Site Survey of East Branch Sacandaga River Trail

I'm scheduled to lead a Herkimer Alpiner hiking club hike on May 10th on this trail. Yesterday I had nothing scheduled it it turned out to be a nice day so I decided to do my survey of the trail. Randy decided to come along so we packed up and were on the road to the trailhead by 0830.

The easiest way to find the trail head is to head north on Rt 30 and go thru Wells. Just north of Wells there is an intersection of Rt 30 and Rt 8. Turn right (east) on Rt 8 going toward North Creek. About 14.5 miles, on the left, you'll see the DEC sign post for Eleventh Mountain. It's a pretty fair sized parking area as this is a major entry point for the Siamese Ponds wilderness area.

When we arrived at the trail head, 2 guys and a gal were packing up for what looked like an extended fishing trip into the area. They hit the trail before us and we never saw them again. The trail starts uphill immediately and goes up (according to the Adirondack Trails Central Region guidebook) about 270 feet. After that, it's all downhill into the valley of the East Branch of the Sacandaga River. Along the way there are several places along the river that would make good picnic spots if a family didn't want to walk the 4 miles in to the lean-to (our destination). Also along the trail were several species of spring flowers, either in bloom already or about to bloom. I'm not great at it but I spotted, in bloom: yellow woods violets, red trillium, hobble bush and carolina spring beauty. About to bloom were lots of red trillium and wild oats. By next Saturday, when I lead the hike, all those flowers should be wide open and beautiful.

It took about 2 hours to get to the lean-to. As you can imagine, spring in the Adirondacks means several boggy spots on the trail, full streams and even a few spots of snow still left in the shadiest parts of the trail. However, nothing was too hard to cross or get around. The lean-to was in great shape and the shelter log noted that a group had been staying there the last couple of days. Randy took some pictures of the lean-to from the other side of the river. There's a very handy suspension bridge at the lean-to so people can cross over the river and get to the Siamese Ponds. Actually very picturesque. We ate some lunch and hung around about 45 minutes then headed back to the car. Again, about 2 hours back. Overall, a great day out.