Skirting the escarpment
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I searched for World's End yesterday. Much to my chagrin, I couldn't find it. It's supposed to be somewheres off Karack Road in the small, rural Albany County town of Knox, but I'll be damned if I could find that bunny trail.
I was on a mission of the Star Trek V-caliber, to reach Shangri-La...which to me, happened to be a vista that allows for a clear view straight into Mass and VT and up to the 'Dacks. Ya know, not all treasure is silver and gold!
But in the wise words of Aerosmith (I heard it from them first), life's a journey, not a destination. My destinationless journey did not leave me disappointed. It exposed me to the quirky formations of the Helderberg Escarpment: several miles of thousand-foot-high cliffs James Fenimore Cooper romanticized and the Mohican tribes called home.
Chingachgook's homeboys traded beaver and otter fur to the Dutch on that very escarpment back in the late 1600s-early 1700s. The Dutch, forgive them their odd sense of fashion, subsequently settled the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area in the Great State of New Netherland.
In the 1750's there was death and destruction during the French and Indian War. Mohawks and Hurons, among others all got caught in the middle by aiding and abetting both sides. (Enter Daniel Day Lewis.)
Legend has it that there are caves hidden in the escarpment where Native Americans hid out and did their thing...sadly, when they were found, they were hung, for one reason or another...
Well, that got me crawling into the first dark opening in the cliff face along the Indian Ladder Trail. I borrowed a friend's head-light and sallied forth into the great black unknown of a two-by-five foot cave. Long story short, I didn't find anything but a creepy pathway that got smaller and smaller with every pace.
And because I didn't fancy a claustrophobia-induced anxiety attack or bats-to-the-eyes...well, anyone would have done as much!
Alas, I ended my trek through the historical wilderness with a bomb pop and a hot dog from the park refreshment stand. Thought I'd cap it off with the most patriotic thing I could find to eat.
I was on a mission of the Star Trek V-caliber, to reach Shangri-La...which to me, happened to be a vista that allows for a clear view straight into Mass and VT and up to the 'Dacks. Ya know, not all treasure is silver and gold!
But in the wise words of Aerosmith (I heard it from them first), life's a journey, not a destination. My destinationless journey did not leave me disappointed. It exposed me to the quirky formations of the Helderberg Escarpment: several miles of thousand-foot-high cliffs James Fenimore Cooper romanticized and the Mohican tribes called home.
Chingachgook's homeboys traded beaver and otter fur to the Dutch on that very escarpment back in the late 1600s-early 1700s. The Dutch, forgive them their odd sense of fashion, subsequently settled the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area in the Great State of New Netherland.
In the 1750's there was death and destruction during the French and Indian War. Mohawks and Hurons, among others all got caught in the middle by aiding and abetting both sides. (Enter Daniel Day Lewis.)
Legend has it that there are caves hidden in the escarpment where Native Americans hid out and did their thing...sadly, when they were found, they were hung, for one reason or another...
Well, that got me crawling into the first dark opening in the cliff face along the Indian Ladder Trail. I borrowed a friend's head-light and sallied forth into the great black unknown of a two-by-five foot cave. Long story short, I didn't find anything but a creepy pathway that got smaller and smaller with every pace.
And because I didn't fancy a claustrophobia-induced anxiety attack or bats-to-the-eyes...well, anyone would have done as much!
Alas, I ended my trek through the historical wilderness with a bomb pop and a hot dog from the park refreshment stand. Thought I'd cap it off with the most patriotic thing I could find to eat.
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