Some roadside routes are more exciting than others. All have unique features. Prelude to Overture, rated 5.8 YDS, is often called one of the most exposed routes of its grade in the Adirondacks. The photos above, one of me leading and 2 of my friend Loren Swears, show why. All three photos are traversing a roof system on Upper Washbowl Cliff...there's nothing but 150' of air underneath this spur of the roof. The views are simply inspiring.

Harvest Tour organized by Cornell Extension ... a great program! I had a great time visiting 5 different farms, Next time they need to extend it to two days, so we can visit all the participating farms.

Brandy Brook Flow on Cranberry Lake was my latest destination. This is a nice easy hike, a little over 7 miles round-trip. At one time, this was home to the floating camps of lore. There are several very nice campsites along the way. The trail has several intersections to other locations, and the Cranberry Lake 50 follows it for a ways.

The lake is now open for the rest of the season. This is a very nice paddle, I loosely followed the shoreline, and racked up about 6 miles. The western end has some great bays and channels to explore, one of which is the beginning of the south branch of the Grasse River. Pay attention to the public use dates if you decide to visit- 9/1 thru 7/15.

A nice paddle on the Soft Maple Reservoir, part of the Beaver River power project. Along with the lake, I paddled up Fish Creek until the water became too shallow to continue. I put in about 5 miles for the day. I launched from Brookfield Power's Soft Maple campground ($5 day use fee). This is quite a nice campground and would make a nice base camp for some more of the Beaver River paddling.

Ther is a half-mile trail from the gate to the pond. I did a bushwhack around the pond and ended up with a two-mile round trip hike. It is easy up until the bushwhacking, then it gets tough. Just before the pond is a maple tree that had been struck by lightning and burned out from the inside, but left the outer wood living. It was plenty big enough for me to fit inside with my pack.

Our Nature Up North summer naturalist interns Emily and Lydia lead a frog walk this afternoon on the St. Lawrence University Kip Trail in Canton. The group was successful, spotting both bull frogs and green frogs in a wetland off the Little River. 

A baby dusky salamander, three red-backed salamanders (2 shown), one frog (possibly wood), and wood frog eggs were spotted in St. Lawrence County between the hours of 1-4 on a sunny day in April!  All herps were found along/near vernal pools!  Red-backed salamanders seemed to be bountiful.  This is in addition to the four photos I posted last week as encounters!

I was exploring the vernal pool at the end of the Kip Trail by flashlight last week, and the spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) were deafening. After much searching, I finally spotted one tucked into some fallen cattail stalks. He has a somewhat dubious survival instinct, as he didn't stop calling even when my camera lens was inches from his face. On my way out of the pool, I nearly stepped on two more peepers (second picture). The male (on top) is amplexing the female -- holding on so that he'll have the best chance at fertilizing her eggs when she lays them.

Another Herpetology lab find in Glenmeal State Forest -- spotted salamander eggs in a vernal pool. All of these eggs were laid by a single salamander -- they were just the size of the black dots you can see in the picture. Their jelly-like coating then absorbed water and expanded to nearly the size of my hand, in order to protect the eggs and keep them hydrated.