Curse Words.

I was awoken by footsteps brushing sand from the ground, shuffling directly up to our campsite. 

"These are for you," said the little girl placing two apples on the picnic table. 

"Aww, thank you!" I said, whirring myself awake and turning to her, probably looking terrifying.

We had met the small lady and her mother the evening before as we finished dinner. They were on a short evening hike through the local wilderness. They stumbled upon us at peak food coma status but we enjoyed a short and sweet conversation. The little girl was from Syracuse, NY and played Wing for her lacrosse team. The mother, obviously proud, gushed about their ventures into Canada for her team's games. The two of them made a pretty swell team themselves.

Six miles out of the campground, and back in the town of Long Lake, it was obvious that we were out of it. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was mental, maybe it was Josh tripping a total four times before we finished our morning ice cream. It was hot. 

We decided on a short day with a 4 o'clock USA Fifa soccer game and a hotel. Yeah... fuck it. Onward to Blue Mountain.

More importantly, it meant a solid part of the day spent in the Adirondack Museum in the town of Blue Mountain. This was the experience I've been waiting for. I got a total history of the largest park in the entire United States. Larger than the states of both Vermont and Massachusetts.

In the four hours that Josh and I spent there, we learned all about the reserve. It's difficult to encapsulate all the information I learned but here's a bland summary:

1. The number one business in Adirondack Park is tourism, followed by timber.

2. The history of logging and timber in general is absolutely fascinating.

3. 20,000,000 years ago, a dome-like structure opened up on the face of the earth. The dome exploded like a pimple from all the rock capped within. The "eruption" is the mountains of the Adirondack.

4. For the past few days, I've been passing massive amounts of trees that I was completely ignorant to. I've finally learned the difference between the White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Red Spruce, Red Pine, Yellow Birch, American Beech, and the Sugar Maple. 

Boo-yah.

Anyway, we ate pizza, drank beer, watched the USA lose, and met the owner named Lenny. 

5am wake-up tomorrow.