Watch the video on YouTube here…

As the boy scouts say, Be Prepared

In the Adirondack backcountry, preparing for the expected weather is great, until it's not. It’s easy to take our ‘pretty good most of the time’ weather forecasts for granted. But Adirondack weather can be volitile with thunderstorms, multiple inches of rain, and winds gusting to 30 miles per hour appearing out of nowhere. Those conditions have surprised me on recent trips but they are far from the worst weather you might encounter. Plan for the best, prepare for the worst. But keep in mind that the worst can lie way outside of the ‘normal’ weather that we take for granted. Have fun!

Billys Bald Spot

In the video I mention a place that I refer to as "Billys Bald Spot." That name is commonly associated with an overlook west of Big Moose Lake but My use of the name comes from William J. O'Hearn's book, Moose River Plains, Life Around the Indian Clearing. A photo of the author next to a small cliff is captioned, "The author snakes through a pass near Mitchell Ponds to reach Billys Bald Spot. The location affords a splendid view of the Red River basin."

Using Google Earth, I identified the only overlook that fits that description. But this is just a guess and I was not able to find any other uses of that name applied to an overlook near Mitchell Ponds. O'Hearn's use of the name (and mine) might be a confusion of names.

Error or not, O'Herns book is a wonderful collection of stories that he describes as an "informal history". Highly recommended.