here is an interesting map of Fall foilage peaks for this weekend in all New York State. Kind of surprised we are not more at peak. So this would be a good weekend to get out!

http://www.13wham.com/weather/maps.aspx?map=Special_Wx

[hobkyl]

Contemplating a first ever visit to the gunks and to Kaaterskill, Minnewaska, Mine Kill...etc. Weather isn't looking great but I've been meaning to get down there for 2 years now.

[ApproachingLight]

gunks????

Sounds like a nickname my daughter might give me.

[spec]

Contemplating a first ever visit to the gunks and to Kaaterskill, Minnewaska, Mine Kill...etc. Weather isn't looking great but I've been meaning to get down there for 2 years now.

Just a heads up - you may not be able to get into the Kaaterskill area at the moment. I was just down that way last Friday en route from Massachussetts... There's TONS of road closures due to major flooding damage from storms Irene and Lee that they are still working to clear up. I was about 8mi from Kaaterskill (in Hunter on 296 following the detour of rte 23). I did see a sign at the intersection of 23A and 296 in Hunter stating that 23A was closed east of Hunter. I'm not sure if there's access via rte 214 between Hunter and Tannersville, or whether you can get in from the Palenville side on 23A or not. It may be worth calling ahead to a local business in Hunter or Tannersville to get an idea of road status.

On my way TO Mass earlier that day, I had been able to take 23, but had to detour around the washout at Red Falls and there were several spots where we were down to directed one-lane construction zones. Coming home that night, the whole stretch of 23 from Windham to Prattsville was closed (probably because the construction crews had gone home for the night/weekend). I had to detour down 296 to 23A in Hunter (where I saw the sign), then 23A back to 23 in Prattsville.

Stamford, NY -- on Rte 23 -- is a very very sad sight, and this is weeks later. I can only imagine what it was at the peak of the flooding.

[hobkyl]

The gunks are slang for the Shawnagunk Ridge down near New Paltz.

It's one of the premier rock climbing areas on the east coast with 400+ routes up the the sheer cliff face. Photos look pretty cool, and I hope to capture some myself.

Thanks for the heads up Andy...I just assumed that they were back to "normal". I'll call some place tomorrow to check as I plan on staying in Hunter and traveling down to the gunks via 23a.

[spec]

The gunks are slang for the Shawnagunk Ridge down near New Paltz.

It's one of the premier rock climbing areas on the east coast with 400+ routes up the the sheer cliff face. Photos look pretty cool, and I hope to capture some myself.

Thanks for the heads up Andy...I just assumed that they were back to "normal". I'll call some place tomorrow to check as I plan on staying in Hunter and traveling down to the gunks via 23a.

No problem Kyle. I was surprised that things were still as unsettled as they are. As I said, Stamford is sad. In the daylight, it looked pretty bad -- buildings missing foundations and being held up on jackscrews... houses shifted on their foundations... telephone poles hanging from the cables they are supposed to be supporting... Entire huge sections of road and landscape just plain missing. Coming back through at night was eerie as hell -- no street lights, no lights on in the houses.. no cars on the streets. It looked like a ghost town. Very unnerving.