Ouluska Pass Brook to Duck Hole

(the long way)

Well, everything outside the lean-to was wet when we got up.  We decided to get going, and boiled water for coffee and oatmeal while we packed up.  The first sight to see was the much-anticipated Noah John Rondeau hermitage.

There was some debris around, stuff that Noah used to have here.

Leaving the hermitage site, Bob was attacked by a hen turkey. Now, it was (turkey) mating season. But since Bob is such a fast runner, he was able to escaped unmolested. He ran pretty fast though. Backwards.

We hiked to the Cold River #2 lean-to and stopped to change socks, fix feet, and put on rain gear.    We weren't wet yet, but it began to rain while we were grazing, so we donned our rain gear.  I tied Bob's parka over his pack.  I put on my Frogg Togg jacket, and Bob tied my parka around my pack.

We then had our first view of Duck Hole, and the boom to keep debris away from the dam.  On the bridge at Duck Hole a sign is posted that says "The hiker is cautioned not to cross the dam at Duck Hole...".  It just looked so good, like the right way to go, blue markers and all...

We hiked on to Duck Hole, and met another hiker there, John, who was from Rochester and had hiked in from Tahawus.  We chatted a few minutes, told him where we were going, and headed off across the bridge.  The bridge was over a dam made of wood, with a sluice that used to allow the water level to be adjusted.  We could see someone resting in the other lean-to there, around the West side of the lake.  It took us about 2.5 hours to hike this far, roughly 2.2 miles per hour.

The bridge is being upheaved - rumor is the DEC will not replace the dam when it collapses, which will drain this beautiful water area.

After crossing the bridge and going through a short woods section, we came to another, longer, rock crib dam.  This had planking nailed atop a dam made of rocks piled across over 100 yards.  It was quite shaky, and very slippery, but we made it across.  This was damming up another side of the lake.  Then we plunged into the woods.  Still following the blue markers.

We came to a fairly large creek, although every possible runoff bed was overfilled from the rain the night before, and the continuing sprinkles.  We worked hard at getting across this, as the water was moving dangerously fast, and in some places 4 feet deep.    We climbed along the shore upstream to a point where Bob went across.  I picked another point, but needed Bob's help to lay some limbs across the last section, then he had to catch me as I leapt across.  He had gone in to his knees getting across, but thanks to his help, I was dry.

We went on, and the trail really closed in on us.  Pretty soon, it didn't matter that I had stayed dry crossing the creek.  Everything was soaked, because the trees encroached and completely covered the trail.  And the trail was fairly eroded, to the point that it was a narrow ditch itself, full of water.

We crossed several more streams, and went around a beaver dam, all somewhat consistent with the trail guide.  At that point, I suggested that we should be within a quarter mile of our destination for the day - the Moose Pond lean-to.

We kept hiking, and the slope began to get steeper, and we came to a small waterfalls.    We thought it might be Wanika Falls.  If so, I thought, we missed the Moose Pond lean-to, and we're beyond it.  I thought if that were true, we could hike to my car before dark, and be home by midnight.  That seemed enough motivation to keep on.

We began to climb up a steep brook.  It was all rocks, and it required climbing, not walking, to go up.  And there was water running down it, and the trees were completely encroached over the trail.  After we had climbed 500 feet, we stopped, and decided that we had missed something.  We decided to return to the water falls.    At this point we had been hiking 2.5 hours since Duck Hole, or 5 hours for the day.

Going down as fast as we could, Bob was cold, and I was getting pretty tired.  I was either hypoglycemic or dehydrated to the point that I was not controlling every step, sometimes my feet would cross, etc.  Bob would stop at every big step up and give me a hand.  We went on beyond the waterfalls, and after an hour of backtracking, stopped again.  It was at this point that I opened the guide again, and read, again, "The hiker is cautioned not to cross the dam at Duck Hole..."  I must have read that passage 6 times, but I didn't remember it.  And then we knew what our mistake was, and that if we hurried, we could get back to Duck Hole by dark, and if we were lucky, have a lean-to to dry off in.  This was a little rattling, because we had already been hiking quite a while, the trail was wet and steep, there was absolutely nowhere to pitch a bivy, and it was getting late.  So we took off.

Trying not to hold Bob up, I ran where I could, and managed to tag along pretty well.    When we got back to Duck Hole, John was in the lean-to, and the other lean-to had two guys in it.  We were hanging stuff in the lean-to to dry, when three more guys, hiking from Indian Pass, came through and asked how many were there.  They decided to hike on to the next lean-to.

John decided to pitch his tent above the lean-to, leaving it for Bob and me.  We fixed a quick supper, put our bivys in the lean-to, and I laid down.  I was almost in shock, very discouraged over my blunder, and exhausted, and facing the long hike the next day, 12.2 miles instead of 8.  At least my bivy and liner were dry - everything Bob had was wet.  He stayed up and took care of a few things, hung the bear bag, tried to dry a few things, etc.  At first I couldn't sleep, being pretty revved up about our situation, but when I did fall asleep, it was like a rock.

Next morning, we were feeling a little better.