Try Number 3 of the NPT

May 29th, 2007
It's the big day! I have my pack ready and put it on the bathroom scale. Hooray, only 35 pounds with 5 days food and 3 liters of water too! Randy is driving me up to the drop off point, Wakely Dam and we leave about 0730. We get to the Dam about 0915 and after a stop in the "facility", Randy takes a couple of pics and off I go at about 0930. The route from Wakely Dam to Lake Durant is 12.5 miles with 6.6 of it a walk along the road (Cedar River road). Of course I'm moving right along at a good clip. At 1130 I stop and sit on a boulder at the end of someone's driveway and eat the sandwich I brought. A lady in a red station wagon stops and asks if I've seed a dog. She lost it 2 days ago and thru the grapevine heard it was in this area. I told her I hadn't seen a dog but I'd keep an eye out for it. She offered a ride but I told her what I was doing and she wished me luck and drove on. I finish my sandwich and head for McCanes where the trail turns into the woods. I get to McCanes about 1215 and head into the woods. As soon as I get in there the black flies strike. I put on my head net and spray my arms with repellant. Happy day, no bugs in my eyes, ears, nose or mouth. This net is worth every penny. I'm hoping to stop at Stephen's Pond for an afternoon rest and snack but miss the turn off. I don't realize it tho till I get to the trail intersection and see that the Pond is .6 mile behind me. Oh well. The sign says 2.5 miles to Lake Durant. I make the right turn and a little way down the trail find a suitable log and take off my pack and have a snack. My right calf is bothering me a little but since the trail has been relatively smooth and level, I can't imagine what the problem is. I've been going at quite a good clip, perhaps I'm going too fast and have strained something? Anyway, I pack up and head for the campsite, trying to go a little slower and give the leg a break. I get to Lake Durant campsite at 1515, now limping. I go to the ranger check in gate and a sign is posted that they'll be back at 1600, pick a campsite and come back then. So, I go down to campsite 4, the place Randy, Elizabeth and I camped in 2004. It is a lakeside site and down the bank to the lake are some handy rocks for sitting on and putting your feet in the water, which I did. That made my feet very happy. Near 1600 I put my socks and boots back on and take a couple photos of a white trillium and of the lake. I leave my pack at the site and hobble down to the ranger station. I pay my site fee and promise not to feed the animals. I take a minute at the gate to use the public phone. I give Randy a call and say I'm here OK but have some leg pain. If I don't call you by 8AM tomorrow, I'm on my way to Long Lake. Back to the site where I begin to set up. While putting up my tent, a female mallard comes calling. Pretty bold, she comes up to within a couple of feet of me but I tell her, no one loves you, no one is feeding you, go away. She hangs around awhile but since no food is forthcoming, she finally leaves. Tent finally up, I bring out my dinner and take a timer picture of me at the stove. Tonight is AlpinAire Tamale Pie. Looks like red mush with corn kernals but tastes OK, if spicy. I use the freezer bag method of cooking it which saves me the trouble of washing the pan. It's about 17300 with lots of daylight left. I go to the wash room and use the facilities and take a quick sponge bath to wipe away the sticky sweat so I'll sleep better. Then back to the site and sit at the picnic table for awhile reading. By 1830, the bugs are getting bad so I get into the tent, change into sleeping clothes and get under the bug net I've installed in the tent. Hoo Hoo! Works like a charm. Also money well spent. By 2000 I'm tired and it's hard to keep holding the book up comfortably while laying down. So, I put everything away and go to sleep. Some noises keep me up for a few minutes. There's a squirrel outside the tent chattering, birds flying in the bushes nearby, the frog chorus starts up but that's all normal. I'm asleep in no time. It's hard getting used to sleeping on the hard ground. I wake up about once an hour or more to roll over because my hip or shoulder hurts but I go right back to sleep.

At 0430, a bird is in the bushes outside my tent beginning the morning chorus. I think it's too early so I roll over and go back to sleep till 0530. While getting out of my sleeping bag I get tangled in my bug net (which worked great all night and never got in my way) and ripped the high point tab off the net. Drat! Me with no sewing kit. Lesson 1 for this trip - Pack a needle or two and some thread. Oh well, that's what duct tape is for. I get up and out of the tent. A really pretty morning with the sun just coming up over the trees around the east end of the lake and a light mist on the water. Too cold for bugs yet. I get some water going for tea, and test my leg. Uh Oh - still tight. I pop a couple of asprin, both for my leg and for my back and I do some stretching and tell myself I'll see how it feels after breakfast and I try on the loaded pack. I cook my rice cereal with a handful of gorp, yummy. I go to the facilities where I can brush teeth, wash up and clean my pot. This place even has flush toilets! I pack up my site and put on the pack. Leg isn't 100% but I think I can make it to Long Lake. Today's hike is the longest of the 5 days, 15.6 miles to the Caitlin Bay lean-to, up the trail from Long Lake. So I check out at the Ranger Gate and start on my way. I try to go a little slower than yesterday, taking care of my leg. The trail is pretty much like yesterday's but past Tirrell Pond, the guide book says it's the most difficult part of the NPT. I stop for a snack at about 1015 near O'Neil Flow lean-to. I've done 3.5 miles and my leg is hurting. I give myself a 15 minute break then pack up and move on. By 1130 I get the next mile done, going very slowly. I stop at the Tirrell Pond lean-to for a rest and lunch. The sun has been beating on the front of the lean-to and feels really good against the back of my sore leg. I wash my hands and eat my gorp and jerky, watching the birds and the red squirrels and chipmunks. Tirrell Pond is a beauty, and unlike most Adirondack lakes, actually has a sand beach. A really nice spot. Anyway, a red squirrel comes right up into the lean-to, not 2 feet from where I'm sitting. Looks all around then out the back near the roof. Two chipmunks come near too, but run under the lean-to. Both the squirrels and the chipmunks must be in mating season cause they race around the clearing in front of the lean-to chasing others, perhaps prospective mates? Anyway, they make a heck of a lot of noise about it. At 1215 I get up to put my pack on and my leg hardly wants to move. Big decision, do I take the Tirrell Pond trail out to Blue Mountain Lake (3.3 miles to Rt 30 then 2 miles to the Blue Mountain Lake Post Office and public phone) or hike on to Long Lake 10.2 miles away? I give myself till the trail intersection, .3 mile away to decide. On the way I can really feel the leg and lifting it or flexing my foot is a painful effort. Getting over a fallen log really hurts. I get to the trail intersection and decide that since the way to Long Lake is supposed to be the toughest part of the trail, I'm not really in any shape to cover that ground. So I turn left, off of the NPT and head to Blue Mountain Lake. Lucky me; trying to avoid the toughest part of the NPT I'm on an old, washed out logging road. Nothing but rocks and mud pits and uphill too. Every time I trip on a rock or stub the toe of my boot on a rock or falled branch, pain. The only good thing at this point is that while it's uphill, it's not too steep. On I trudge, going so slowly it seems like I'll be on the trail come night fall but of course, nothing actually lasts forever and I get to the height of land where the trail smooths out and levels off. I have to reapply repellant at this point, whatever I sprayed on this morning has worn off. I take a drink and put my pack back on. On I trudge. I'm going so slowly that I'm not sure how much ground I've covered but a little way down the trail, I'm thinking now about 2 miles from the highway, I hear some crashing in the bushes to my left and ahead of me. I think back to the squirrels at Tirrell Pond and I'm not concerned. Then I see a dark shape break out of the bushes about 50 - 60 feet ahead of me and crossing the trail on a dead run back into the woods. At first I thought, Oh, someone's dog is loose. Then: Oh my God! That's a bear! I stop dead in the trail and even forget about my leg for a whole minute. Now what do I do! Obviously my shuffling thru last years dead leaves made enough noise to scare off the bear. I give it another minute to get well on its way then I proceed along the trail, banging my hiking stick on every rock I come to, making as much noise as I can. I go along, pretty much downhill now till I get to Rt 30 without incident at about 1415. It's taken me 2 hours to go 3.3 miles. This trailhead is just north of the Adirondack museum and is also the trailhead for the climb up Blue Mountain. I trek down the road to the village and get to the phone at about 3:15 and call Randy for rescue. I sat on the Post Office steps waiting for him. By the time he got there, about 1620, my leg had stiffened up to the point it didn't want to move at all.

We got home and I left the gear in my 3 season room and went for a shower. Since we didn't want to cook, we went to a nearby restaurant where I had 1/2 a steak and baked potato. We got home about 2000 and I was so tired I went right to bed and slept till 0600 this morning. My leg still didn't want to move, lots of stiffness. I did some stretching and took some asprin. I felt like I should have gone on to Long Lake but this afternoon I did a squat and my calf and thigh could hardly make the movement. So I guess I made the best decision I could. The trail will be there next month.

So Lessons Learned:
Bring sewing kit
Keep speed down so I don't pull/sprain/strain anything

Quest for Mud Lake

I belong to a hiking club, The Herkimer Alpiners. A group of primarily over 50's who like to get out all year long for hiking, snow shoeing, skiing and canoeing. This winter when they were putting the spring/summer schedule together, I volunteered to lead a hike to a local lake, Mud Lake.

Now I had never been to Mud Lake (this one anyway, there are several of them in NYS) but on a local map, it isn't very far away from my house. I also know of two unmarked trails in that vicinity, so I thought it wouldn't be too hard to find the place this spring and be ready for the scheduled hike date of July 8th. So now the weather is fine and on Sunday (the 20th) Randy and I decided to try and hike to Mud Lake. On the map, the elevation change from my house to the lake is about 700 feet. So we knew there would be some climbing involved. Of the two possible trails already in existence, one is on State Land totally and the other cuts thru private property and then to State Land. I'll call the 1st, State trail and the 2nd Old Farm trail.

On Sunday, I wanted to check out the trail that starts on State land as I would rather lead a group of hikers on public land and avoid any chance of getting absentee landowners upset. So we take the jeep up to the start of the trail, about 1.5 miles from my house. Lucky us, the black fly season has just started so we douse ourselves with repellant and start on our way. My theory was that the old logging road that we are following will eventually lead us up to the lake. We follow it for about an hour and a half but it gets fainter as we go on. There is plenty of evidence that ATVs use this old road despite the big sign at the beginning saying ATVs are not allowed. However, we get to an area where the road is getting faint and a big area of tree blow down has covered the road. We struggle around for awhile trying to pick up the old road but didn't find it. We called it a day and started back to the jeep.

Now since we didn't take any compass bearing at the beginning, we really aren't sure the old logging road is actually going in the right directions. We resolve to try again on Wednesday from the old farm road as the map has the old farm trail actually on it unlike the State trail which is not marked on the map.

On Wednesday we jeep up to the old farm road, actually only about 1/4 mile from the State trail, park and reapply bug repellant. I didn't do a good job Sunday and I received several itchy bites from black flies. I was hoping to avoid the mistake. Again, we don't take a compass bearing as we are thinking that we just have to travel up the old farm road toward a "house" that's marked on the map, then veer left, up the mountain and to the lake. Please note that passage on the old farm trail is still allowed, but the property on either side of the road is marked Posted. So, up we go and we get to the "house", really a hunting camp, just fine. Note that all along this trail are the remains of stone walls from the time the whole area was cleared and farmed. Anyway, at the hunting camp, an ATV trail leads directly left, up the very mountain we want to ascend. Big smiles all around and we follow this new trail. At this point we are relying strictly on our "sense of direction"! Up we go, following the trail and we get to a place where it seems we are at the top of the mountain. Understand that the trees have leafed out now and visibility for any distance is poor. Mud Lake lies in a "bowl" surrounded by mountains. We think we see water below us and assume it's the lake. Please also know there is a larger body of water called Woodward Pond, near the trail head. Anyway, the trail goes on but we decide to go downhill toward where we think we see the water. Bushwhacking our way down the steep slope, we mark our path with surveyor's tape. Just about the point Randy thinks we should turn around and go back, we find ourselves on the ATV trail near the hunting camp. We had made a complete circle. Since we've already been hiking about 3 hours, we decide to try again another day.

Wednesday night, we both are totally bugged that we can't find a lake that's only about a mile and a half away from us. We decide to go out on Thursday afternoon with the map and our compass and take a bearing from the start of the State trail and head directly cross country to the lake. This is probably the steepest course we could take but we're now determined to find the lake. Map and compass in hand, Randy takes the lead. We go a short way and cross the State trail. OK, pressing on, we go some distance farther and cross the trail again. We mark this point with a rock cairn, as if I use this route for the club hike, we can hike up the State trail then veer off from this point. On we go. Randy must use short distances as the area is heavily forested but we move on at a pretty good clip. Much of the area has been wooded for a long time and there was little undergrowth. What there was a lot of was blow down. It was a pretty tough winter with heavy snow and wind. There were a lot of violets, both violet and white. Toward the top of the mountain we came to a relatively open area that was heavily covered with raspberry bushes that we had to push thru. Lots of berries in the future if I don't mind the hike. We finally get to the top and still can't see a lake. We drop down the other side, not too steep and while Randy is checking the bearings, I think I see water thru the tree tops. Sure enough, at the next bearing check, we can see the lake. HOOO HOOOO! Were pretty excited. We get to the shore and at this point of the lake it's shallow and a little swampy. Lots of frogs are singing, we can see where a beaver(s) come in and out of the lake and the stumps of the beech they've been cutting. Lots of blueberry bushes. Our plan was to circumnavigate the lake and hopefully find the snowmachine / ATV trail or trails into the lake but we were out of time. It took about an hour and a half to get to the lake. We had to get home for other obiligations.

So we get home with no problems and resolve to go back, using the same "path" and walk around the lake looking for the snowmachine/ATV trail or trails. We know that people, hunters and/or fishermen go to the lake. We are hoping there is a less strenuous path to take. But, even if there isn't we'll go using our new trail in July. And yes, we still have to go back and remove the surveyors tape we left at the old farm trail.

Hadley Mountain 2007

Today Randy and I did our annual trek up Hadley Mountain. I upped my training routine by using my backpacking pack and fully loading it, as tho for a multiday trip. We got to the mountain and started climbing about 11:00am. This is a pretty steep trail so I stopped several times to let the old legs rest and take a look at the view. Today's woodland flowers included Sunday's red trillium, trout lilly and Carolina Sweet Dreams plus Wild Oats! We got to the top about 12:30pm and had a bit of lunch and really enjoyed the view. While climbing the newly hatched black flies were a bit bothersome but at the top, a nice breeze was blowing so no black flies! We started back down about 1pm and got to the bottom at 2pm. We passed 5 others on our way down, coming up the mountain. I'm glad we started early cause it has come up to 80 degrees today. So, I think I'm ready to finish the Northville - Lake Placid trail. I can hardly wait.

Sucker Brook

Randy and I met up with a group of Herkimer Alpiners to hike the Sucker Brook trail at Lewey Lake. We met up in Speculator and caravaned up to Lewey Lake. We took a short diversion to the falls on Falls Creek, a very pretty little water fall. Then we went down to the trail head for Sucker Brook trail. Starting about 10:40am, it was a great hike. The trail isn't very steep but for our oldest members, the oldest about 78, it was a good hike. Four of them stopped about 1.5 - 2 miles from the Height of Land (supposedly 3.6 miles from the trailhead) for lunch and a rest. Five of us continued on to the last stream before the steep part of the trail, about 2.8 miles from the trailhead. Two others had pushed on ahead of everyone and they actually got to the height of land then turned around. The five of us stopped at the steam (2.8 miles) and ate lunch streamside. Lots of sign of moose in the area. Along the trail red trillium and yellow trout lilly were beginning to bloom. There was a lot of Carolina Spring Beauty in bloom. The weather couldn't have been nicer, about 65, no bugs, lots of sun thru the trees that were only just starting to put out leaves. A great Sunday out!

Little Gifford Mountain

Last Sunday, 4/39/07, Randy and I along with my brother Steve and his son Justin, their dog Apothis, and my youngest niece, Emily, all went on our annual hike to Little Gifford Mountain. The mountain is in our backyard, so to speak. From our houses, we can see a big ledge and this is our hiking destination. So we start out about 10:30am. Emily has a bad ankle from a soccer incident on Saturday but she started out really well. We took a fairly direct route up the mountain. Since it's pretty steep, we spent quite a bit of time on hands and feet, crawling up the ledges. A route we took last year was not so direct and not so steep. Anyway, we got up there about noon. Randy, Emily and I had brought easy to eat foods; sandwich, fruit, etc.. Steve and Justin did a cookout of hot dogs. Steve made a fire but it wasn't easy as it was kind of misty and the ground was very wet. Finally done, they cooked up the dogs and of course Apothis got his share too. Putting the fire out and cleaning up the site we headed back down the mountain. Naturally, it went a lot faster going down and we were back at the house by 2:15pm.