Charlie’s Inn
Junction & Campground, Lake Clear, New York
Photo link:The weather was gorgeous and we had a beautiful drive out of Rutland Vermont over to the Adirondacks. Along the way we stopped in the lower Champlain Valley at an overlook, with a great view of the valley and mountains in the distance. Once we arrived in the Adirondacks region we passed through Lake Placid, the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics and then Saranac Lake, a beautiful little town bordering a few lakes. Driving along the roads in the Adirondacks we passed through many small villages surrounded by high peak mountains and hiking trailheads everywhere. We arrived at Charlie's Inn Junction & Campground to find very historic site, which is now privately owned. This was once a main railroad depot for the Central Line Railroad in New York. All of the original buildings are still on the property including the depot and the Inn, which is still operating as a lodge and great restaurant.
We quickly realized that our main activity here in the
Adirondacks would be hiking. There are so many mountain peaks in the area and
some amazing hiking trails. One of the hikes that we did was to climb to the
top of Ampersand Mountain. This hike was
a challenging rocky ascent of 1775’ to the summit at 1942’. The dogs were with
us and we were all enjoying the challenging steep hike. Within ½ mile of the
peak, one of the descending hikers informed us that there was a large rock face
about 6 to 8 feet high that needed to be climbed over to get to the peak. Once
I heard this, Kody and I both decided to turn around and head back to the truck,
since that was not our favorite thing to do and we were pretty exhausted at
that point after already hiking almost 3 miles.
We waited at the truck for about another hour and a half before Kurt and
Luca arrived. Kurt did get some beautiful pictures of the views from the
summit. I really wish I could have made it and I was disappointed that I didn't
have the courage to climb the rock face.
We decided one day to drive over to Lake Placid and to explore
the areas and the sites from the 1980 Winter Olympics. We saw the site of the
ski jumps, which are still intact and used in the winter. It’s so hard to imagine
that people ski down from that high tower on ice. We also went to the arena which is also a
Convention Center. There were banners
regarding the historic hockey game where the USA beat the Russians by one point
and won the gold medal. Who can forget the “Miracle on Ice”? It was so hard to
imagine that this small mountain town of Lake Placid would be flooded with
hundreds of thousands of attendees and athletes for the Olympic Winter Games,
it must have been truly packed.
Another day we did a great hike up St. Regis Mountain. The hike
was 3.3 miles one way with an ascent of 1260’ to the summit of 1942’. This time
all four of us made it up another steep, rocky hike and reached the summit. At
the summit was an old fire tower, which Kurt climbed to the top. Again, the
views from this rocky top mountain were amazing; the whole landscape dotted
with mountains, the high peaks to the East and lakes all around. Even though it was a challenging hike, I still
enjoyed it and was very pleased I was able to make it to the summit.
Lake Clear is a lovely lake with crystal clear water and
some sandy beaches. We found that just a short walk from our campground there
was a beautiful beach that faced the west and was a perfect spot for sunset. A
couple of nights we took the dogs to run and play on the beach. We sat there, had
happy hour and watched the sunset, even though both times there were clouds on
the horizon. It was still a lovely place to sit and relax and watch the sun go
down.
One day Kurt kayaked and fished on the Saranac chain of
Lakes. This is a very popular kayak and canoe area. The lakes are dotted with
numerous islands that are set aside for primitive camping. Outfitters in the
area will set up customers with boats and camping gear, to spend several nights
on the lakes. Kurt just enjoyed a day paddle there. He also paddled on the
Raquette River for a couple of miles. He enjoyed the lakes much more than the
river.
One of the most unusual activities we've had on this whole
trip is taking a ride on a bicycle rail car, called Rail Explorers. This was a
fun activity that began in Saranac Lake and ended on Lake Clear, with specially
built bicycle rail cars that you pedal yourself on the rails. We decided it was
worth the price, since this was so unusual that we thought we may never get a
chance to do something like this again. With a front and rear escort, each group of people had their own
individual rail cars and they evenly space out
the cars about 300 feet so you could peddle the rail car at your own speed and
enjoy the sights. Along the way we passed by bogs and a few lakes, including
Lake Clear. As we passed through the Lake Clear area we were able to see our
campground and the historic buildings. At the end of the 7 ½ mile ride they
shuttled everyone back to the beginning in a comfortable bus. These are older
rails, no longer used by trains and are slated to be pulled up and the whole
course will be turned into a rail trail for multi-use. We really had fun on a
beautiful day enjoying this very different activity.
On our last evening there we spent time at the lake to watch
the sunset and let the dogs run free.
We really enjoyed the Adirondacks, a 6-million acre wilderness
region. It was really different from many other places we have been. With the lakes,
surrounded by mountains all around made this very special place.
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