Finally, I hiked the complete loop from the Thendara trailhead that I had planned this summer. I tried this hike back on August 3, but got frustrated and cut it short. So this time I was determined to finish the loop and see the trails.
I left work about noon, and got to the trailhead about 2. There was a guy there talking to a couple who were trying to get into their car and leave. As soon as I arrived, they did get in their car and leave. The fellow came over to talk with me. I noticed a camper parked in the yard of the house next to the parking lot, and guessed that it was his. I knew that the Adirondack early archery deer season and the Adirondack muzzle-loader (black powder) deer and bear season opened the next morning, and I figured this fellow was there to do some hunting. Which he confirmed, as he regaled me while I was changing clothes, finishing my packing and getting ready to go. He wanted to know all about where I was going, what each piece of equipment was, etc. He was retired, and probably lonely, but was also holding an empty beer can. Anyway, I was sociable (for a change) until I headed out. Another car loaded with two older couples from Massachusetts arrived while I was preparing, and they headed in for a walk to East Pond (which I thought was more than a walk given the remaining daylight, but off they went.)
Hiking West from the parking lot (THENDARA), [the green names in parentheses indicate waypoints on the map] I signed in at the trail register (ADK5-69REG). At the point where the East Pond trail breaks away from the Big Otter East Trail (5-69X71) I looked for the water bottles Bob and I hid there on our run in. The water bottles were perfectly hidden, still there, and not opened. I decided to leave them there for the hike out. My plan was to hike into the Middle Branch Lake lean-to Friday, then on to the Pine Lake lean-to Saturday, then hike out either the East Pond trail or the Big Otter East trail on Sunday.
As I was hiking along, enjoying the terrific weather (60s, partly sunny, no rain forecast until evening) I considered the options. I could hike my plan, or I could beat it, by going farther today and then have less far to hike on Sunday. I decided that if the Middle Branch lean-to (LTMBL) was vacant I would spend the night there, but if occupied, I would go on to the lean-to at Cedar Pond. I was partly concerned about the light remaining, but also trying to have options to avoid an unpleasant experience like I had with the night hikers with the dogs.
On the trail in, the dry leaves were 4-6" deep, and every step was a rustle of leaves. It was beautiful hiking in. In this section of the forest about 50% of the leaves were down. I met a couple on their walk out a couple of miles into the woods. As I climbed up Moose River Mountain's shoulder, I noticed a huge blue tent (BLUE TENT) off the trail maybe 100 yards to the South (left). I wondered if it was private land, or a DEC work crew, or a hunting party. In any case, I figured they might have guns and decided not to investigate, also trying to keep those daylight options available.
I made good time, and at 4.85 miles reached the Middle Branch Lake trail (5-69X72) intersection, and headed South. At the lean-to, there were two large packs in the lean-to, and I saw the bearers of those packs way out in the lake in what appeared to be a large aluminum canoe. I have no idea how they got the canoe in there (maybe it was stashed there) but decided that I would head on to the Cedar Pond lean-to indicated on the ADK map and described in the trail guide. This took me to the end of trail 72 and the intersection with trails 73 and 74 (5-72X73X74), another 1.93 miles. Quick reference in the trail guide said to head West a little ways from this intersection to find the lean-to. I walked about an eighth mile and eventually remembered hiking this way on August 4, and also vaguely remembered that I never did see a lean-to. So now that light was getting short, I returned to the intersection and headed west, quickly, on trail 73 for Middle Settlement Lake and the lean-to there (LTMSL). The guide book said 1.5 miles, and it was good hiking, except where the creek was crossed, through a lot of huge boulders, but getting dark quickly. I followed the trail along the shore of the lake, and found the lean-to just as it was getting too dark to see. There, I found two young couples, getting ready to cook their suppers. I asked if they minded if I shared the lean-to with them, and they agreed. I wanted to be in there to keep my equipment dry, even though I had my bivy and a tarp to cover my pack, if I needed them.
I hung a bear bag in the dark and then rolled out my sleeping bag in the center of the lean-to, figuring they could sleep either side of me. One couple (let's call them Cliff and Nicole, fictional names) were from Liverpool, and had been there since about 3, and were planning to be joined by friends the next day and spend another night there. The other couple (again, let's call them Mike and Olinda) lived in Brookline, MA, but Olinda had grown up in Onondaga Hill. They were here on a three day weekend, and were going to hike the 3 miles back out to NY28 in the morning and then spend two nights in a Long Lake motel. They had only been there an hour, apparently preceding me from the Middle Branch lean-to. Cliff and Nicole had pitched a tent next to the lean-to. So we each cooked our dinner and talked a little. After that, Cliff built a fire, which he got going fairly well. They had packed in fire-starter logs, since on their previous hike they had used all their matches and paper trying to get a fire started with wet wood.
The fire went well, and we sat in the lean-to and talked. I eventually laid down, dozing on and off, while they talked until well past midnight. Cliff and Nicole went into their tent, while Mike and Olinda went for a "walk" in the woods. They were gone for quite a while, and I was wondering if I should be worried for them, but they returned to the lean-to about 1:30. I went back to sleep. It had sprinkled a little during supper, and it rained a little during the night. There didn't seem to be any wildlife around. There was a fairly large and noisy group that arrived about 8:00 at the campsite just south of us.
Both Olinda and Cliff and Nicole had brought wine with them. I guess that isn't too surprising, since they only hiked in about 3 miles from their car. Cliff opened a very large (magnum?) bottle of Rose and he and Nicole consumed it. It lasted quite a while, and they talked quite a bit. Mostly about some TV survivor shows, etc.
I was very satisfied with my day - 8.5 miles in about 3 hours, with a 35 pound pack. I cooked dinner very quickly, and didn't waste much time. I had hiked as far as I could reasonably expect given the timeline, and had the use of a dry lean-to on a rainy night. Not a bad first day!
Saturday morning I left about 8:00. My first challenge was a beaver dam flood around the NW edge of Middle Settlement Lake. The trail had been rerouted, but was still a little tricky. In this part of the forest the leaves were 80-90% down.
I hiked along the trail, which I found well marked, a little rough in places, a little damp in places, but easy to follow, quite peaceful, and beautiful. After about a half mile I found the intersection with the Lost Lake trail (trail 70) (5-73X70). After another part of a mile I found the marker (L-H CTY LN) at the county line referenced in the guide book.
As I hiked along here, I began to feel better and better. I decided that it was not unreasonable to hike all the way out today. It would be 15-17 miles, depending on my route, but that wasn't too much. I had hiked 14 miles here in one day earlier this year. I started trying to decided whether to take trail 71 or 69 out. 71 had the advantage of no spots being under water, but was a little longer. Trail 69 was shorter, and probably less elevation change, but there was that annoying spot that was under 2 feet of water. I decided to defer my decision, but that I was definitely feeling good enough to hike out today, get home for some pizza for supper, and then run with the boys in the morning. I was definitely into that!
Lost Lake was beautiful, and the scene was set off by the stone cliffs rising out of the water directly across it. The rain during the night had made everything wet. The leaves that were remaining above the ground were all located between the tops of my gaiters and the top of my shoulders, so by the time I got here I was pretty well soaked to the skin. Since my pants and socks were wet, the water just complied with gravity and ended up in my boots, which although very waterproof, were now wet from the outside and from the inside.
The DEC placed a sign from the best vista on the lake shore, which captions the photo.
Hiking along here was very pleasant. There were some open areas, low spots, and then approaching the Middle Branch River. There was a long bridge over the river. Beyond that, a very steep descent to another even longer bridge over the outlet flow of East Pine Po
Hiking past this bridge, the trail looked almost like a road, with two distinct tracks, and maybe even the tracks of a four-wheel ATV. This brought me to the spot of the Pine Lake lean-to (4.1 miles so far today), where I decided to change socks (remember those wet boots?), have a snack, and continue on. However, upon arriving where I thought (according to the guide book and map) the lean-to should be, I found a sign posted that said the lean-to had fallen in, and been removed by DEC. The sign said that if the lean-to should be replaced, the DEC would post a sign here to let people know. Seems to me like anyone needing a lean-to here ought to know about whether it exists or not before getting here. Also seems to me like anyone arriving here will know if the lean-to exists without benefit of a sign being posted to say so. I could be wrong.
So, without a lean-to to sit in, I decided to push on to the the bridge over the outlet of Big Otter Lake, about 1.6 miles.
A half mile past the sign at the intersection (5-67X69) where the Big Otter Lake East trail begins is the bridge over the outlet of Big Otter, the beginning of Otter Creek, and a place to sit down. Which I did, and changed my socks, and filtered two bottles of water. I had made the mistake of not filtering water the day I hiked around the 71-69 loop, so today I decided to err on the side of too much water, even though I had those two bottles waiting for me 1.5 miles this side of the parking lot. The water from Big Otter tasted good, but was quite brown - probably tannin.
Just below the bridge, two guys in kayaks were paddling around. They said they had spent the night on the lake and were heading back down the creek.
I got going, and paused at the intersection (5-71X69) with the Lost Creek trail. This is where I had to decide which way to go. The posted signs said the dry route (71) was a mile longer than the wet route (69), and I opted for shorter. I figured I had another dry pair of socks. A half mile past this, I entered the water. I tried to stay on the beaver dam at the left edge but that only worked for a few yards, and then I had to either try to bushwhack around it, like I did when I backpacked here before, or go right into the water, like we did when Bob and I ran this way. I decided to plunge in. Pretty soon my boots were full of water. So I just kept going.
Within a half mile of the water, I could still feel water swashing around in my boots, and decided to try to dry things out a little before my feet got too torn up. I found a log in a sunny spot and took off my gaiters, socks and poured the water out of my boots. I used my wet socks to try to sop some of the water out of the boots. Then put on my last pair of dry socks, put the boots on, and got going. My feet were wet, but not squishing.
Now I just hiked along, keeping up my pace, hoping to get to the trailhead by 3:30. As I approached the blue tent from the west this time I didn't know what to expect. I had heard about 15 gun shots earlier in the day, while hiking on the Lost Lake trail, and I figured if that was a hunting camp, there might be hunters afoot. But there was no one visible, and no one shot at me. Down the trail past the tent, beyond the crest of the shoulder of Moose River Mountain, I saw a couple guys heading up the slope toward me. One was pulling a large, high-wheeled cart. The other was carrying a beer can. I stopped and talked with them for a while. They are brothers, one from Mexico, the other from Pulaski, who get a permit for their hunting camp, and have been coming in here for 40 years. They had been down the trail removing a blowdown from the trail, with their tools and lunch on the cart. We swapped stories for a while, and then I headed on. It was mostly downhill from here, except for where it was uphill.
I picked up my bottles at the junction, and signed out at the register. I was back to the parking lot by 3, with 13.5 miles for the day, in a little less than 6 hours of hiking time. I met a camouflaged hunter who inquired as to the whereabouts of the state land between the register and the lot. He was going in for a little pre-dusk black powder hunting.
Based on my trips to this area, and the fact that the only two lean-tos in the area are within 3 miles of NY28 and susceptible to pretenders getting in there for the weekend nights, I will probably not return to this area, unless it is to ski the 69 trail, or to run the 71-69 loop again. It's a nice peaceful area, just too many hunters and weekend novices for my interests.
