August 23 Bob and I headed to the Adirondacks for a trip around the French Louie Trail. This trail starts at Sled Harbor, NW of Speculator, and loops around Pillsbury Lake, Sampson Lake, West Canada Creek, the West Canada Lakes, and Cedar Lakes.
Plan was to go on a 4 day 3 night hike through the central West Canada Lakes area.
Legend: green acronyms such as (PLWC) indicate waypoints loaded into my GPS. BMM36 acronyms refer to sections described in Barbara McMartin's "Discover the West Central Adirondacks."
Thursday:
Our loop will start near Sled Harbor. To get there, we'll use I-90 to exit 33, 365 to 8 East to Speculator. Turning left onto NY30, we go about 2.9 miles to the left turn onto the Jessup River Road, an International Paper (IP) gravel road. This road should take us past Perkins Clearing (~4M), past where the Miami River lean-to used to be (~5.4M), to Sled Harbor(~6M). This would be the parking lot (PLWC).
From the parking lot, we head NW up the road trail about 0.5 miles to a barrier and register (THWC). With 4WD we could drive this far, but there is limited parking. Now we’ll follow the Red trail NW to a junction at 1.2M (WC01) with the trail L to Pillsbury Mt. (BMM28). Continue NW, at 1.8 miles cross an intermittent stream, a steep and eroded section at 2.4 miles, a clearing at 2.8 miles and an intersection with an unmarked log road to Camp 22 (BMM29) to the right (WC02). There is a guide board in the clearing with mileages. Straight ahead is BMM44, by which we will return on Sunday. BMM44 leads 2.7 miles North to the Cedar Lakes Dam.
Take the left fork. At 3.9 miles there is a cabin in a huge clearing (WC03). There is a roadway past a garbage dump to the R, but keep straight SW. 200 yds. from the clearing cross a bridge, then a drying beaver flow (4.4M), a ridge and at 4.7M turn left to the lean-to at the lake (LTPL). Spend Thursday night here, 4.8 miles for the day.
Friday:
The (BMM36) trail to Whitney lake is red-marked. Heading south from the lean-to, over a rise, through a flooded area, begin a climb 0.6M from the lean-to. The BMM34 trail goes off the to R in a field. At 1 mile, make a couple right turns to avoid marshy areas. The red trail joins a road, more westerly now, along the N side of a hill. At 1.8 miles the water of Whitney Lake is visible to the right, down the slope through the trees. At 2 miles, the trail is briefly level, and a flagged and faint path leads N, then after 100 yds. intersects another flagged trail that heads W back up to the red trail, then past an old burned camp and garbage dump, then steeply down past the remains of a float plane landing. No campsites or paths along the lake shore, but a bay. This is the end of BMM36 (WC06), 2.4 miles.
Next up is the BMM37 trail to Sampson Lake, 0.9 miles West. The red trail continues west on the ridge above the lake. At 0.4 miles (WC07) the trail crosses to the left side of the ridge and begins to drop; Sampson Lake is visible through the trees to the left. At 0.5 miles there is a spring on the south. The old shelter is 100 yards farther on the left. At 0.7 miles there is a marked fork left, downhill, 0.2 mile to a new lean-to (LTSAL) on Sampson Lake.
Now on BMM38, 2.5 miles to the bridge over the West Canada Creek near Mud Lake. The trail is still red marked and level until about 0.6 miles (WC08), where it turns slightly north. At about 2.0 miles reach the junction with the NLPT (TR129). Turn right for a few feet to cross the West Canada Creek at the outlet of Mud Lake. Just upslope from the bridge is the West Canada Creek Lean-to (LTWCC). This is 5.8 miles for the day and may be the place to spend the night. But there are many more lean-tos in this area.
Saturday:
Three more lean-tos lie along or near the BMM39 trail, which leads 1.2 miles past South Lake to West Lake. This is actually a short section of the NLPT that we've hiked before, ending at the site of the former West Lake Ranger headquarters. The trail heads SW from the lean-to. At 0.5 miles there is a path to the left to the lean-to on the shore of South Lake (LTSL). There are also many campsites in the flat area nearby, and a great sand beach. The trail enters woods at 0.7 miles, and at 1.0 miles a path leads left to another lean-to (LTWLS). Now the trail turns NE along the lakeshore and reaches an intersection in a grass field. This is where headquarters used to be. All that is left are the remains of the rock foundation and French Louie's fireplace. A third additional lean-to (LTWL) lies 0.3 miles west on BMM41, if necessary.
From the intersection, take BMM43 6.65 miles to the Cedar Lakes Dam. This is another section of the NLPT. At 2 miles is the bridge over Mud Creek. Just short of 3 miles is a path on the R to King's Pond. At 3.75 miles the trail turns left, and an unmarked trail goes straight. This side trail is marked in yellow, and leads to a lean-to (LTCL3) after 0.5 miles. The NLPT continues and passes near a small bay on Cedar Lakes at 3.95 miles. There is a nice campsite here. At 4.4 miles a long (0.7 mile) uphill begins. At 5.1 miles you reach height of land, and begin a 0.6 miles descent. You can glimpse Beaver Pond to the NW. Within 100 yards of the channel between Beaver Pond and Cedar Lakes, there is a three-way fork. A path leads left 200 yards SW to a spring. The right fork leads to a promontory and a good lean-to (LTCL2). The trail continues straight to 5.9 miles where you cross the bridge over the channel. Beyond the dam the trail is atop a long causeway. A tent site lies to the N on the shore of Beaver Pond. At 6.05 miles there is a marked intersection (TR156). A yellow trail left (BMM45) leads to Lost Pond. The blue trail curves away from the lake, heading E, and after crossing a stream, approaches the former Cedar River HQ. All that remains are 1 lean-to (LTCL1) and 3 privies. East of the lean-to are foundations of buildings. A bridge crosses the dam to 2 nice campsites on the opposite shore of the outlet. Spend the night here, after 6.65 to 7.85 miles (depending on where you stayed last night).
Sunday:
BMM44 leads 2.8 miles to the intersection with the Pillsbury Lake Trail (BMM33) and then the original 2.7 miles of this loop back to the car at Sled Harbor. On the E side of the bridge, take the yellow trail, the first mile is mostly level. At 1.5 miles there is a clearing. At 1.9, a grassy meadow through which flows Grassy Brook, crossed on a solid plank bridge. This is followed by a stretch of planking, then an open meadow where the foundation of IP's Camp 20 was. At the end of the clearing, there is another plank bridge over Stony Brook at 2.3 miles. There is a spring down a path to the left. To the left is an old stone bridge foundation. The intersection with BMM33 is at 2.7 miles. Then follow BMM33 from day 1 in reverse.
What we actually did:
Thursday we went to Pillsbury Lake. We left work at noon and drove to Speculator, and then on to Sled Harbor. We tried to drive up to the trailhead, but my little car wouldn't cut it, so we turned around and drove back to Sled Harbor. Contrary to the trail guide, there is now parking farther up the trail, at the trail cutoff to Pillsbury Mountain. But we didn't know that, so we hiked the roughly 1.2 miles from Sled Harbor (PLSH) to the trailhead.
Bob signed us in at the register while I marked the location (THPM). Then it was up 1.5 miles (almost all uphill) to the intersection where we turned left to head for Pillsbury Lake. We met a couple there who had been to the Pillsbury Lake lean-to (LTPL) for lunch. Downhill (somewhat) to the lean-to we went, and no one was there. On the way we found the scenic spot that McMartin talked about (WC03) and took some photos.
The lake looked pretty shallow, with lots of lilies everywhere you looked, so we didn't consider swimming. Bob fished for a while, but this lake didn't seem to have any activity - no baby fish, lots of bugs near the surface, but nothing jumping at them. There weren't any loons here, either, although when we got in our tents we did hear a loon. It was probably from Whitney Lake. With a surface elevation of 2493, this is one of the highest lakes we've visited.
On Friday we got up, boiled water for breakfast, packed up and headed out. We took the BMM36 trail west, which turned into BMM37 somewhere near Whitney Lake. We were able to see Whitney through the trees to the north, but there really wasn't a trail to it. The guide book says there are no campsites near the shore, which seems pretty strange for a lake this size.
In any case, we decided to go down the side trail to the lean-to on Sampson Lake just to see what it looked like before pushing on, with a plan to spend the night somewhere in the West Canada Lakes area. Man, were we surprised!!!
On the lake, we found a loon couple, swimming with two chicks.
This lean-to was beautiful. It had a brand new broom, a little shovel, a great fireplace, and a canoe that only leaked a little, complete with paddles and flotation cushions. We both decided on the spot to spend the day and night here since it was so nice. Even though we had only hiked 3.3 of the 5.8 miles we planned for the day, we decided it was worth it to either bag the plan altogether or catch up the next day. We hung the bear bag and launched the canoe.
I paddled while Bob tried to fish. The loons were swimming around but keeping their distance. We paddled across and down the lake, near an island, then back up-current away from shore. It was early afternoon, maybe still morning, and the fish weren't biting at all. I was getting a little sunburned, so we headed back to shore. We decided to have a swim, and we went West down the shore to a big rock with a little sand beach to get in the water. We swam probably over 1/4 mile east to another big rock across the lake, and got out of the water to sit on the rock in the sun. There were signs of fisher people there - empty beer cans, lead sinkers, etc. After a little sunbathing we swam back.
We decided to have a little lunch, which then led to a nap in the lean-to. When I woke up I heard the loons nearby, so I grabbed camera and ran to the shore to see what I could see. There swam the two loons, and with them, two loon chicks. The chicks were still brown colored. (See photos below). After that, Bob decided to fish and I went for a run. I ran over to the place we intended to camp, crossing the West Canada Creek on rocks, since the bridge had been washed out. I went on to the South Lake lean-to. Past that, at the beach, there was a couple tent camping. I said hello, then headed back to check the lean-to. There was a fellow there with an inflatable canoe, and we talked a little. He had been at Sampson Lake the night before, and said the lake was just hopping with trout about 7:30 in the evening. I ran back to tell Bob.
Bob was still fishing when I got there, and I went in for another short swim to rinse off. Then we had dinner. In addition to our usual dehydrated fare, Bob cooked corn bread, a real delicacy, and it was good. It really went well with my chili-mac with beef.
We went and sat on the rock that faced west and watched it get dark and the stars come out while we drank our hot cocoa. Then back to the lean-to. It got pretty cold this night, getting down to 46. I had to get up in the night and don my rain-gear jacket and extra shirts, since I had brought only my 60 degree bag liner trying to keep the pack weight down.
It was a really great day and night.
Waking up in the morning, Saturday, because it was so cold, the lake was covered in a mist shroud, partially seen in the photos below. It burned off pretty fast once the sun was above the horizon.
We got the bear bag down, cooked our water for breakfast, and packed up. It was a beautiful day. The first segment on the day's agenda was the BMM38 trail, taking us to West Canada Creek, which I had run the evening before.
Along the trail we saw a pretty big (but dead) tree growing on top of a very large erratic. It was hard to get it all in one frame.
At the intersection with the Northville Lake Placid Trail, where we’ve been before. Last time, we had hiked south to north on the NLPT. This time we were coming in from the east. To the left, south, Spruce Lake is about 4 miles. Here we turned right, north, for just a short way to the West Canada Creek.
At the West Canada Creek crossing at the outlet of Mud Lake. On the right, below, a view upriver from the bridge looking East toward Mud Lake.
The bridge we crossed in 1999 was in splinters. There had been signs at the Pillsbury Mt. trailhead telling us the bridge was out, and that in times of high water it would be necessary to turn back. Fortunately, this was a time of low water and it was easy to step across the rocks to cross. Just across the creek, and up a bank, sits the Cold River #4 lean-to.
From the WCC lean-to, we hiked the BMM39 trail, 1.2 miles to the clearing where the former West Canada Lakes Ranger Headquarters had been until it was removed to "conform" with the new Adirondack Park Agency plan. I had forgotten about this segment when I laid out the distances with Bob in the morning, and it took me a little while to read the trail guide and figure out what was wrong. I arrived at the conclusion that we had 10.25, not 9, miles to hike today. While I was stumbling along reading the trail guide, etc., Bob had streaked ahead of me and was nowhere to be seen. I started cranking trying to catch up.
When I got past the South Lake lean-to side trail, I met the couple from the night before at their tent-site. The fellow stopped me and asked if I was the one who ran by the night before. He had talked with the fellow at the lean-to, and this guy was also a trail runner. He wanted to talk, and we got started on what various ultras we had run, etc. As you can imagine, this took on a life of its own. I tried politely a few times to get going. Pretty soon here comes Bob back down the trail to find out what happened to me. Nuthin', just talkin'.
After Bob rehabilitated me, we got going again, then took a short side trip to the West Lake lean-to, where we had stayed on our through-hike. There was a single lady there packing up to get back on the trail. Back on the trail, we crossed a recently replaced long bridge over the outlet stream of West Lake, with views in either direction (below).
After the bridge, we arrived at the end of the BMM39 trail in the clearing. Someone has erected the memorial marked below at the edge of the foundation, all that remains of the former Ranger Headquarters. On the right is French Louie's fireplace. He was going to build a hotel here, but only got the fireplace done.
Bob signed us in at the register, and the lady from the lean-to caught us up. Then we took off while she signed in.
The BMM40 trail is 6.65 miles from the clearing to the Cedar Lakes Dam, with some climb as it passes along the lakes on the way. Bob waited for me at the side trail to the southern Cedar Lakes lean-to (LTCL3). We decided to skip the visit to this lean-to, since it lies 1/2 mile off the trail, and I was getting tired, with still some ways to go, and I didn't feel like an extra mile hike. When we left the clearing, I started taking a bite of balance bar every 20 minutes, a tactic I sometimes use on long runs, to keep my blood sugar up. This seemed to work pretty well.
I stopped to visit with some fellows at the middle Cedar Lakes lean-to (LTCL2) who were packing up to leave. They had had good luck fishing, and were heading back out to Sled Harbor. Then on across the bridge to LTCL1, which was occupied by some guys from NYC with rifles. Bob had been there about 4 weeks (!) waiting for me to straggle in, and he had found a very nice campsite a little closer to the dam, since we didn't feel like being too close to the rifles.
After setting up camp, Bob prepared to fish and I filtered water. Then I donned photo equipment and set out to stalk the intrepid fisherman plying his trade. In a photo below, he can be spotted through the foliage. I was on the dam, and he had found a fishing hole just downstream of the dam. There is also a close-up of the old dam.
Now, I'm not an expert, but it is 3:01 a.m. in the morning and there isn't an expert around to ask, so I'll have to speculate a little here. It appears, from observing the photos below, that fly fishing is pretty difficult work. Notice closely that in the photo on the right, it becomes clear that the difficulty of this task sometimes requires one to take the left hand out of the pocket. Of course I could be wrong.
And Sunday, back to Sled Harbor and home.
Sunday morning Bob was up early. I didn't sleep too well. Even though it was 10 degrees warmer than it had been the night before, I laid in my tent shivering most of the night. Again I relented and put on everything I had to wear. About 5:30 I had to get out and void my bladder, and I woke Bob up then. He stayed up, but I finally fell back to sleep. He had the fire going and water on when I finally woke up. It looked like rain, so we got going.
I didn't get a very good satellite signal for the GPS until we got well around Noisey Ridge, so the map looks a little strange. The yellow track is a straight line the system plugs in between points where it can get a reading. We probably hiked the black trail shown that curves NE of the yellow track. On the way we stopped to investigate some garbage that someone did a poor job of concealing behind a rock, but that's all it was - garbage.
From here, about 2.8 miles, it was mostly downhill back to the car. We had hiked up this trail on Thursday, and I was anticipating hiking down it today. Downhill, is, after all, my forte. It was wonderful hiking, with a little breeze, which we sure could have used hiking up a few days ago. In any case, Bob signed us out at the Pillsbury Mt. trailhead register, and on down the road we went to the car, which someone had moved about 70’ from where the GPS said we left it.
What a great trip!!!
On the way home, we went the other direction on the Jessup River Road, which bent back north and into NY30 at Mason Lake. When we got to Speculator, we were hoping the tourist trade was a little slower than usual, because we had a greasy spoon breakfast in mind. We were in luck, and the diner was open, and not too busy. We each ordered two large breakfasts, which disappeared tout suite. Then we hit the road for the trip back. Traffic was not bad at all, and we got home in early afternoon.
When I got home my pack weighed 28.6 pounds, including about 3 pounds of water, and all my garbage. I think it'll be heavier the rest of this year - I'm taking a heavier sleeping bag for one thing.
