/\ /\ / \ / \ . / \ /\ / \../ \...../ \/ \....... / Fourpeaks--Adirondack Backcountry Camps \ / http://4peaks.com/ * Martin@4peaks.com \ / Stonehouse Road * Jay NY 12941 * 518-524-6726 \ To: Fourpeaks Visitor At: fourpeaksvisitor@mail.com Dear Visitor, A Winter Story. The highway is clear and sun brightens the river flat opening to the East. Short stubble stretches out to water's edge straw and bright white in patterns from the last cutting. To some it may appear to have no life left in it. The heartening thing though is the dirt is laced with seeds, rhizomes and roots below in great number. This dormant material is most of it native, but some parts find their way here by wind, birds or the flow of flood waters, adding to the variety of latent forms, and a generation of surviviors. I have a woodfire for company, welcome this year as I don't travel but stay for writing and other projects I never get to. It takes tending and care in the mix, light stuff to get it going and stout pieces for a slow fire at night. Bright and talkative at times, occasionally smoky and hard to fathom, needs to be stirred, but rewarding all the same the way friends are. My woodpile is under the eaves at the barn to stay dry and still easy to get at. Billy adds to it a while back and that may go to next year considering it's already March. The trails remain accessible right through the season with light snow cover, cool and sunny, the best time for hiking. My woods are mature growth, open with many beautiful rooms to explore, all well furnished with interesting plants and hoary boulders moss green for rest and contemplation. The face of Basset or Ebenezer appears unexpected with just a modest rise in elevation through the empty lattice of tops and branches up ahead. I find a new ridge off Rattlesnake with a broad leafstrewn alley lined on either hand with tall maple, resting there an hour grateful at the discovery. Willy plows after a considerable snowfall and I step out to pay him and socialize. What with the weather we've had it's deep and wet, wheels slip and won't plow uphill. He makes extra passes to get it done. He's running low on logs he cut for cash in the Fall. I don't have wood to sell but he can have the deadfall on my place. He brings the pickup by Three Birches and later his son and the loader over on the Smith lot and at Ziz Zag where the downed oak from the Ice Storm is still sound. Lots more heat than the popple, birch, run of the lot he's been burning. On a walk with George at Camp Field I see him drive out the truck with a full load of good blocks. For days my driveway is a sheet of ice. Sitting by the Peugeot at the door for the fresh air and sun, I study the pines, fallen branches, what's left of snow and the high tops all alive and tossing in their invisible element. I need my walking stick and crampons just to get to the trash shed or the privy. Doesn't bother George. He sits or plays on it rolling over on his back like it was grass. I take him out at night for a leak. The moon glares on the shiny surface and I look up for the stars to see where I'm at. Some trail improvements, all the signs refurbished, flagging where needed, and I lay out a new path that crosses the outflow at Ice Mountain and doubles back for a good view of the Spruce Swamp the glacier left. Joe helped and cleaned it. I think you'll like it. Next I want a loop up the draw to an old road Maggie found last Summer and bring that East to the main jeep road. Some of the route is uncertain and I'll need the GPS to make it right. Two new picnic tables to set out in far places. I hope you'll explore. At Thoreau preparing for a guest I first see Andy's sap pails. More later at Gypsy and along Stonehouse Road. When I catch him this morning at the Post Office I ask how it's going. He draws 500 gallons last year and expects to do the same. The freeze when it comes is no problem actually a benefit. To save from icing trees force down sap at night, then flow it back up again strong when the sun warms, overflowing the pale juice into the buckets on every sizeable stump. Forty gallons to boil for one of the sugar, a precious natural product from hard work. Thanks for reading this. The worst is over. Visit soon as you can. My Fourpeaks, a natural place just hours from home. Experience the quiet, see the ice mountain, get the views. http://4peaks.com/fotrails.htm Enjoy the comfort and seclusion of a real Adirondack cabin. http://4peaks.com/fcamp.htm Make some time to experience it! (Availability Calendar.) http://4peaks.com/femail0.htm Your Adirondack Guide, Martin Schwalbaum P.S. The writing went well. Connections between the parts less clear, like real life, and a more rewarding read for that reason. Please take a look (link below). Comments and sharing appreciated. Member Whiteface Mountain Visitors Bureau Member Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau ****************************************************************** This is #24 of a really occasional newsletter, for Fourpeaks guests or anyone who ever inquired about a Fourpeaks Getaway. See all of them at http://4peaks.com/fpswal.htm together with the latest in our Adirondack and New York City writing. TO STAY ON this list remember to send me your new email. TO GET OFF send this letter back (reply) with "REMOVE" as subject. ******************************************************************