I traveled up to Old Forge, New York to catch the last dry weekend day available to me a couple back. The colors were just past peak and the sky was overcast. I could not complain as the day was dry and warm for mid-October in the Adirondacks.

My wife and I decided to climb up to the summit of Bald Mountain. It is a mile trail (or 1.6km for my metric readers). The trail is fairly easy except in a couple of steep rocky areas. Good hiking shoes do make it easier on those areas. It is a good workout. The rewards being overlooks with beautiful views likes these.

Views from overlooks along the Bald Mountain Trail near Old Forge, New York.

The name Bald Mountain was easy to figure out. As we got closer to the top, the trail became more rock than soil. The summit, in fact, is mostly exposed rock with trees encroaching it from every side.

This White Pine (Pinus strobus) caught my eye.

White Pine tree on the summit of Bald Mountain near Old Forge, New York.
Nikon D750/28-300VR, f/16, ISO 1250, EV +0.3, 28mm Focal Length, Macphun Aurora HDR.

To  pull out the details and to punch up the autumn tree colors, I used a set of five photos from -2EV to +2EV and merged them into Macphun Aurora HDR plugin from Adobe Lightroom.

I had even more fun with a seven photo panoramic set taken on the summit of Bald Mountain which was merged using Lightroom’s panorama processing capabilities.

View from the summit of Bald Mountain near Old Forge, New York.

The original size of the panorama is 17,893 x 3,443 pixels or 596 x 12 inches. Yep, that is 49 x 1 FEET. Not very useful but still cool looking.

For those thinking getting to the summit of Bald Mountain was the end of the climb, they were mistaken. As the Rondaxe Fire Tower is found there. While it has not been used by rangers since 1990, people can still climb its narrow staircase to the lookout for a spectacular view.

Rondaxe Fire Tower at the summit of Bald Mountain near Old Forge, New York on Sunday, October 16, 2016.
Nikon D750/28/300VR,f/16, ISO 250, EV +0.3, 28mm Focal Length, Macphun Aurora HDR.

What, you were expecting a view FROM the top of the tower? Sorry, by this time the wind had picked up with a temperature drop. The clouds had become a little more threatening and we decided to head on down before the rain. Maybe next time. 🙂