Black Bear Mountain and Ferds Bog

Yesterday afternoon I left Tupper Lake (at my boyfriends cabin) and hesitantly began my journey over to Raquette Lake for the Adirondack Classroom Class. Now, I say "hesitantly" because you never know who or what you are going to have to live with for a week, I was also sad to leave my home away from home in Tupper and my friends. So I arrived feeling sad and skeptical...

Since last night and today I have met great people. People with tons of enthusiasm, dreams, knowledge, humor and kindness. We have had a lot of fun so far. I don't even mind doing kitchen duty first because it makes me feel at home working at the restaurant (which the cook here is amazing to us).

Today we hiked on Ferds Bog and then Black Bear Mountain and Summit point. The scenery was to die for. Ferds Bog was just like any other bog...well...I don't think the other bogs that I've been to had a tall, chiseled featured man named ERIC frolicking through it BUT none the less it had its mushy, mossy floating bed with cylinder shaped pitcher plants and small cactus looking sundews.

After scoping out the wildlife in the bog habitat we moved on to Bear Mountain. The hike was not very strenuous; it was enough to get the blood pumping. The air smelled like pine trees and fresh mud and you could hear the leaves rattling in the wind, matching the rhythm of the rushing water from the stream farther out from the trail. Everyone was in their own world at this point trying to be the first to the top! When I reached the peak and looked across the vast rolling hills and towering peaks, I felt that jolt in my heart, that warmth that envelopes you from the inside-out. Yes, there was definitely something higher than me...something bigger out there than all of us that created this land, that made it possible for me to see this view.

After admiring the scenery a bit longer and capturing the moment on my film I sat down in the sun on a slanted part of the rocky mountain side and enjoyed my lunch. As the warm breeze brushed my face and the warmth from the sun tingled my skin I layed back and took my first Adirondack Mountain nap.

Our first exploration out together was awesome and I think we all learned a little bit about eachother. Our motivation, personalities, enthusiasm and just life in general. I think we all learned more than enough from our guide as well...who was astonishingly smarter than probably all of us put together. He had answers for everything.

Cheers to good fun and playing smart :)

Jenny