Go take a hike.
And if at all possible take it in Stone Valley. Start at Colton, NY. and follow the trail along the Raquette River. At the northern end of the trail the Raquette River drops more than 200 feet in a series of waterfalls in less than a mile. Along this section of trail you’ll also hike along the ruins of a tannery and see the old stone wall foundation.

Fresh snow fell last night and blue skies prevailed today and the river was in it’s winter finest. I’m not much for words so I’ll let my photos describe the river as it tumbles down the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.

Bridge on Spring Street, Colton, NY.
Over to the right and out of sight is the parking area at the northern trail head.

Looking upriver at the Colton hydroelectric dam.

Looking down river from the same spot.

Looking back toward the dam from a little further downstream.

Boulder turned Snowball

The river disappears as it dives under the ice.
This was only a stones throw down from the snow boulder. At this point I had to return to the path to work my way downstream.

Tannery Ruins
Here I’ve gone off the beaten path on my way to a ledge overlooking the river. From this perspective it’s much easier to see the old stonework than from the trail.

On the ledge brush and trees obstructed the camera’s view so I scrambled down to to the river.

Rocks in the shallow water became snowy pillows.
Here the river leveled out for a short distance where I followed the shoreline towards the next drop.

Waterfalls turned to icy cascades.
Looking down from a cliff made getting a good pic a little risky. I got as close to the edge as I dared. Here the river rushes through a narrow sluice that would make anyone looking down at it nervous. This is one of those spots on the Raquette that makes your legs shake in direct proportion to your proximity of the cliff’s edge.

I linked this image to a larger size. In it’s reduced state the details are hard to see.

Icy Waterfall
Another icy cascade from a level position way down river. Thank goodness for the zoom lens because there was no way to get any closer.

This is the photo I made desktop wallpaper for myself. Help yourself if you want to use it too. The large image is 1024 x 768

This is about a mile from the northern trail head with another 2 miles to the southern end at Brown’s Bridge. Unfortunately at this point I had run out of time and had to turn around and head home.

I’ll resize any of these photos on request. Let me know what size and I’ll post a link on my response to your comment.