The Bolton Central School Outing Club started the school year off by spending the weekend camping at Heart Lake Campground near Lake Placid. The students enjoyed camping in Adirondack lean-tos and roasting marshmallows by the campfire. Students helped with both cooking and cleaning up. On Friday night, dinner included pasta and meatballs, and on Saturday, the group shared pasta salad and hotdogs over the fire! On Saturday, all students hiked into Marcy Dam and experienced the truly awesome views of several of the High Peaks including the slides of Mount Colden. The dam washed out in 2011 due to Hurricane Irene, but it is still an inspiring place to visit and is along the well traveled route into the High Peaks. After the Marcy Dam hike, several students decided to make the short hike up Mount Jo that offers more views of the High Peaks including Marcy, Colden, Algonquin, and Wright, and a different perspective of Heart Lake down below. Mount Jo was named by Henry Van Hovenberg in 1877 for his fiancee Josephine Schofield who died shortly before they were to be married and the heart of Heart Lake. Van Hovenberg built the original Adirondack Loj for “Jo”, near the beach at the campground, and a nearby mountain and the Olympic Bobsled Complex are also named after him. Students who did not hike Mount Jo played games of badminton and football near the lean-tos. The groups met up again and some went for a dip in Heart Lake where students carefully caught and released 21 red eft salamanders! Our travelers were fortunate to enjoy truly spectacular weather and several students reported that they walked between 8-12 miles according to their smart watches. It was a wonderful weekend being together and enjoying nature!