Au Sable

The Ausable River , looking upstream

We were in the Adirondacks on Friday, near Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid, where we met up with three dear people, two of whom are longtime blogger friends.

Many glorious leaves were peeped at.

Many wooly fibers were petted at the local yarn shop.

Many bottles of excellent Montreal-made and home-brewed stout were drunk.

We had a very good time. Many photos were also taken, but by my husband -- somehow, I actually forgot my camera! So these camera-phone photos of the Ausable River will have to suffice for the moment. French-speaking friends, would you translate that as River of Sand? Is the river on the sand, or of the sand, or just sandy? There are, I think, old dunes in the area, but all the sections of river I've ever seen are full of boulders!

Looking downstream

When I was growing up in New York State, we pronounced the word Aw-SAY-bull, rather than au-SAHBl, and Ausable Chasm was more famous than the river itself. I've never seen it. The Wikipedia says that this gorge "has a continuous exposure of a section of the Potsdam Sandstone more than 160 metres (520 ft) thick, which includes, in an unpublished location, a rare, mid-cambrian jellyfish fossil."

Now that is something I'd dearly love to see, and to search for on a subsequent trip...maybe with these same intrepid friends!