ku # 1095 ~ a midnight run

Blue Mountain Lake ~ in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenOur recent trip to Pittsburgh began with a foggy in-the-dead-of-night drive through the Adirondack PARK. Mid way through the PARK, I came upon the above scene at Blue Mountain Lake where the pre-dawn morning light was just peeking through the fog and mist.

The beauty and mystery of the scene was tempered by the fact that approximately 30 miles previously, while driving on a 25 mile stretch of extremely dark, totally traffic free, surrounded by wilderness forest 2-lane road, we came upon a very eerie sight - a nasty single car accident.

It was made eerie by the fact that I could see the a trooper's flashing lights from a fair distance away - a somewhat strange sight in the vast darkness of the remote and isolated scene - leading me to think I was coming upon a routine traffic stop for speeding or some such infraction. It wasn't until I was right upon the accident that it became apparent this was nothing "routine".

The car was on the roadway resting on its partially crushed roof. All of glass was blown out, glass all over the road, and the trunk lid and hood wide open (that would be the boot and bonnet for the British in the audience). The front, rear and driver side of the car were quite damaged - it appeared to have rolled more than once. There did not appear to be anyone in the car or on the road. Whether someone (or more) was thrown from the vehicle and into the woods was not obvious.

It also appeared a state trooper had just arrived on the scene - he was sitting in his vehicle - although it's possible that an ambulance had come and gone and he was waiting for tow truck and cleanup crew to arrive.

In any event, it was all a bit unsettling and the scene stuck with me for quite a while on that AM.