Wavy and windy roads embalmed with fresh pine air welcomed us to our next destination in Adirondacks.   The Adirondack Park region covers around 6.1 million acres of land, which hosts mountain ranges covered by green unending forests and thousands of hiking trails. Wildlife like black bear, wild turkey, deer, coyotes, beavers, and many more, roam freely and admired by nature enthusiasts. 

  Numerous bodies of water, rivers and lakes, enrich the area offering views of serenity and peace, and also diverse species of fish.  Small mouth bass, perch, lake trout, striped bass, and salmon are among the most preferred species for those who love fishing.  

It was a perfect spot for us to stop, recharge and inhale some of that fresh and healthy pine air.  We booked an Airbnb, a small house in Croghan, NY, with tall pine trees, birds, and deer being the only neighbors around.  It was so quiet, it felt uncanny.  Traveling from a busy city like Chicago to this destination was a complete change of scenery.  The transition from the infinite city views of concrete blocks and city buzz to pine trees, wildlife, absolute screaming silence — an extreme and that was well desired.  We were happy, we were thrilled to be spending one week in one of the biggest park in the country,  the Adirondack. So much to see and to explore.  

Not too far from our little hidden cabin, there was a dam where we tried fishing and caught a small mouth bass. For the first time I understood the excitement of fishermen when I felt a hard pull from my rod and a fish attached to it.  It took almost an entire day, whole can of warms and a load of patience, to catch that small mouth bass.

Our next adventure was hiking throughout the park.  Jeremy found Beach Mill Pound trail, a five mile hike trough wild ferns and forest.  Our hike ended up at the Independence River, where we found a camping site with a camp fire set up and a pan hanging out from a tree.  Someone else enjoyed this rapid river before us and left the pan for someone else.  We did not see a single soul on that hike and often I thought about seeing a black bear but, according to locals, that is rare to encounter.   

After a few days, we tried another trail, wild and beautiful in Wanakena, Adirondack Park, leading to the Cat Mountain.  The trail was ten miles long, there and back, with with streams serpentines cutting our ways, covered with logs, opening the path to cross and continue to view glass lakes reflecting sharp and tall pine trees and the rich blue sky.  Huge spider webs, careful crafted with little glistening beads of dew, were hanging from the trees in the early morning.  Gleaming light dispersed throughout the forest, the branches breaking it and casting it on the forest ground, covered by ferns and pine needles. The entire forest exhaled pine perfumed air that soothed our nostrils, inviting us to take deep breaths of it to fill every single cell in our body to refresh it and rejuvenate.  

The one thing that was annoying on the trail were the black flies that wouldn’t go away, even with bug spray. They roamed around our heads like an undesired crown throughout the entire trail.  Luckily, we brought our rain coats and covered our heads which made it bearable to hike.  Once we made it to the top of the Cat Mountain, the wind picked up, chasing all the flies away.   The food we brought with us taste it so much better up in the mountain and the naps we took took there felt that we were transported to another dimension.  

The view offered us was infinite hills covered by green forest and still bodies of water.  The water was so clear that we could see the bottom of the lakes where rocks and fallen tree logs were slowly decaying.  The sky was deep blue with cotton clouds running slowly by.  We laid there for more than an hour to make sure we can embrace all the Adirondack beauty in, to last forever in our memories.