The good weather earlier in the week made for a nice day of social distancing at Streeter Lake in Aldrich (Fine NY). Though Streeter Lake is a common destination for me, this was my first trek there via the Tamarack Creek Trail. The trailhead starts from the Youngs Road in Star Lake NY.

Getting ready to do some spring cleaning outdoors and found a Spring Peeper in on the handle of the rake!

Found a large amount of Lithobates sylvaticus (wood frog) eggs in vernal pools today. Most bunches were attached to sticks and leaves as usual, and the mating frogs could be heard close by in three other locations near by. Very excited to see the eggs hatch and watch the tadpoles.

Walking along the Kip Trail on St. Lawrence property, passing one of the little ponds, spotted a northern leopard frog in the leaves.

There's four porcupine dens in this area...a small depression in the side of the hill. I used to walk around this area in the 1970's. Seemed like a good thing to take my father up as we practice hiking locally during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sixty degrees and wet on a March afternoon. The spring peepers we in full chorus in the woods behind the SLU golf course

First crocuses open in my yard today!  A welcome sight. Snowdrops, too but I think they have been blossoming for a few days now. 

This report details a new climb up a route that I've been chasing for 5 years; thin ice, overhanging smears, a brittle curtain...all parts of our 18.5 hour first ascent up Passion and Warfare in Mt. Marcy's Great Chimney.
https://www.summitpost.org/passion-and-warfare-wi5-m5/1049621

We did a quick hike around the John Brown Farm with the setting sun. The Macintyre range and Whiteface were aglow with the last sunlight of the day. This is a great place to snowshoe or hike, but winter is my favorite.

Cobble Hill is in downtown Lake Placid. It's a nice easy hike with some nice views of the Macintyre range and the Olympic ski-jumps. The shorter direct route was a bit icier than we were comfortable with, so we backtracked and took the longer Echo Pond route.