man & nature # 285-88 ~ another Saturday, November 14th triptych

Remnants of old NYS Rt. 28 ~ near McKever, NY • click to embiggen
Remnants of old NYS Rt. 28 ~ near McKever, NY • click to embiggenDuring the autumn after the leaves are on the ground, remnants of the old NYS Rt. 28 become visible in places along the new Rt. 28. The new Rt. 28 isn't all that "new" - the old Rt. 28 was replaced by the new road in the 70s.

In most places the old Rt. 26 is well along the road to reverting back to nature but in other places it is still in use, albeit in a dirt road reincarnation. That's because the old road goes to places that the new one doesn't. In a very few instances and in very short stretches, the old road is still maintained as a paved road in order to service some permanent residences that were previously on the "main" (old Rt.28) highway.

In seasons when most autumn glimpses of the road are obscured by leaves or snow, one can still signs of the road in the ever-present remnants of the old telephone / electric poles that are still standing along the old route as evidenced in the above picture. In that picture you can notice both the really old poles on the left side of the road and their "newer" replacements on the right. Both are long out of use.

The old Rt. 28 was the road that I traveled on in the back seat of my parent's car on our way to our annual Adirondack summer vacation. As I travel the new Rt. 28 - which is often as it a big part the one and only highway that traverses the Adirondacks - the occasional glimpses of the old Rt. 28 that are on view during any season, always trigger a flood of memories of time spent on the old Rt. 28.