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East Notch/West Notch Mountains, Adirondack Park Who: Ron
A few years ago, I finally fulfilled a promise to myself to spend some time in the Adirondacks. I read up a bit, and found out about a seldom-traveled dirt road south of Piseco Lake that runs through a 'virgin' spruce grove. I remember getting out of the car and looking up at the impossibly tangled and steep side of East Notch Mountain and thinking I'd like to climb it. So I did, crazy as it now seems to me. Incredibly thick mats of green moss grow in between long yellow birch roots, obscuring 6-foot deep fissures in the ledges. Gnarled red spruce spike up to the sky, with impenetrable tangles of balsam fir below. As I climbed, I could peer through the dark tangle of needles at West Notch Mountain, also covered in untouched old growth. "Now this is wild!" I thought. It was like climbing a vertical thicket, surrounded by spruce swamps, black flies and deep woods. Untamed and totally free. A forgotten land. I return there once a year, just to bask in the aura of the dark, cool woods. It's not a particularly 'pretty' place, nor does it hold grand and majestic views. But it's much like it was thousands of years ago, and that makes it special to me. Regular old woods, almost exactly like they always were. That makes me happy. Photo: The view from the Powley-Piseco Road looking south to East Notch Mountain. Tell us about your Special Place! Up to Top |
Why: I love being in unlogged woods, especially the North Woods of
spruce, balsam fir, hemlocks, sugar maples, yellow birch...