I’ll be away for a few weeks until the end of August. My trip will take me camping in an old growth forest in Clear Creek State Park in Western Pennsylvania. Then I’ll attend two concerts at the Marlboro Music Festival, an elite chamber music gathering in Vermont. I may head North from there to hike in the Adirondacks, perhaps tackling one of the 46 Peaks called Giant Mountain. After that, 5 days on Cape Cod with will relieve my ocean cravings. Heading down to DC, I’ll stop in Philadelphia for a night to see a friend. After a week at “home” with Mom I’ll be fattened up and ready to come back to good ‘ole Ohio.

I don’t think I’ll return this year to the area in the Adirondacks I found last year called Thirteenth Lake Siamese Ponds Wilderness Conservation Area. I just had a funny feeling about trying to repeat last Summer’s experience. Right behind Thirteenth Lake I did a solo climb past beaver swamps and up a slippery slope to the top of Peaked Mountain, where I was greeted by friendly dragon flies, one of whom landed on my solar plexus just as I was about to leave. Something about the experience made me feel at home, as if I was meant to be in that area. The quiet lake is stocked for fishing; there’s a nearby river for trout fishing and kayaking or rafting, and there’s lots of good hiking within a few hours away. There are several remote primitive camping sites around the lake. A few days ago I was doing some searches for that area and found a nice little 3 acre piece of land for sale right next to the Wildlife Conserve and Thirteenth Lake. I’ll wait a year and see if I still yearn to return there.

See you in September.

I’ll be checking in with the blog regularly.