lumberzac
New member
Well I decided to take a break from the High Peaks this past weekend and take the opportunity for some seclusion with a hike through one of my favorite parts of the Adirondack Park, the West Canada Lakes Wilderness. My other objective of the weekend was to meet up with Pedxing as he thru hiked the Northville-Placid Trail and offer him a ride so he didn’t have to do the road walk between Wakely Dam and McCains resort.
Friday Night:
I arrived at Wakely around 7pm and was on the trail by 20 after. The first 4.4 miles where fairly easy as the trail first followed the Moose River Plains Road, before cutting into the woods along an old grown in logging road. Evening was quiet and I jumped a whitetail deer and two jackrabbits along the way. The first rabbit was absolutely huge and was close to bobcat size. I decided to press on when I reached the junction in the trail for the first lean-to, as it was still light out and I was feeling pretty good. The trail narrowed, but was still easy to follow which was a good thing because the dense forest and setting sun soon left me hiking in the dark. I arrived at the first Cedar Lakes lean-to at 10:30pm and found one other person inside. He told me to come on in (he told me the next morning that at first, with my headlamp on, he thought I was aliens here to take him away). I unpacked thermarest and sleeping bag and stashed my bear canister (I was glad I decided to take in at the last minute and not have to hang a bear bag in the dark).
Distance: 9.7 miles
Gain: 1250’
Loss: 910’
Saturday:
I woke up to the rustling of my lean-to mate packing up at about 5 the next morning. He and his companion that had slept in a tent close by, where on their way out to Wakely Dam and wanted to get on the trail early before things got hot and sticky. I got up, made some breakfast, and walked down to the lakeshore to watch and listen to the loons as they swam across the water.
After breakfast I packed up a daypack and continued heading south on the Northville-Placid Trail towards West Canada Lakes to meet up with Pedxing, who would be hiking from Spruce Lake to the south. The morning was beautiful and I enjoyed the sounds of birds chirping from the dense tree canopy high above. I jumped another whitetail early on and rain into another backpacker who was picking up camp towards the other end of the lake, but the highlight of the morning was the pine marten I saw. He was playing in the water of the outlet stream of Big West. At first I thought it was an otter, but when it looked at me, the pointed ears on the top of it’s head told me different. He rain into the brush only to poke his head out from behind a large pine tree and watched me. I tried taking a picture, but he was much too fast.
I continued on to the trail register at the West Canadas. This always seemed like an odd place to find a trail register due to the fact that the closest trailhead and road for that matter is about 6 to 7 miles away. I opened the register and checked to see if Ped had signed in. It was real hard to find out, the register was still on day one and the names dated back to mid March. I decided to check out the lakes and lean-tos in the area and do a little trout fishing. I didn’t have much luck with the fishing, but still had a good time. I then hiked back to the register and took a nap in the small clearing while I waited for Ped.
I woke up a little after noon and still no Pedxing. We had discussed earlier that if we missed each other we would meet up at the lean-to on Cedar Lakes, so I hiked back to camp. At camp I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with some “friends” (see my pictures). After I cooked dinner, I decided to go check out an old food cellar that was used back in the days when the area was a logging camp, which I had noticed the night before. As I started to make my way over, I heard some noise coming from the lean-to, and then saw someone walk down to the lake. Pedxing had arrived. I introduced myself and we sat around chatting for the remainder of the evening.
Distance: 15.2 miles
Gain: 1950’
Loss: 1950’
Sunday:
It was another beautiful morning at Cedar Lakes as we slowly packed up our belongings. We hit the trail fairly early and the morning dew on the brush and grasses had up both soaked after the first mile. The trail looked a lot different than it did Friday night; maybe it was because I could actually see more than 10 feet in front of me. The trail offered us a few views of the surrounding mountains when it came close to the Cedar River, which opened the forest up. We took a long break at the Carry lean-to while we made a vein attempted to dry our boots and socks that were wet from the muddy trail. We hiked the final leg back to Wakely Dam and gave Ped a ride down long dirt road. I dropped him off and we went our separate ways. Hopefully Pedxing has a great time hiking the rest of the trail. I know I wished I could have gone with him as I have fond memories from my thru hike through the Adirondack wilderness.
Distance: 9.7 miles
Gain: 910’
Loss: 1250’
Total trip:
Distance: 34.7 miles
Gain: 4110’
Loss: 4110’
Animal sightings:
3 whitetail deer
2 jackrabbits
1 pine marten
2 humming birds
at least 10 snakes hanging around the fire pit
about 12 loons
0 moose
Total other hikers seen: 8
Pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552330115RzTAKb
Friday Night:
I arrived at Wakely around 7pm and was on the trail by 20 after. The first 4.4 miles where fairly easy as the trail first followed the Moose River Plains Road, before cutting into the woods along an old grown in logging road. Evening was quiet and I jumped a whitetail deer and two jackrabbits along the way. The first rabbit was absolutely huge and was close to bobcat size. I decided to press on when I reached the junction in the trail for the first lean-to, as it was still light out and I was feeling pretty good. The trail narrowed, but was still easy to follow which was a good thing because the dense forest and setting sun soon left me hiking in the dark. I arrived at the first Cedar Lakes lean-to at 10:30pm and found one other person inside. He told me to come on in (he told me the next morning that at first, with my headlamp on, he thought I was aliens here to take him away). I unpacked thermarest and sleeping bag and stashed my bear canister (I was glad I decided to take in at the last minute and not have to hang a bear bag in the dark).
Distance: 9.7 miles
Gain: 1250’
Loss: 910’
Saturday:
I woke up to the rustling of my lean-to mate packing up at about 5 the next morning. He and his companion that had slept in a tent close by, where on their way out to Wakely Dam and wanted to get on the trail early before things got hot and sticky. I got up, made some breakfast, and walked down to the lakeshore to watch and listen to the loons as they swam across the water.
After breakfast I packed up a daypack and continued heading south on the Northville-Placid Trail towards West Canada Lakes to meet up with Pedxing, who would be hiking from Spruce Lake to the south. The morning was beautiful and I enjoyed the sounds of birds chirping from the dense tree canopy high above. I jumped another whitetail early on and rain into another backpacker who was picking up camp towards the other end of the lake, but the highlight of the morning was the pine marten I saw. He was playing in the water of the outlet stream of Big West. At first I thought it was an otter, but when it looked at me, the pointed ears on the top of it’s head told me different. He rain into the brush only to poke his head out from behind a large pine tree and watched me. I tried taking a picture, but he was much too fast.
I continued on to the trail register at the West Canadas. This always seemed like an odd place to find a trail register due to the fact that the closest trailhead and road for that matter is about 6 to 7 miles away. I opened the register and checked to see if Ped had signed in. It was real hard to find out, the register was still on day one and the names dated back to mid March. I decided to check out the lakes and lean-tos in the area and do a little trout fishing. I didn’t have much luck with the fishing, but still had a good time. I then hiked back to the register and took a nap in the small clearing while I waited for Ped.
I woke up a little after noon and still no Pedxing. We had discussed earlier that if we missed each other we would meet up at the lean-to on Cedar Lakes, so I hiked back to camp. At camp I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with some “friends” (see my pictures). After I cooked dinner, I decided to go check out an old food cellar that was used back in the days when the area was a logging camp, which I had noticed the night before. As I started to make my way over, I heard some noise coming from the lean-to, and then saw someone walk down to the lake. Pedxing had arrived. I introduced myself and we sat around chatting for the remainder of the evening.
Distance: 15.2 miles
Gain: 1950’
Loss: 1950’
Sunday:
It was another beautiful morning at Cedar Lakes as we slowly packed up our belongings. We hit the trail fairly early and the morning dew on the brush and grasses had up both soaked after the first mile. The trail looked a lot different than it did Friday night; maybe it was because I could actually see more than 10 feet in front of me. The trail offered us a few views of the surrounding mountains when it came close to the Cedar River, which opened the forest up. We took a long break at the Carry lean-to while we made a vein attempted to dry our boots and socks that were wet from the muddy trail. We hiked the final leg back to Wakely Dam and gave Ped a ride down long dirt road. I dropped him off and we went our separate ways. Hopefully Pedxing has a great time hiking the rest of the trail. I know I wished I could have gone with him as I have fond memories from my thru hike through the Adirondack wilderness.
Distance: 9.7 miles
Gain: 910’
Loss: 1250’
Total trip:
Distance: 34.7 miles
Gain: 4110’
Loss: 4110’
Animal sightings:
3 whitetail deer
2 jackrabbits
1 pine marten
2 humming birds
at least 10 snakes hanging around the fire pit
about 12 loons
0 moose
Total other hikers seen: 8
Pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552330115RzTAKb
