Tracking snow in the morning the way it is coming down here today with more expected tonight and tomorrow. That will be the last day of brook trout season here in the North Country and I guess I will have to use snow flies for bait. I have done it once before and it was a chilly day of fishing, but they were biting. I had a good chilly day of fishing earlier this week and got a nice catch for supper. They were good along with some donated brussels sprouts right off the stalk.
I think this is the last weekend for leaf peeper around here as most of the leaves, except for the beech, are on the ground. I was up at Paul Smith’s Visitor Center yesterday, Oct. 13, and there was still much more color up that way. If you are up in that area the loons are again fishing in Lake Clear and worth the trip to watch and enjoy. You can canoe right among them as the fish for smelt, stocking up some fat for their flight south. There were over 50 on the calm lake yesterday but mostly at the far end from the parking lot and beach at the west end. The Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation had a paddle out among them in the morning on Sunday. Then there was the year-end celebration at the Visitor Center in the afternoon with the largest crowd ever with me as guest speaker giving my loon program.
Around Inlet and Old Forge, the parking lots at all the trailheads were overflowing with leaf peepers. I took a small group down to Ferd’s Bog on Saturday morning and it was a tad chilly with a brisk wind blowing at about 45 degrees. It was a surprise birthday gift for one in the party from his wife. I was in the parking lot waiting for them and when he got out of the truck I wished him a happy birthday. He said how do you know it is my birthday and I said a little bird told me, your wife and he was surprised. She said you are always so tough to buy for. We had met a few times, but he had never been on a guided hike where I showed him and some of his friends, things along the trail and even tasted a couple, one was creeping snowberry leaves that I call natures Tic Tac. No berries are to be found this time of the year, but the leaves of the plant tasted the same and everyone agreed. I identified the bog bushes and showed them the seeds of sweet gale, which make a nice addition to your potpourri if you have some in your home. I would sometimes sneak some in when Karen was not at home, and she would say when she came in you have been in the bog again.
Coming back to Inlet from there, the parking lot and Rocky and Black Bear Mountain was overflowing at both ends and the grassy areas out front, over 50 cars. They must have been walking up hand and hand on the trail. Last weekend, I went up the Rondaxe Road and the Fire Tower Parking Lot was overflowing on both sides of the highway past Fly Pond making it a one lane road. It was such a nice weekend I am sure parking areas all over the Adirondacks were experiencing the same conditions.
I have been involved in conservation, environmental law enforcement and a hunter, angler and trapper most of the time as I was born with a fishing pole in one hand and a gun in the other. I have been a registered Republican since I could vote but very few times did I vote for that party, see you can vote for Democrats even though not registered there. Many feel if they are not registered in that party, you cannot vote that way, but you can, and I hope this year you make that decision for good of the country and not for the autocrat that is running as a Republican. He has no respect for women as court cases have proven, or women’s rights by overturning Roe versus Wade with his Supreme Court appointed judges, which he brags about, and he certainly does not believe in climate change and would turn us backward there as he did with COVID under his first watch. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and vote for Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz for president and vice president of the United States of America for A New Way Forward!
Time to get the bird nets up and catch a few saw-whet owls but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo at top: Gary Lee taking a bite while having a bite. Photo by Kerry Rogers.
Wait – let me grab my popcorn….
That genuinely made me LOL.
Thanks for your column Gary and your endorsement of the Harris/Walz team. Anyone who cares about the environment, a woman’s right to choose, Ukraine’s independence, support for NATO and democracy should follow your sound advice.
The Harris/Walz endorsement was a nice surprise. Except for my dad, every single hunter I know up here in St. Lawrence County is full throttle for the other guy.
I’m with Gary Lee, Joe Martens & your dad. Maybe we should start a group: “Hunters for Harris”.
Ditto thank you Mr Lee. I lived for many years across the street from Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida where the dome tore off.
It’s no more hurricane season as in the past. My friends have all suffered varying degrees of loss.
Climate change denial is related to $ from the fossil fuel industry in the form of donations – in this case to the other guys campaign.
I hope folks are thinking of their children and grandchildren in this election.
Always enjoy your articles. I’m going to google creeping snowberry to see if I can find some of natures tic tac. Wish your loon program at Paul Smiths was a little earlier in the year as we always miss it.
vote for Donald Trump, vote for the small business in America
Congressional Democrats have committed billions to directly support small business. Their actions have helped spur the economic recovery, boosted infrastructure, invested in clean energy, and bolstered American semiconductor production.
By passing the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR and STTR) programs Extension Act of 2022, Democrats ensured that, through “America’s Seed Fund,” small businesses that are focused on innovative research and development will keep our country at the forefront of creating cutting edge technology.
Democrats are also freeing up credit for entrepreneurs across the country, targeting an issue that is vital for small businesses’ hiring and overall success.
Democratic initiatives like Smart Growth and the Rural Partners Network ensure business development is locally led and that investments spread across the local economy.
Perhaps Trump has done something notable for small business as well, but it has always seemed to me that he only helps those that can help himself. Enlighten me.
a vote for Trump will keep out gangs
Yes – the convicted felon awaiting sentencing should be the one for the job!
Gary, in your “second” career as an Adirondack based columnist, you have earned the respect of Almanack readers. It shouldn’t be taken lightly when you urge us to vote for Harris and Walz in the current election. Thank you for speaking out, and I hope a ton of readers will follow your recommendation when they vote.
Family histories offer us all kinds of lessons. Among mine are old photos of my great-grandma, who married a Confederate Army soldier, and her sister who married a Union Army lieutenant at the end of the Civil War. I often wonder how these two sisters managed to overcome such stark differences to enable our family to stay in touch and help each other through their many hard times, but they did!
I am remembering that old family story again as election day approaches, and I wonder how America’s families will vote? Our media is pock marked with lies and hate mongering intended to divides us? Will American voters be able to see past this fog of demagoguery? I sure hope so…
Gary – I have silently been enjoying your column for a long time. I am so very sorry for the recent loss of your wife Karen. What a beautiful relationship you have shared with all of us readers.
Grief is a tough journey, as too many of us know. It sounds like you are dealing with it incredibly well. Hats off to you!!
I appreciate your statements re: the coming election, and am on board 100%.
Keep doing and writing my friend, you are a remarkable human being.
I sure hope this election does focus on changing the country for the better, no one wanted to believe in acid rain either. Thank you for your dedication to our wildlife.
Thanks for the Harris endorsement. I can hardly believe that lovers of the ADK and outdoors in general would vote for tfg. He views the environment as fine as is, and he would turn the ADK into a high-dollar theme park for him and his rich buddies if he could. No good will come of his being elected again.
Thank you Gary
I hope people read and react to your column
Very nice aricle Gary. Agree with everything in the 1st 4 paragraphs, but I’ll be voting for our former President instead of the unqualified, untested Harris who is complicit in, and responsible for, among other things, allowing 10-15 MILLION illegals into our country, many of whom are criminals and/or terrorists. There’s much else to be alarmed about with Ms Harris, but I’m sure your mind is made up, so I’ll spare you anything else. I guess my vote is going to offset yours. Sorry about that. Oh well, in NY that doesn’t mean anything anyway. You know, as NYC/Albany/Syracuse/Rochester/Bufflo goes, so goes the rest of us deplorables.
As a life long registered Democrat for over 60 years I have never voted Republican. This election i will be voting Republican for the first time and encourage others to do so as well. I can’t vote for someone who was not elected in the primaries and has a spouse who has a history of hitting women and impregnating hired help.
Do the affairs (15 years ago ?) of a spouse have anything to say about the actual candidate ?. As opposed to her opponent who is on his third wife, has cheated on all of them and paid $130,000 to a porn star to keep her quiet about their most recent affair ?. That’s the choice you are going with ?. There’s a lot of things I could see being used as reasons for choosing Republican over Democrat for president. Your stated reasons are odd ones.
I think the main point made here is that NOT ONE SINGLE VOTE was cast for KH in a primary to make her this years Dem candidate. In fact, the last time she ran (2020) she dropped out before the 1st caucuses (caucii?) were even held due to a pathetic showing in a debate. To use your own phrase: That’s the choice you are going with?
Well my other choice is a felon, known sexual predator, someone who attempted to overthrow the government on Jan 6, is accused of multiple violations of federal law with federal documents and is generally a lying and cheating, unethical and immoral person. So, yes, Harris is a far superior choice. It is painful to watch so many people support Trump with all of these significant issues present. I cannot grasp what they are thinking.
Yup. He’s a felon because the Biden/Harris administration weaponized the DOJ into prosecuting him on a number of made up charges. They will be dropped, or overturned on appeal.
Bill Clinton had sex IN THE OVAL OFFICE while a Pakistani representative was waiting to meet with him. John Kennedy had scads of sexual liasons with ladies other than Jackie. Do I agree that this is moral behavior? No. But, in this case, I’m voting for the person with the proven record of running the country successfully. So yup, DJT’s my candidate.
I was just so undecided who to vote for, but because of this revolutionary political analysis of never-before-heard info regarding the upcoming election, particularly how horribly evil DJT is (especially for women), I have been convinced!
Thank you, Gary and many thanks to AA for posting this shocking eye-opener! I have now awakened to the wonderment, joy and democracy-saving policies of the Harris/Walz candidacy.
After reading this, I will be voting for Harris/Walz!
Just kidding.
TRUMP/VANCE 2024!
True quality journalism leaves the politics out. We’re big boys and girls. We know how to look at the issues.
Other than the finish, your article was very enjoyable.
Another entertaining and informative column neighbor. The bottom line is that no matter how you cut it, PO1135809 is a sociopath. Full stop. Voting for a sociopath is counterintuitive. Not prudent, won’t do it.
The last 4 years have brought us full speed teetering on becoming a third world country and you want to editorialize your nature story’s with plying for the communists with zero answers when asked what their plank will be…. Should scare the skat right out of you. I don’t get why you think your platform entitles you to desperately push your agenda.
It only causes the reader of the opposite side to bring down any respect we formerly may have had for your level of journalism. No longer interested in your stories because I now see your messed up in the things that really matter for our country. Maybe if you relocated a few miles North, you
Could stump for Trudeau!
Seriously, Gary should leave the country because of differing political views? How about the rest of us? Do your parents know you’re using their computer? BTW, sign your name if you’re attempting to be taken seriously.
Did you really need to introduced politics to your column ?
It appears to be what everyone cares about. ALL the comments are on the short political part at the end.
Actually, no one ‘really’ wants to hear someone’s political opinion. There’s enough of it everywhere. Majority have their mind made up regarding the election and if they don’t, they are just checked out. Most respond, including myself, out of parody, emotions being triggered, or wanting hear/hears from their partisan peers.
Personally, unless the political commentary pertains to the ADKS, I prefer AA not post articles that contain ‘personal’ political opinions. And even with ADK politics, leave your personal opinion out of it and just relay straight up researched facts and not be an echo chamber of the MSM or public radio talking points. Oh wait, that’s called true journalism not editorial commentary.
But then again, what is AA? A community board, right? So, I suppose everything is permissible as long as the content is labeled accordingly.
Adk. Almanack readers should consider two important points about Gary’s column: 1- relevance and 2- journalistic integrity.
The relevance part is to do with educating ourselves about the honesty and trustworthiness of candidates, and about exposing their lies & spin to get to the truth on critical issues which will directly affect us. Consider these examples where our voting choices must be grounded in facts and not lies and hateful rhetoric:
Our climate disasters are getting worse and we aren’t ready! Womens reproductive rights are steadily slipping backward. Ditto for pay equal to mens! The great extinction of our fellow crearures on Earth is steadily worsening! Human suffering – especially among women, children, & handicapped – is proceeding at an industrial scale! All the while, our mainstream media desert focuses on billionaire elites and the empty words of self-serving politicians.
Considering our limited media options, Gary’s bona fides deserve our respect, and his opinions are a welcome antidote for readers who are tired of the endless red and blue Kool Aid we are being fed.
Maybe Journalistic Integrity in the eye of the beholder. Some readers may think so, but I’m not one of them. Too many memories of Walter Cronkhite type journalism not to notice today’s lower standards. The corporate owned news sites and venues where fundraising & opinion jump the firewall to color objective news reporting is very sad!
On the other hand, I have begged Melissa to reduce the use of canned news releases and flesh out the site’s excellent factual reports and stories by adding a regular editorial feature on the other side of the firewall, that would stand for the values that many caring Adirondackers support, and American democracy truly needs to stand for if it is to survive. ( Maybe when she is in her new job she’ll take a second look at that…) In the meantime, please keep on writing Gary.
Spare us the lecture, Louis. .
The audacity to believe that those who choose to support the current Democrat platform’s, including yourself, are superior in integrity and ‘the truth’ while boasting from a self-elevated moral higher ground is simply preposterous.
The current narrative that ‘you must agree’ with leftist ideology or you are guilty of engaging with hateful rhetoric or denying the Apocalyptic demise of the future, cloaked in a sense of valor is getting tired and ringing weak. God forbid anyone dare to question anything, voice a contrary belief or stand up for their own beliefs. And as long as the AA posts opinions based within the Democrat platform, there are kudos that they do a great job. Why? Because that’s what YOU agree with. If they posted more right-leaning political opinions, you’d be having a fit, insinuating it is all lies and spreading ‘disinformation’! I’ve witnessed it already!
I can confidently state that the current Dem platform is nothing like it was in past decades and those who echo their narrative are not true advocates of free speech, free thinking or ‘saving democracy’, but a party of 100% conformity…..or else! (with a media that is paid to be their bullhorn and nothing but a propaganda machine, which IS the reason the news is limited.) But, thank God for independent journalism. You may have to dig deeper to find but its out there in the plenty and growing by the minute with those who don’t fall for the machine’s lies being broadcasted from behind the curtain.
No Louis, disagreeing with Gary’s political opinion and pointing it out is not being disrespectful to him, its simply disagreement. Period.
Is your name really ADKresident? That’s a cool name. Kinda like Yosemite Sam.
Now whose parents don’t know who’s on the computer????
Very well said by ADK resident. Shows a lot of critical thinking skills.
Agree with ADKr 100%. Agree with you too FfA. Wish I was smart enough to say it so pretty.
I’ve changed my stage name to “Masses of men who lead quite lives of desperation.” Politics aside, FlyfisherAl, I’m sure you’ve critically thought about rehiring an aging convicted felon, sexual predator, classified government documents thief, six time bankrupt business thingy, perpetrator of business and voting fraud, robs the poor to give to the rich, international extortionist, golf cheat, doesn’t fly fish, all while running for perpetual POTUS again. Sterling resume for USA’s top job. I reside in the “no spin zone” where woolly buggers rule. I’ve admittedly used a garden hackle in survival situations. Just say’in. Long live the King, boyz!
Lord, give it a rest Stanley. It appears that you want to blame somebody for 45 being on the ballot this year. If so, blame the DNC and Joe Biden. If they hadn’t chosen to steal the 2020 election by getting 51 ‘former intelligence officers’ to claim the (very true) Hunter Biden laptop story was ‘Russian disinformation’ AND if there hadn’t been all those COVID inspired ‘mail-in ballot discrepencies’, 45 would very likely be handing over the reins of power this January. Had those things NOT been done, you would soon be rid of him forever, politically speaking that is. Had those things NOT been done, the D party may have actually had a legitimate 2024 primary race and picked someone who was actually qualified to be President. You remember primaries. You know, where the rank and file members of a party choose, by voting, the best candidate to run for President.
I’ve forgiven 45 for all but one of your above real, and imagined, deficiencies. The one I had to think long and hard about before moving forward to cast my ballot was the ‘doesn’t fly fish’ criteria. That was almost, but not quite, my deal breaker.
Was it Stormy or storming the castle? Deficiencies you call them. You obviously have a heart of gold, JohnL. Sorry, no rest until the Deficient One is vanquished from the realm.BTW, I have Hunter’s laptop. It’s yours for a Tubman twenty.