krnaturalphoto's Blog 
Paul Smith’s VIC
This portion of my trip was very different than the other parts of my trip. Most of my trip was about exploring and doing new things. Visiting Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center was not something new. I had been here on a previous trip to the Adirondacks and I loved it there. That is precisely why I came back.
After my tough hike up Cascade and Porter Mountains I knew I still wanted to hike at least one more high peak mountain and I wanted it to be a longer hike. I thought it would be best to take a day in between as a relative rest day. I wanted to have fun and enjoy myself but not completely wear myself out so I could not rest and relax and enjoy other aspects of my trip. When I explored the area nearby on my first day there I saw a sign for Paul Smiths which was kind of surprising. I didn’t realize Paul Smiths would be near where I was. So when I decided I wanted to have a more relaxed hike and be able to enjoy nature I didn’t want to try to figure out someplace else to go. I didn’t want to have to spend time looking at guide books anymore. It was obvious. Go back to Paul Smiths, you love it there.
Paul Smith’s did not disappoint. I hiked two different trails while I was there. There are several more left for me to explore on future visits. Some of the trails I hiked were ones I remembered from my previous visit; some of it was brand new to me. That is why you go back to a place you’ve been before, so you can see what you missed last time. Also last time I was here it was a different time of year so some of the vegetation was different as well.
You really get the full Adirondack view at Paul Smith’s VIC. You get to hike around large bodies of water. You get to see the mountains of in the distance. There are trails through various types of terrain from forests, to swamp like areas, to floating boardwalks across a body of water, to stream crossings. There is even a trail up a mountain, which I am saving for a future trip out to Paul Smith’s. You really can get everything you are looking for right here at this one nature center.
Paul Smith’s VIC is like the culmination of all possible the Adirondack experiences rolled into one. There isn’t much you can’t get at this one location. I watched dragonflies zoom across the water. I photographed butterflies glide on the wind and land on flowers. I looked to my right and saw nothing but forest. I looked to my left and saw nothing but forest. I watched a great blue heron land in a tree and then eventually dismount the tree to stalk some prey in the water. I heard a loon sing. I stared out into the vast panorama of sky and mountains and endless nature. This is what it is all about.
Then in other moments I was down on my hands and knees photographing the small flowers growing at the borders of the different merging ecosystems. I singled out individual flowers floating peacefully on the water with my 300mm lens. I watched birds flit from tree to tree, most of which would not cooperate with my photography.
I enjoy Paul Smith’s VIC so much that not only did I return to it on this trip, I went there a 2nd time during this trip. Wanting to spend 2 days of a 10 day trip at one location tells me that this is a special place.
I went back for a very specific reason. I wanted to try out something new. I wanted to try to capture some time laps footage of landscapes, specifically clouds. I wanted to capture footage of the clouds moving across the sky. This is the first time I have tried to capture this type of footage. Usually I sue time lapse photography to capture race footage, and I like that because while it captures movement it also allows me to easily select one single image I like in isolation. This is all about capture the slow motion of clouds across the sky and showing it in a faster pace. The footage came out with the look I hoped for but over a much shorter time frame than I expected. I wouldn’t call this a success, but it surely was a learning process and that is what makes life worth living. Get out there and do something new and learn from it.
If you enjoy the work I do here please join my other supporters on Patreon and support my work for as little as $1.00 a month. It goes a long way to helping me to do the work that I do. Support my work here: KRNaturalPhoto
nicely described, I loved the paragraph where you had described the dragonflies flying. I could imagine the nature totally. Truly amazing.