Each year, we attempt to get a sense of how many wetsuits will be needed for the Pre Pre Crew to wear, whilst braving the cold waters of the Augur to put the docks in. In trying to ascertain such vital information, a level of competitive guessing has developed and we invite you all to throw your ideas about dates into the mix. Please submit your predictions promptly through this survey link. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DQ3GNK3

Attached for your reference is a photo taken yesterday showing a stretch of open water off Hulls’ point.  That open water is an anomaly, because a narrower version of it also appeared earlier in the winter, when  Peter’s ice boat was flying back and forth across the lake.  What it means is anybody’s guess….  Good Luck!

In the meantime, we thought we’d show you some recent pictures from around camp. The snow has finally started to fall, adding a special magic to the beauty of Lincoln and Whippoorwill.

Above you can see a picture of Saranac.

And the Junior section at Whippoorwill.

If you look carefully, you’ll recognize Kushaqua, where so many fond Work group memories have been created over the years.

And of course a picture of the lake from Birdie beach.

As the pine trees stand quietly, laced with white, we yearn for the days of summer that will be upon us in good time.

As the days get longer little by little, one can imagine being at camp with friends, taking part in activities and basking in the pools of light that trickle through the trees.

These are our ‘Dreams of Summer’.

The countdown is on!

It was a very cold day and the lake was busy making new ice.  There was an almost constant symphony of booms, pings, cracking sounds and vibrations as the ice expanded.  While the sounds were a little disconcerting, they actually mean that the ice is getting stronger and thicker.  It was about 5 inches thick on this day; plenty for walking on.

The fish proved elusive on this trip, but the boys will keep trying and we will find them eventually.  Perhaps they were all hanging out at Lincoln on this day…

We’ll be enjoying a different kind of fun on the ice this Saturday at our annual camp reunion in NYC.  It’s time to catch up with some of your friends from camp and it sounds like there will be a good turnout of campers and counselors.  We hope to see you all there!

Happy New Year!

It’s been a relatively warm fall here in the northcountry, but things seems to be getting back on track.  There’s a dusting of snow on the ground and as of December 18th, there’s ice!  Perhaps if it stays smooth and clear, we’ll get to practice our skating for the reunion in January.  Hope to see you there!

Our annual reunion at Chelsea Piers is just around the corner, where we’ll get together to ice skate and relive those perfect moments created in our cabins, nestled beneath the pine trees. We can’t wait to see you all there.

We hope current and recent campers have received their invitations at this point and as you can see our little Holiday helpers were busy at work stuffing envelopes and sharing tales you helped create this past season. For Alumni, we hope you’ll enjoy snippets from the summer and recall your own memories from summers at Lincoln and Whippoorwill, while perusing the the calendar you receive.

And just to quench your thirst for our little slice of heaven, here is a view from Birdie beach – Just before the snow flies!

Keep checking back for winter wonderland pictures of our summer home on Frontage Road.

Hikers can still hike from the Adirondack Loj, but need to forge the river down stream of where the bridge used to be. You can see in the photo that the water is very high again, because since the dam burst, the pond has tended to be more of a small stream. On this day, it almost looked as full as we’d remembered it from past visits. As we cast our eyes towards Colden, we saw what appeared to be snow on the peak. It was hard to tell how much snow, but it was most definitely snow!!

After signing in at the register, we hiked on through golden, red, yellow and brown leaves, climbing ever higher. The colors were especially pretty next the evergreens and gurgling streams. When we reached Lake Arnold, the trail started to wind upwards in a more determined fashion and as the elevation got higher, the temperature got lower. Like magic, we hiked from Fall, into Winter. It was like traveling in time. As the tree line got shorter, the branches were more heavily laden with snow. We burst out on top of Little Colden, where the wind took one’s breath away as it slapped you in the face with full force. The exposed rock was running with water that was turning to ice in places, so extra caution was used.After a welcome dip back into the trees, we took the opportunity to add further layers and have a snack before making a last upward push to the Summit of Colden. From here, we enjoyed views of the MacIntyre Range and of Mount Marcy as the skies cleared long enough to show the neighboring peaks.

We quickly made our    way down and stopped  again at Lake Arnold  for lunch number 7,  while basked in the  relative warmth of the  sun, before trekking on back towards the parking lot.

But we had to have an after shot too!

We wish you could have been there with us and we look forward to the next time we get to hike with campers from North Country Camps on a perfect TAD!

Whippoorwill is so dominated by pines and hemlocks that much of the camp looks very similar in the Fall, but a fine carpet of needles covers the ground and certain areas of camp really shine.  Here are some shots of the area around the barn and from Birdie beach, taken on a perfect fall day; crisp, cool and sunny!

Lincoln has more deciduous trees, and different parts of camp turn at different times.  These shots were taken on a cloudier day, but sometimes the low light makes the colors “pop” that much more!  A whitetail deer was feeding out at the archery range this day and I was able to sneak up to the field house and watch her for quite a while from around the corner.  I was feeling rather sneaky, but when she finally saw me and bounded off towards the forest, I was surprised to see her fawn bound off too.  It had been just on the other side of the field house, not 15 feet away, but I’d never seen it!

We hope that you’re all enjoying this beautiful season too!  We’ll continue to post some walk-around-camp photos over the course of the year.  Just think, only two more seasons until camp starts up again!

This annual event has two divisions – recreational and ironman – and the entire race begins on Birdie Beach.     Team Gucker races on the longer ironman course!

The race begins, and canoes and kayaks paddle down the lake toward Cub’s Point.  

The Ironman teams paddled in to the augur, to Blueberry Island, and then back around toward Lincoln’s waterfront and north to Whippoorwill.   Recreational paddlers head south to the point, over to Lincoln and back to the beach.     This year Peter and Damien, Robin and Peter’s wonderful exchange student from France, paddled one of camp’s double sea kayaks  – sturdy kayaks that fare well in Lake Champlain’s heavy winds and high waves, but are not built for speed!

Peter and Damien complete their leg of the triathlon, Robin has taken off from here!

From the beach the runners take off up the hill and out to Route 9, in to Keeseville and across the walking bridge, up stairs and around a few blocks in town, then back out to the ARC site for a total of 5.6 miles   (recreational runners travel 2.5 +/- miles).    Robin and a runner from another team ran the distance to town and back together – enjoying the friendly and fast pace!

Robin and a competitor complete the 5.6 mile run together

As Robin arrived across the finish line, Forrest took off on a 20 mile loop back towards camp to the Robare Road (past Fledging Crow farm) and north on the Mace Chasm Road, dropping down the hill to Port Kent and north along the lake shore road back around to Route 9, then south through the back of Ausable Chasm and south on the Mace Chasm Road to the base of Pinnacle, and finally north on Route 9 in to town and across the finish line!

Forrest biking up from Port Kent toward Ausable Chasm

Heading south by Ausable Chasm

Watching the race and cheering on all the teams had us thinking what fun it would be to have a few other NCC teams involved.   There was some serious staff fitness training going on during the camp season, and a crew of counselors in the area this fall hiking and enjoying time in the Adirondacks … it may be easy to encourage a few to come back in 2012 for the 14th annual Mountain Services Triathlon!

Triathlon team Gucker