9/13 White face mtn

We headed out a bit earlier today as we wanted to get to Whiteface mountain since despite the clouds it was a pretty clear morning. Our first stop on the way there was the High Falls Gorge.This privately owned 22 acre park is part of the west branch of the Ausable river well known as one of the state's famous trout streams, it has several waterfalls that you can view as you take the 1 mile hike. We also learned of the incredible damage done by hurricane Irene in August of 2011 and the historic flooding that occurred when the area was still trying to recover from the flooding of the previous April.

                      Unexpected splashes of color, as the trees are just beginning to change :)

                                    The river rose far beyond the railing on the right of the photo.  

Whiteface Mountain ski resort

Once at White face Mtn, we walked the 426ft into the center of the mtn and took the elevator (27 stories) to the summit where we were able to see spectacular views.

 Next stop was Ausable chasm, a box canyon cut through sandstone along the Ausable river.

We then continued north to find the ferry that would take us across Lake Champlain to Vermont. 

Once in Vermont we headed south along the lake and eventually took a second ferry back to NY. On this ferry trip we struck up a conversation with Tim from Texas who had wonderful stories of growing up in the area, and now fishes while on vacations here. We took his reccommendation for dinner at the West Port yacht club which turned out to be a delightful end to a fabulous day!

                                        The Green Mountains in Vermont in the distance