Friday was freakishly hot and when we left the NY Thruway in Utica, the outside temperature was 90. As we drove north and east, the temperature steadily dropped and by the time we arrived at the Old Forge Camping Resort, it was already down to 80. We unloaded, set up camp and soon joined Mike, Kelly and Ryan at their site. We were unable to stay in adjoining sites; they have a pop-up camper and were therefore at an RV site, whereas we were in a lowly tenting site, the "steerage" of the campground.
Go ahead and snicker at the concept of a camping "resort" - I know I did, and still do a bit. But, honestly, the Old Forge Camping Resort is easily the nicest campground we have ever visited. There is a store, activities pavilion, small lake with paddle boats, and, in addition to the tenting and TV sites, both cabins and cottages to rent. The bathhouses are convenient and very clean, and we enjoyed strong, hot showers both mornings.
Friday night was very windy; James said the next morning that he thought we would wake up in another state! But the weather on Saturday was quite pleasant with overcast skies, only occasional drizzles and temps in the high 50s-low 60s. After a hearty breakfast, we drove over to Bald Mountain to hike:
It is a one mile hike to the top, with an astounding view of the Fulton chain of lakes to enjoy. Aidan and Ryan enjoyed climbing on rocks and scampering around:
Other than having to keep a careful and constant eye on the boys and maneuvering around the numerous other hikers, it was a lovely walk and the view at the top was gorgeous:
Everyone but me climbed to the top of the fire tower. I know my limitations and have nothing to prove to anyone, and no one wants to witness a panic attack while hiking. Kelly brought a bottle of wine and glasses, so we adults sipped some fruit of the grape before heading back down. We drove back into Old Forge, ate our picnic lunch and then visited Old Forge Hardware, a must visit if you ever go to Old Forge. If you need it, they probably have it; if they don't have it, you probably don't need it.
After a nice stroll around Moss Lake, we went back to the campground. The sunlight lit up the tops of the trees, although it is hard to see how pretty it was from the photo:
Kelly cooked a delicious dinner of pulled pork, beans, salt potatoes and apple cake. We had a quiet evening around the campfire until the boys started nodding off. There was karaoke at the main pavilion so we were serenaded as we settled down for the night. As the night progressed, the singing got worse and worse to the point where it was just plain funny. But when it started to rain and rain HARD, the music wrapped up quickly.
It was soggy the next morning as we packed up, but we managed to get everything back in the car. We stopped off in Old Forge for James and Aidan to do some fishing (and for me to knit) but really all that was biting their lines was weeds:
We returned home around 3 pm tired and smelling of camp. We had a fun time but I have done my share of camping for a bit.
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