travel and leisure – Lakeesha's odyssey

YES finally ‘WE DID IT’‼️

Standing 5,344 feet (1,629 metres) above sea level!

Mount Marcy is the highest of the High Peaks, and its impressive presence commands the view from the other 46 Adirondak’s wilderness peaks. We walked through Adirondack Loj parking station taking the most scenic and legendary route The Van Hoevenberg Trail to its cone-shaped summit.

All the struggles were worth taking. I would like to think about this journey as one of the kind which I was blessed to take than conquer. Seeking self-knowledge and appreciating mother nature than the victory alone.

It was a steep, strenuous climb with huge rocks, wet rocks, and slushy logs, especially the last mile over open rocks to the summit. I am thankful & grateful that we came back down safe without any major injuries & proud of my fellow hikers who had unstable ankles & were still able to make it through the whole 15 hour trek giving their 100%.

It was a feeling of being serene and content while we walked in the wilderness amongst the stepping stones, the bustling wind, the humming birds, our sun kissed skin, the struggle in steeling our mind through the 16 mile hike with a steep ascent & decent, and the extreme sense of burning muscles during our peak moments. Finally we overlooked the endless blue sky from the highest peak in New York and its classic wilderness to its depth & horizon. In the end, all in all it was 10% luck 30% pain 30% motivation 30% physical push & 100% reason to remember the name “MT.MARCY”.

_{Fire Island Lighthouse, Long Island}

Not far from now, I paid a visit to the tallest lighthouse in Long Island Babylon, NY which was a short drive from where I live. The location itself is exquisite as it stands more than 50 feet above its east end counterpart. Finding parking is not a big deal, but if you are travelling over the weekend it is a hassle. Parking is 200ft away from the lighthouse and the small walk is nothing shy of pleasant. Here you will be walking through the long beach grass over a ramp that paves the path for the lighthouse! Not only that, wildlife around the fire island surprises everyone, most commonly seen is the white-tailed deer that is found roaming around trails. As the website declares, other common wildlife includes red fox, cotton-tailed rabbit, a wide variety of birds, tiny masked shrew, monarch butterflies, whales, seals, and even dolphins.

This was a day trip during COVID -19 pandemic and the place was pretty empty without visitors, also the lighthouse tours and the gift shop were closed, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the landscape and the summer seashore, the Atlantic Ocean, and the wildlife. Keeper’s quarters built not with bricks, but of granite and hence adds to the charm of the location. There was a big anchor statue on the property that gives the whole location a holiday destination feeling.

This is a beautiful location and surely is underrated. I recommend this location to people of all ages to go and have family picnics, family outing, a good weekend date, and obviously a good spot to find your self from the busy life that New York gives you.

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine” ~Dwight L. Moody~