Torrent
This torrent of water is, if you can believe it, the Raquette river at a low point. (The gates of the dam up-river would be opened a week or so later, burying this area under an extra blast.) The...
View ArticleWater’s-Eye View
Hiking the Raquette River made me constantly aware of the water that produced these geometries—and that was a bit intimidating. When the dam upstream opens, I would imagine that this is just about the...
View ArticleFlood Alignment
When the waters come loose from the dam above and run through the trees, the fallen limbs and detritus arrange and align. Filed under: Canton, New York Tagged: Colton, HDR, hiking, Nature, New York,...
View ArticleTwo Trails
I present to you a pair of photographs: The first is from Muir Woods on the Marin Peninsula of California. That morning was rainy and the colors are rich and dark and the setting is some...
View ArticleStone Valley Bonsai
We took the summer research students back to Stone Valley for a hike yesterday (the sights were dramatic last year), and during the trip I saw this little tree by the riverside. The miniature form...
View ArticleStand Before the Falls
The waters of the Racquette River were high and fast when we hiked Stone Valley. There was no clambering around on this day—just standing in the refreshing spray. Filed under: Adirondacks, New York...
View ArticleFull River
Water levels in the Raquette River through Stone Valley (site of some excellent rocks) were quite high, leading to normally dry areas (like this one) overflowing with impromptu waterfalls. Surfaces and...
View ArticleSmall Mushroom and Stones
Backing up from grand views of public spaces in modern, urban settings, I present some photographs of small yet appealing shapes from a recent hike. I like the way these stones have carved pillars...
View ArticleFlooded Magic Island
When the water level rises in Stone Valley, the landscape gets odd, and impossible islands form where there were once minor changes in the landscape. The water rushes through ferns and tree-roots and...
View ArticleAlong the Cliffs
Students hike the cliffside where geological formations collide. On July 4th, let me compose an overly-ornate sentence about the season and the nation. “Summer hiking in the North Country of America,...
View ArticleExploring Stone Valley
If the weather is just right and recent rain has the Raquette River running high through Stone Valley, a summer hike is just the thing. A geologist would have the technical explanation of the valley’s...
View ArticleStone Valley Before Sunset
Except perhaps in winter, I’ve always hiked when the sun was high in the sky and settled in before sunset. I have always wanted, however, to capture some dramatic nature scenes with a crazy sky, so...
View ArticleKinds of Water
When chemists study water, the molecular-level view offers a lot to consider. Bulk water takes on two fluid phases and seventeen (depending on who you ask) solid phases, from a physical scientist’s...
View Article“Secret” Island “Fort”
An almost-island was hiding in the background of this photograph of Stone Valley. Most of my childhood adventures involved sorties from some kind of tree-based fortress; this formation silhouetted...
View ArticlePestle Stone Sunset
Summer hiking in nearby Colton’s Stone Valley is rapidly approaching, and with it, opportunities to see some of our odd (to me) local geology. Those enormous hollows are created by the movement of...
View ArticleExploring
The end of St. Lawrence’s school year means that the hikes through areas like nearby Colton’s Stone Valley will be coming to an end for many graduating seniors. Living in this Adirondack-ish reality of...
View ArticleStone Valley: Rapid Stairs
The rapids of Stone Valley in Colton, New York have a certain stair-like repeating quality to them (at least for the 363-ish days/year during which the dam above keeps its spillway gates closed)....
View ArticleStone Valley: Reflective Triangle
The rapids of Stone Valley diverge and reunite numerous times throughout their journey, and the spray that accompanies them turns the everyday rocks into smoothed, shiny, reflective triangles.
View ArticleTown by the Dam
In the foothills of the Adirondacks, the Raquette River was dammed for hydroelectric power. The town of Colton, New York sits on the resulting reservoir; the rapids in the foreground are the beginning...
View ArticleRapids at Dusk
Stone Valley is a hyperreal place at sunset; the effect is a bit different from above but no less magical. The rapids do, I’ll grant, look a bit less steep from up here.
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