'Driven' to Argyle

     "Whoa!"

     "That rut was deep enough to swallow a dump truck!"

     I was driving a dump truck down Saunders Road in Argyle and having second thoughts about it. A lovely dirt road for most of the year, it turns into a nightmare during mud season. Obviously, mud season had arrived.

     I have Drive and myself to blame. This is going to take some explanation so let's get to it. Drive is a 2011 movie starring Ryan Gosling. For some inexplicable reason I'ld gotten the notion that I should watch it. Checking DVD availability, I found that the Argyle Library had a copy. This aligned perfectly with my plan to visit all the libraries in Washington County so off I went.

   

     Which would have been fine but for the fact that I never go in a straight line to a destination. I like to turn even the most mundane errand run into a mini exploration adventure. Now be aware that there are good roads (Rts. 40 and 197) that will get you to Argyle. Those are what I'ld recommend. But there is also a maze of glorified cow paths (called town roads) that you can use. These I would also recommend. Except in mud season.

     Since I don't always follow my own advice, I'll share a few sights from my recent mud season trip on the backroads of Argyle. We'll start with a spot on Duer/East Road that's in the Town of Fort Edward, just shy of the Argyle line. Mike Huggins pointed out this location to me years ago and whenever I'm in the area I like to stop and contemplate the geologic processes at work here. The road runs several miles level on the clay bed of former Glacial Lake Albany. It's rather unremarkable. But if you stop a little to the east of the Anthony Road intersection you're at what may become a future crime scene. Believe it or not there could be an act of piracy at this very spot. 

On this map the Moses Kill is to the top and Slocum Creek to the bottom

The two watersheds are kissing each other at the road

     As in 'stream piracy'. That's when one stream headwater erodes until it intersects another stream and, if the gradients are right, captures the flow of that second stream. Quite the swashbuckling event except that, like most things geologic, it happens over very long periods of time. If you look closely here you will see wooded gullies opposing each other on both sides of the road. The one on the south side of the road leads to a branch of Slocum Creek while the north side gully drops down to the Moses Kill. If these two ravines were to connect and continue to deepen thru erosion there could eventually be a channel for the flow of the Moses Kill to be diverted into Slocum Creek. Stream captured! Of course, the two gullies are up against the formidable forces of the Town Highway Department at the moment. But in the near future, when we're no longer around, watch out for a blatant act of piracy right here.

A Google Earth image with Duer/East Road running horizontal

O'Brien Road and Anthony Road are to the left

The two gullies are where woods are on both sides of the road in image center

          

At the stream piracy site looking east to the Taconic front range hills

     I took a minute to admire the view of the Taconic front range of hills before heading east to a left on Lick Springs Road. For several miles this road parallels the thrust fault that brought the hills here. Eventually I turned right on Harper Road which, along with Coon Road, wiggles thru the hills towards Rt. 40. Stopped where a small stream flows toward the road on the north side and then abruptly plunges into a gorge on the south side. Scenic any time of year but now completely encased in ice and snow but for a couple of small windows of rushing water.

The photo doesn't do it justice but it's a long way down to the bottom of these falls

     Past a cluster of spiky spruces that made me wonder...a natural swamp or an abandoned plantation?...before crossing Rt. 40 and eastward to North Greenwich where I found myself on the afore mentioned rut-aholic Saunders Road. My reason for stopping here was to see the future site of the Ag Stewardship Associations Argyle Community Forest. I think it's around 80 acres of forested hill with a small stream on the east side of the road. Not open to the public yet but will be a fun place to explore in the future. Complements their Cambridge Community Forest but in a more remote area where the ATV and snowmobile are the preferred forms of recreation. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out...

The future Argyle Community Forest will be between

Saunders and McClay Roads on this topo map

 

Saunders Road

The ASA property is not yet open to the public

An old stone wall leads into the future Argyle Community Forest

 

     Having survived Saunders Road I moved on to a loop around Summit Lake. The pavilion and beach here was the scene of so many good times when I was a kid. Now, I can't even tell where the long gone structure was located. Did enjoy a conversation with a guy heading out onto the ice to do some fishing. There's no good public access so people just use places where the road hugs the shoreline. Maybe I'll try putting a canoe in later this spring. Do a little paddling tour for old times sake. 

Google Earth view of Summit Lake

Ice fishermen were accessing at the upper left corner

 
     Finally it was library time. Argyle's is located in a small house near the fire station. There is everything you'd expect: stacks, a reading table, computers and a children's room all downsized to fit the available space. They have a shelf of Argyle focused books and an impressive display of locally found arrowheads. Thru loans, town patrons have access to the larger resources of the Southern Adirondack Library System. It's a cozy place and a favorite after school hangout for kids.

  

Shelves of local history

The view from a reading table

SCREEN TIME...

     Was Drive worth the drive? All I knew about Ryan Gosling was that he had played Ken (Barbie's squeeze) in last summer's blockbuster. He's no 'Ken' in this movie. His character doesn't even have a name. He's an enigmatic loner with a soft side that intwines him with a woman, her son and eventually, the mob. The music, visuals and criminal violence reminded me of the TV show Miami Vice on steroids. There is definitely a pulsating 'drive' to the film but it's not for everyone.

Ryan Gosling ready to Drive

   

     Chalk it up to the power of association but while at the library I couldn't resist picking up a couple of other titles. Drive My Car is a Japanese film from 2021. There's actually more driving here than in Drive but it's at a very slow pace and serves as the stage for deep conversation as the characters struggle with how to go on living when you've been drained of the will to live. Not as morbid as it sounds, a long thoughtful story that is actually quite uplifting.

     A rich, white Jewish woman and a poor, uneducated Black man become best friends in the pre-civil rights South. Probably happened all the time, right? Well, it did happen at least once in 1989's Driving Miss Daisy which won the best picture Oscar that year. Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy give memorable performances in this feel good story. Maybe a little too saccharine but there are worst ways to spend a couple hours.