2 day Overnight with niece

So, the leader (Georgia) of the 4H club I volunteer for has a daughter, Haleigh. Last year as the year end finale of our hiking project, I took the leader and Haleigh and 3 of my brother's kids (2 girls and a boy) out on an overnight hike. My neice Emily, and Haleigh became good friends. So this year I promised to take them out again.

This year, Randy decided to come along on our overnight hike. Haleigh (12), Emily (11), Randy and I did a 2 day hike thru the Adirondack Siamese Ponds Wilderness area. We started on July 9th (Wednesday) by meeting at my house and loading Emily (who stayed overnight with us) into Georgia's van, and leading them to the 11th Mountain trailhead on Rt 8. Then, loading all of the rest of the gear into the van, Georgia drove us up to Long Lake and the John's Pond traihead. We got there about 9am and after some "start of the trail" pictures, we headed off.

The day was overcast, hot, muggy and mosquito laden. Good thing we had lots of repellant with us. The John's Pond trail was wide, soft and easy to hike; obviously a well used trail. We were really moving along. We turned right (south) onto the John Pond Crossover trail after a bit and what a difference. This trail is obviously not a popular trail. While well marked with trail markers, the trail itself was very overgrown; almost a bushwhack. This slowed us down quite a bit. When we finally got down to Puffer Pond, we decided to take a water break (it was well after noon) at the Puffer Pond shelter. Emily made an entry in the shelter log while I studied the map.

We left the shelter after about 25 minutes and headed east on the Puffer Pond trail toward the Old Farm Clearing. This trail was in pretty good condition but in several places, overgrown with some very prickly, stinging plants. I got a lot of "pricker rash" on my legs. There were several boggy spots and both Emily and I got our feet soaking wet and muddy. It rained on us a few times during the day, giving us a quick respite from the mosquitos but as soon as it stopped raining, they were right back on the attack.

It was about 5pm by the time we got to Old Farm Clearing. The guide book talked about several informal camping spots around the clearing but we couldn't find any. A little dissappointing to 2 tired (and 2 tired adults) little girls. However, they were little troopers and never uttered a complaint. We headed south on the East Branch Sacandage trail and after a few hundred yards, came to a fairly open spruce "orchard". These trees were extremely tall so I assume fairly old but the area was the most clear of underbrush so we decided to camp there.

We pulled off our packs and cleared enough downed wood from the ground to set up our tents. Randy took all of our empty water bottles and headed back to the spring at Old Farm Clearing to get water. I worked with the girls on setting up my 2 person backpacking tent for them. This tent was complete with floor, bug netting and rain fly. They also helped me set up my ultralight shelter as a lean-to. That made it big enough for both Randy and I to sleep under. Not good for keeping bugs away but good to keep the dew off and any pine needles that happened to fall during the night.


Randy came back with the water and while he and the girls built a small fireplace of rocks, I worked on treating all the water he brought back. We all enjoyed the small fire while I boiled water to add to all of our dehydrated meals. While pouring Haleigh's water, the top of her pot popped off and splashed my right ankle with boiling water. I was quick enough to pull the hot, wet wool sock away from my skin. Fortunately, I didn't even get red skin. The girls ate some of their own meals then traded. They made such a feast that they didn't want the s'mores they had brought along. By the time we got dinner cleaned up and food bags hung it was 8:30pm and the girls hit the sack. They were out like lights.

I went back to the spring with empty water bottles so we'd have enough water for breakfast and to start hiking with the next day. When I got back I treated the water and climbed into my sleeping bag. It was actually a little too warm for sleeping bags but the mosquitos were so thick, I preferred being in the bag to being eaten alive. We had a perfect view of the sky, thru the trees, to the west and were rewarded with the most beautiful sunset of pink and orange and robins egg blue. What a great way to end a day.

The next day Randy and I were up early. We didn't sleep well because of the mosquitos. Randy got out of his sleeping bag at one point and put his head at the other end of the shelter. The slope of the ground we were on made that position better for him for sleeping. He pulled the sleeping bag over himself due to the heat but by morning, he was covered with bites.

We heated water for tea and each had a cup. There's nothing like a hot cup of tea in the morning. By then it was pretty light and we got the girls up about 6am. More water was heated for hot chocolate for Emily. Haleigh doesn't need a hot drink in the morning. Both girls munched pop tarts and other such treats for breakfast while I made Randy and I some hot cereal with dried fruit and nuts for our breakfast. We did clean up and packing up in really quick time. We scattered the ashes from the camp fire and scattered the stones as well and then by 7am, we were ready to hit the trail again.

The East Branch Sacandaga trail is well traveled and we were moving right along. About 2 miles into the hike, Randy said, "There's a moose!" The rest of us were too slow, all we saw was a large, brown shape moving into the woods. When we got up to the place it was, all that were left were the tracks. Shortly after, Haleigh saw a small, brown snake. She said she could have donw without that. Other than another snake, later on the trail, that's the only "large" wildlife we saw. The girls, both days, entertained themselves spotting orange and green salamanders and different sizes and colorings of the woods toads.

By 11:30am we were 2 1/2 miles from the end of the trail and stopped for a lunch break at a bend in the E. Branch of the Sacandaga river. We climbed down the bank to a sloping rock shelf where we could stretch out and enjoy watching the tiny fish in the water. We stayed there nearly an hour. While there, we saw a large group of young men, Boy Scouts perhaps, heading north on the trail. They didn't see us at first and when the girls called out "Hello", one boy was so startled he tripped and fell down. Not hurt, he called out hello too. There was much excitement among them to see us down by the water. A little later a family group and their dog went by, also north bound, on an apparent day hike. Lots of friendly helloing there too. These were the 1st people we'd seen since we started.

After lunch we climbed back up the bank and headed south again. It didn't take us too long to go the rest of the distance to the trailhead. We were there by about 1:30pm. We took "end of the trail" pictures and promised Haleigh and Emily a copy of all of the pics we had taken. Haleigh is using the pictures to finish her Hiking Project book for this year to enter in the county fair.

Randy ended up with multiple bug bites, 2 blisters and he'll probably lose a toe nail from a toe hitting the end of his shoe. Randy found the hike interesting but "not his cup of tea". He prefers to just day hike. Overall, the girls both had a good time and are already talking about doing it again. Me, I'm going hiking on Saturday, to see the new start to the Northville-Lake Placid trail. Stay tuned for the next report!