Holmes Lake Loop Hike

I hooked up on Saturday with a group out of the Schenectady Chapter of the ADK. Nine of us showed up on a cold morning. It was still very windy and there was snow falling on and off all day. We did the hike following the snow machine trails off of the Benson Rd via the Irving Pond road. Irving Pond is only a short distance in, probably only a mile. Then we hiked on to Bellows Lake. We stopped there for a short snack and equipment adjustment. One of the hikers, Audrey, was just getting into hiking. Another couple had finished the Northville - Lake Placid trail this summer. There was lots of conversation on technique, equipment, etc. the whole day. After a 15 minute break, we moved on to Little Holmes lake. We stopped there about 1145 and had lunch. The hike leader, Walt, brought along a piece of equipment called a Boffie. Essentially it's a lightweight shelter with no door. It is box shaped, open on the bottom with no floor. Its use is to shelter an injury victim with 2 - 4 others and the boffie will trap body heat, protecting the injured until someone can bring help back. Probably good as an emergency shelter too. It was pretty large, 5 of us got under it and it did cut the wind and if we had stayed under longer, probably warmed up a little too. Pretty cool. After lunch, we moved on to Holmes lake. Some hunter or fisheman had built a brush leanto near the shore. They did a pretty good job too. Finally, we hiked out past the ruins of the chair rung factory and out onto the Benson Road again just a couple of miles east of where we had hiked in. Even with the cold wind and light snow, or maybe because of it, I had a great time. This trail is pretty easy even tho there are lots of muddy spots.