A Long Day on Dix

With the temperatures dropping and the summer’s rain finally coming to an end, my brother Bailey and I figured it’d be a perfect time to head back up to the Adirondacks in search of adventure on another landslide. The recent dry weather intrigued us to look for something that would give us a good challenge.

Beckhorn drainage

After much discussion with Bailey and another slide climbing connoisseur — Brian Hikes All Day, as he is known on YouTube — we decided upon a daring day on Dix Mountain (4857’). Much like Whiteface, Dix is consistently steep, tall, and scarred with landslides on almost all of its flanks.

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Black Rock Forest Consortium

The cat is out of the bag and you’ve seen it in the news: the Catskills are becoming the new Hamptons. Traffic-averse folks shudder at the thought of the New York Thruway increasingly resembling the Long Island Expressway with each passing holiday weekend. I’ve learned to adjust, opting for local outings further downstate that offer a legitimate respite from the throngs of urbanites trekking upstate.

Tamarack Pond
Tamarack Pond

On Labor Day, in search of a quieter alternative to one of my favorite rides in Minnewaska State Park, I decided to keep it local at the Black Rock Forest Consortium. Despite being only 35 miles from my apartment and just a stone’s throw from Victor Constant Ski Area, I’d never visited Black Rock Forest.

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Oswego River Kayak from Three Rivers Point

200 years ago Three Rivers Point was one of the most happening spots in Central NY. Here the Oneida and Seneca Rivers form the Oswego river and flow north to Lake Ontario.

Three Rivers Point map

It was a prominent meeting spot for Native Americans and when the colonists arrived they made camp at the same location. An inn was soon erected and trade on the rivers expanded with salt mining operations on Cayuga and Seneca. The peak of Three Rivers Point rose and fell with the Erie Canal, and these days it’s a quaint park in the town of Clay.

The shores of Three River Point Park were lined with fisherman on a warm summer Saturday in mid-August.

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