Sheeley Mountain

The last winter hike of the Alpiners was the Sheeley Mountain snowshoe bushwack. According to the description: Sheeley is an unprepossessing little mountain of about 210 feet but fromt the top, if you look one way you can see Canada Lake and from the other way, see Caroga Lake. About 3 miles, most of it off trail.

Any hike in the Adirondacks this time of year is an adventure. You don't know if you'll get snow, mud or both. Randy and I met the rest of the group at 10:10am at the Caroga Lake coffee shop across from the post office. I was sorry to see a For Sale sign on the shop. A real loss to the community if it doesn't sell well. At any rate, Kathy, Gail, Nancy and Al were there as well as an new person, Allen as well as Randy and I. We got in our cars and spotted some cars at the north end of the trail then loaded everyone into the rest of the cars and went to the south end of the trail.

Unloading, we got started about 11am and hit a snow mobile trail for about 1/2 mile till we got to NYS land. Then put on snow shoes and took a sharp right into the woods. The snow was icy but firm so the walking was pretty easy, except of course for the uphill part. Because we were on the south side of the mountain, the snow was icy and as we got higher, less and less snow till we took off our snow shoes. Spring being what it is, some spots were very muddy and slippery. I did slip once but managed to avoid a messy mud mess.



Finally reached the summit and it was as promised, a view of both lakes. We lunched at the summit an Gail packed in a bottle of "Equinox" wine and some plastic cups to drink it in. A toast to the equinox and spring and a lovely hike. Randy took his usual group picture.

At about 1230 we packed up and back in snow shoes headed down the
north side of the mountain. Steep in parts, we were still able to walk down, no need for sliding on the seat of our pants this time.

We got back to the spotted cars about 1:15. The day started cloudy but turned sunny and windy at the end. Again, I can't think of a better way to spend my Sunday morning.

Chubb Lake

We got together with Kathy and organized a last minute hike for today. We met at one end of the trail on Rt 10, just past the bridge over the West Branch of the Sacandaga. Kathy had Gail with her, and Randy and I were there of course. Gail and Randy and I left our cars at this end of the trail in a nice parking area. We loaded all the gear into Kathy's car and went about 1 mile up the road to the upper trail head.

The weather was in the teens this morning so the snow was frozen hard. The sun was shining and there was very little wind. A great day for a snow shoe. We got ourselves organized and hit the trail about 10am. We headed toward Chubb lake, intending to go to the cliffs near there. Randy and I were following Kathy and Gail, who have been to this location twice. We were following an old snowshoe trail and when we got to Chubb lake, realized someone was camping in the area as there was a bit of wood smoke in the air.

Trudging along, we came to some small cliffs which Randy took a picture of. Going by them, Kathy and Gail realized they had missed the trail they wanted that went up hill toward the cliffs. Since we were very close to the trail for Balancing Rock, we went there instead of the cliffs.


We had to cross a fair sized stream on a beaver dam. A little dangerous this time of year as the snow has been melting and refreezing and you never know when a snow bridge will give way. Anyway, we were safe in all of our snow bridge crossings today.


Finally, about 11am, we reached Balancing Rock. We took a lunch break there, enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather. Temps had reached 35+ since early morning. Done with lunch and our group picture we got on our way.

Our intention was to track back to the beaver dam and cross it, then head for the cliffs. The steep hill sides, especially the south facing ones, had become slippery. The warm sun melting the snow and making it less able to hold the grip of the snow shoe cleats. I fell once and Randy took a slide too but fortuneately, no injuries.

We came close, .1 mile fromt the cliffs but since it required a 180 foot climb to get there, we decided to just push on to the cars. We had a nice hike out, hiking along beside the West Branch of the Sacandaga. Very pretty today. We got back to the cars about 1215. We'll have to go back another time to see the cliffs but we had a good day out today.

Good Luck Lake Snow Shoe Hike

Randy and I went snow shoeing today with our friends Kathy, Dan and Al, and our niece Emily. We were supposed to go on a bushwhack from Broomstick Lake to Nine Corner Lake but because of the rain last night, the hike leader and several of the hiking club dropped out. They were thinking the weather and snow conditions would be bad.
So when we all got to Nine Corner Lake trail head, we decided to go north on Rt 10 and hike to Good Luck Cliffs. I had never been there so what the hey.

We got to the trail head and got on our way about 10am. The snow was very soft, temps mid 40s and the sun was making a valiant effort to come out from behind the clouds. We signed in at the trail register; on this trail about 1/2 mile into the woods at a trail crossroads. We followed the snow machine trail to the point where we turned off and headed for Good Luck Cliffs.


Here the trail started climbing and with the warm weather, we soon were down to our tee shirts. The really soft snow made it hard to walk, even with the snow shoes. A little off the trail and we'd be in snow up to our hips. Usually someone would have to help you dig your snow shoe clear so you could pull your foot out of the hole.
Near the top of the cliffs, I fell into a spruce trap. Fortunately it was a small one but Dan had to help me dig my feet out so I could climb out.


Finally, we reached the top and had a very fine view of the area south and west of Good Luck Cliffs, including Spectacle Lake. We had a nice lunch in the sunshine.


We took the north side trail down and that was an adventure. The going is steep and the snow shoes couldn't get any traction so we ended up sliding down those spots on our butts. Lots of fun but scary! A good day out!