The water was cool, not cold. A murky brown in the middle of the river and clearer on the sides. Surrounded by the edge of a gorge with cliffs on the water. Tall cliffs and short cliffs, boulders and pebbles surrounding them. The small waterfall was strong and created a tough current. Rocks, huge rocks, under the water were slippery, but possible to stand on;If you could withstand the monstrous current from the waterfall and flowing river. You didn't have to swim. It just pulled you to the shore whether you liked it or not. It smelled like pine and tree bark, It was remote. With out our coach growing up there we wouldn't even know it existed. There were many cliffs to jump off of, and when you hit the water the current had already started to pull you. It pulled you from the second your feet touched below the surface. There were a few fish near the rocks, scrambling around out of fear of all the unknown creatures in the water. Fighting against the current to dodge all of the people. The cliffs gave you reason to jump. They wouldn’t be there if no one was going to do anything with them. That's how I saw it. It seemed as if they were in some sort of order. There were small ones on one side and on the other they ascended larger. The largest one was next to the waterfall, it was about thirty feet high off the water, and it had a tree protruding from the side. Unfortunately, the tall pine tree reached just under the complete height of the cliff and stuck out in the front. In other words, if you wanted to jump, besides the risks of smacking on the water, you also had to clear a pine tree.

Few people were there when we arrived. We as in our lacrosse team, up north for a tournament. It was in Lake Placid New York. A small peaceful town now, but once it was an Olympics host. Probably crowded if not overrun with people, spectators. Now just a small town surrounded by beautiful forests, rivers, lakes, and mountains. It is hard to believe something so big can become so small and undiscovered. It is also hard for me to believe you can find real, not man-made or disturbed, nature outside of a national park. I’m talking about the real deal, hike to get there and see no civilization around for nearly one or more miles in every direction type of nature. Undiscovered and virtually untouched soil and waters. It almost feels as if its yours, your own small paradise. Our coach had found out about this small paradise from one of his relatives and had kept it secret to only himself, childhood friends, and now us. We were a team of around twenty. We were aged from thirteen to almost sixteen. Being on the younger side of this range was a real experience. I was trying to blend with the others who new how to act in the face of such beautiful natures.

Walking along through the forest on a slightly used trail, trying to find the spot where you could jump into the water was interesting. It was interesting and muddy. Muddy and on either side of you plants were growing on the trail. Plants like poison ivy and bushes huddled around trees. Mostly pine trees as far as I could tell. It was a sunny day, almost no clouds in the sky whatsoever. It was warm under the sun and cool under the shade of the trees. You could hear the birds chirping high in the pines, and the faint tumble of the waterfall in the distance. The serenity of this unknown, unnamed kingdom of nature on the outskirts of Lake Placid was amazing. Lake Placid is one of the last places in the U.S. with undisturbed, undiscovered nature scenes scattered through its city limits.

Seriously, you could walk across the street from our hotel and find a lake or go out back one-hundred yards and be in another dense forest. Or perhaps you are in your car driving around the city. You can look to the left and see a river bordered by a mountain with trees and stony cliffs, or you look to the right and see a lake perfect for sailing bordered by a small beach and another part of the forest.
Placid brought great memories but best of all the reassured me that there is still nature in our modern world.