Auger Falls Trail (East Side)

This morning my husband, Randy, and I decided to check out the alternate trail to Auger Falls. This trail starts on Rt 8 and goes west and north. I don't think we could have ordered a better day if we tried. The temp was perfect and the mosquitos were few. We didn't even put bug repellant on. The whole trail is a forest road, no steep parts at all and a very pleasant walk. We got to the gorge and followed the "informal" path downstream along the river. Randy tried a few places to take some pictures but we were very high up the side of the gorge and no place offered a good vantage point. At least not without hanging dangerously off the side. We scrambled back to our starting point and continued on the forest road for another .2 of a mile to McComber creek then turned around and went back to the car. The Guide Book talked about another falls, Griffin Falls. This is only about .1 mile from where we parked our car but it does entail a really steep scramble down into the gorge of the East Branch of the Sacandaga. We came out on the river and had to walk along the edge of the river upstream a little way then scramble over huge rock formations to see the falls. Very pretty. Worth the scramble I think. Going up and out of the gorge was not very tricky but I watched my footing pretty closely. A pretty good day over all with about 3 miles under our belts for the day.

Square Falls Hike

Randy and I met up with my hiking friend Gail and a few of her hiking club on Sunday the 13th for a short hike to Square Falls. It's on the east branch of the Sacandaga River in a cool gorge. The hike in, on the north side of the river was a scramble over blow downs, overgrown path and along a very, very narrow path on the side of the gorge. Even tho we were next to (and above) the river, there was no time for site seeing cause you had to watch every step. Even so, we all got to the falls intact. It's a nice little falls, not very high, maybe 5 or 6 feet but the width of the river. It has several places where the water runs over the edge. There is also a nice little pool at the bottom for swimming. Even tho it was kinda cool on Sunday and the water was cold, 2 of the women went ahead and got in the water. We hiked out on the south side of the river. Even tho the guidebook only mentions the north side trail, it was obvious most hikers use the south side of the river. Quite a bit steeper in places but no blowdowns and the path wasn't overgrown. Time at the falls, about 45 min; 2 hours of hiking.

Whitehouse to Piseco Section Hike

I've been wanting to hike this section of the Northville - Lake Placid trail for a month but the heavy rains and flooding we had at the beginning of July had washed out the road to the trailhead at Whitehouse. On Aug 3rd, reports were received that a replacement bridge had been installed at Jimmy Creek. So, I decided last night that I'd have my husband help me spot a car at the far end of the trail at Piseco and have him drive me as far into Whitehouse as the Jeep could go. Well, the bridge was in and we continued on the road. It was rough in places but no problems till we got about a mile from the trailhead. About 20 feet of road had been washed away. The road crew had put in a 4 foot diameter culvert but had not finished filling it in. So, I got my poles and pack out of the jeep and headed off for the trailhead. There were 2 other places in the road that need to be repaired before automobiles can pass. I signed in at the Whitehouse trailhead and headed north toward Piseco. The 1st 2 miles of the trail are a dream. It felt like walking in a park. I stopped at the suspension bridge over Hamilton Lake stream and had lunch. I also took care of a blister. It was the 1st blister I've had while hiking. Anyway, that was a beautiful location and I pushed on after a short break. The rest of the hike was uneventful. I started the hike at 10:15am and finished at my car at 2:09pm. Pretty good time given a blister on my left foot and continuing trouble with my right heel. Yep, it still hurts. So now I've completed another section of the trail, I need to decide if I can tough out my heel pain and do the rest of the trail as a thru hike.