DSettahr
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Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/116537596394442741068/WoodhullLakeAndMountain#
As I work to finish the Adirondack Fire Tower Mountains, I decided that Woodhull Mountain would be done as an overnight hike. Not because it's a long hike to begin with (14+ miles round trip), but because I'd never been to the area and wanted to explore the vicinity in addition to climbing the mountain- Bear Lake, Woodhull Lake, and Remsen Falls were places on the map that looked interesting.
I got a late start on a Monday afternoon at the McKeever Parking area. There are two main trails that leave the parking area- one is an old road (the northern trail), while the other is a developed road for motor vehicle access to Remsen Falls and Woodhull Lake by people with disabilities (the southern route). I elected to take the northern route, which turned out to be a bit more scenic, to the trail that leads south to Bear Lake.
The Bear Lake trail was overall in good shape, although a bit muddy in spots. It was pretty apparent that it doesn't get much use. I arrived at Bear Lake just as the sun was beginning to set, and was treated to some nice late afternoon views of the lake from the north shore. I continued around to the east shore as darkness continued to fall, arriving at the new lean-to with only a few minutes of sunlight left. The new lean-to is very nice, no graffiti (yet), and it faces a decent sized glacial erratic against which the fire pit has been built. I was tempted to spend the night there, but as I wanted to get in as many miles as possible before camping for the night, I kept to my original plan and took the trail east from Bear Lake towards Woodhull Lake.
If I had thought that the trail to Bear Lake looked like it didn't get much use, it was only because I hadn't seen the trail connecting Bear Lake to Woodhull Lake yet. It was obvious that very few people ever traverse it. I did see a fair amount of flagging along the trail, but as it looked important (and as it looked like there had been some recent trail work done), I left it in place. As I approached Woodhull Lake, the trail climbed to the top of a low flat hill, and I could see the sun again through the trees- somehow, it reminded me of the movie The Blair Witch Project- just being alone in that hardwood forest that had not yet leafed out for the spring had a creepy feeling!
Despite not getting a lot of use, the trail was well marked and easy to follow. As it starts to descend to Woodhull Lake, there was one spot that was confusing for a second- on the map, the trail makes a 90 degree turn south. Here, a path continued straight, and I almost took the unmarked path without seeing the turn in the trail. I would guess that the unmarked path is a shortcut for "those in the know" who want to get to the northern shore of Woodhull Lake quickly without visiting the lean-to. Beyond the herd path, I passed by Bloodsucker Pond... the name made me glad that I wasn't swimming in, and that the bugs weren't quite out yet!
In contrast to the faint tread of the trail from Bear Lake, the snowmobile trail along the west shore of Woodhull Lake was like a highway, and it obviously gets a lot of use. I reached the lean-to just as the last bits of daylight were fading, and the stars were beginning to come out. The Woodhull Lake lean-to is what I like to refer to as a "party lean-to," as in a lean-to that is extra long and can easily fit 10 or more people. A quick glance in the register revealed that while some people camp at it during the summer months, most of the visitors are those who come by snowmobile in the winter. As I was tired, and wanted to get an early start the next day, I quickly cooked dinner and went to bed.
I awoke just as the first light of day was creeping up over the horizon. The lean-to on Woodhull Lake couldn't be more ideally situated for watching sunrise. The lean-to is practically in the lake (no more than 10 feet from the shore), and faces due east. Soon the sun was above the horizon, and I warmed up quickly as I packed up, despite the cool early morning air.
Before the sun was very high in the sky, I was back on the trail heading north. I quickly made it to the north shore of the lake, where the snowmobile trail joins the access road from McKeever to Wolf Landing on Woodhull Lake. I did drop my pack here and walk down to the landing to check it out- nothing special, but it is very nice that people with disabilities can have motor vehicle access to backcountry lakes like this one so that they can paddle on them.
I followed the access road back to the north, intending to rendezvous with one of the two trails that lead to Woodhull Mountain. According to newer maps, the southern trail has been abandoned, and while I kept my eyes out for it, I never saw anything that was obviously it. I did see an old road at one point, and I imagine that this must've been it. I did pass by numerous designated campsites along the access road, however. Some had signs clearly stating that a permit was needed to camp at them, and the entire area looks like its a popular spot to set up permit hunting camps in the fall.
It wasn't long before I'd made it to the second crossover trail that took me back to the north trail to Woodhull Mountain, and soon I was back on the old road heading east to the mountain itself. I had thought about dropping my pack somewhere (since I certainly didn't need to carry my overnight gear all the way up the mountain), but the going was flat and so easy that I kept it on for the time being. Indeed, the 3 or so miles that it took to traverse the old road to it's end went by much more quickly than I expected, even on foot.
Shortly before the end of the old road, I noticed an unmarked but obvious path that split off to the north. I followed this a short ways to a designated campsite. I had been unaware of any designated camping sites so close to Woodhull Mountain, and this one is certainly worth keeping in mind when one wants to plan a hike up Woodhull but doesn't want to do it all in one day. Certainly this would be the most convenient place to camp, since it's only about a mile an a half from the summit. It was obvious that this site, like the others I'd seen earlier that day, got a fair amount of use during hunting season. I also found another herd path that headed south out of the campsite which I followed a little ways before turning back. Some one has been keeping it in pretty good shape- I would guess that it probably eventually rendezvous with the old southern route to Woodhull Mountain somewhere, but I didn't follow it that far.
The old road ends in a clearing just before a decently sized stream. I dropped my pack here and continued on the way. The final mile and a half also obviously gets very little use- without the road to follow, in places I was forced to rely on the trail markers to make my way without losing the trail. Interestingly enough, it seems that there has been some disagreement as to which color markers to use on this trail- I saw red, blue, and yellow along the way! The climb up to the summit was pretty easy, and I was soon standing on the summit with the fire tower in front of me. The cab of the tower is unfortunately closed, but the stairs are open to visitors, and I was able to get some decent views from below the cab. To the north, I could see Rondaxe Mountain (my planned destination for that afternoon!). To the south, I could see Woodhull Lake, although the part of the lake on which the lean-to is located was hidden from view by some hills. To the west, I could see the Moose River, and to the east, I could see the mountains of the West Canada Lakes and the Moose River Plains region. Before leaving, I poked around a little bit, and found what I think is the foundations of the observer's cabin, although I wasn't entirely sure on that fact.
The descent went as quickly and easily as the ascent had been, and soon I had my pack back on my back, and was headed west back along the old road. Here I started to feel the miles in my feet... there is something about hiking on flat ground that wears out your feet much more quickly than ups and downs! Nevertheless, I still made good time on the old road. Just before I got back to the junction with the second crossover trail, I decided to stop and check out a small pond I'd seen from the road on my way in. I bushwhacked around to the west shore of the pond, and found a clearing with old bits of metal and what looked like logging equipment- presumably an old logging camp. In the middle of the clearing was an old milk jug, on which I could make out the words "Dairy CO" and "Brooklyn NY." Definitely an interesting find!
----------------------
Continued....
As I work to finish the Adirondack Fire Tower Mountains, I decided that Woodhull Mountain would be done as an overnight hike. Not because it's a long hike to begin with (14+ miles round trip), but because I'd never been to the area and wanted to explore the vicinity in addition to climbing the mountain- Bear Lake, Woodhull Lake, and Remsen Falls were places on the map that looked interesting.
I got a late start on a Monday afternoon at the McKeever Parking area. There are two main trails that leave the parking area- one is an old road (the northern trail), while the other is a developed road for motor vehicle access to Remsen Falls and Woodhull Lake by people with disabilities (the southern route). I elected to take the northern route, which turned out to be a bit more scenic, to the trail that leads south to Bear Lake.
The Bear Lake trail was overall in good shape, although a bit muddy in spots. It was pretty apparent that it doesn't get much use. I arrived at Bear Lake just as the sun was beginning to set, and was treated to some nice late afternoon views of the lake from the north shore. I continued around to the east shore as darkness continued to fall, arriving at the new lean-to with only a few minutes of sunlight left. The new lean-to is very nice, no graffiti (yet), and it faces a decent sized glacial erratic against which the fire pit has been built. I was tempted to spend the night there, but as I wanted to get in as many miles as possible before camping for the night, I kept to my original plan and took the trail east from Bear Lake towards Woodhull Lake.
If I had thought that the trail to Bear Lake looked like it didn't get much use, it was only because I hadn't seen the trail connecting Bear Lake to Woodhull Lake yet. It was obvious that very few people ever traverse it. I did see a fair amount of flagging along the trail, but as it looked important (and as it looked like there had been some recent trail work done), I left it in place. As I approached Woodhull Lake, the trail climbed to the top of a low flat hill, and I could see the sun again through the trees- somehow, it reminded me of the movie The Blair Witch Project- just being alone in that hardwood forest that had not yet leafed out for the spring had a creepy feeling!
Despite not getting a lot of use, the trail was well marked and easy to follow. As it starts to descend to Woodhull Lake, there was one spot that was confusing for a second- on the map, the trail makes a 90 degree turn south. Here, a path continued straight, and I almost took the unmarked path without seeing the turn in the trail. I would guess that the unmarked path is a shortcut for "those in the know" who want to get to the northern shore of Woodhull Lake quickly without visiting the lean-to. Beyond the herd path, I passed by Bloodsucker Pond... the name made me glad that I wasn't swimming in, and that the bugs weren't quite out yet!
In contrast to the faint tread of the trail from Bear Lake, the snowmobile trail along the west shore of Woodhull Lake was like a highway, and it obviously gets a lot of use. I reached the lean-to just as the last bits of daylight were fading, and the stars were beginning to come out. The Woodhull Lake lean-to is what I like to refer to as a "party lean-to," as in a lean-to that is extra long and can easily fit 10 or more people. A quick glance in the register revealed that while some people camp at it during the summer months, most of the visitors are those who come by snowmobile in the winter. As I was tired, and wanted to get an early start the next day, I quickly cooked dinner and went to bed.
I awoke just as the first light of day was creeping up over the horizon. The lean-to on Woodhull Lake couldn't be more ideally situated for watching sunrise. The lean-to is practically in the lake (no more than 10 feet from the shore), and faces due east. Soon the sun was above the horizon, and I warmed up quickly as I packed up, despite the cool early morning air.
Before the sun was very high in the sky, I was back on the trail heading north. I quickly made it to the north shore of the lake, where the snowmobile trail joins the access road from McKeever to Wolf Landing on Woodhull Lake. I did drop my pack here and walk down to the landing to check it out- nothing special, but it is very nice that people with disabilities can have motor vehicle access to backcountry lakes like this one so that they can paddle on them.
I followed the access road back to the north, intending to rendezvous with one of the two trails that lead to Woodhull Mountain. According to newer maps, the southern trail has been abandoned, and while I kept my eyes out for it, I never saw anything that was obviously it. I did see an old road at one point, and I imagine that this must've been it. I did pass by numerous designated campsites along the access road, however. Some had signs clearly stating that a permit was needed to camp at them, and the entire area looks like its a popular spot to set up permit hunting camps in the fall.
It wasn't long before I'd made it to the second crossover trail that took me back to the north trail to Woodhull Mountain, and soon I was back on the old road heading east to the mountain itself. I had thought about dropping my pack somewhere (since I certainly didn't need to carry my overnight gear all the way up the mountain), but the going was flat and so easy that I kept it on for the time being. Indeed, the 3 or so miles that it took to traverse the old road to it's end went by much more quickly than I expected, even on foot.
Shortly before the end of the old road, I noticed an unmarked but obvious path that split off to the north. I followed this a short ways to a designated campsite. I had been unaware of any designated camping sites so close to Woodhull Mountain, and this one is certainly worth keeping in mind when one wants to plan a hike up Woodhull but doesn't want to do it all in one day. Certainly this would be the most convenient place to camp, since it's only about a mile an a half from the summit. It was obvious that this site, like the others I'd seen earlier that day, got a fair amount of use during hunting season. I also found another herd path that headed south out of the campsite which I followed a little ways before turning back. Some one has been keeping it in pretty good shape- I would guess that it probably eventually rendezvous with the old southern route to Woodhull Mountain somewhere, but I didn't follow it that far.
The old road ends in a clearing just before a decently sized stream. I dropped my pack here and continued on the way. The final mile and a half also obviously gets very little use- without the road to follow, in places I was forced to rely on the trail markers to make my way without losing the trail. Interestingly enough, it seems that there has been some disagreement as to which color markers to use on this trail- I saw red, blue, and yellow along the way! The climb up to the summit was pretty easy, and I was soon standing on the summit with the fire tower in front of me. The cab of the tower is unfortunately closed, but the stairs are open to visitors, and I was able to get some decent views from below the cab. To the north, I could see Rondaxe Mountain (my planned destination for that afternoon!). To the south, I could see Woodhull Lake, although the part of the lake on which the lean-to is located was hidden from view by some hills. To the west, I could see the Moose River, and to the east, I could see the mountains of the West Canada Lakes and the Moose River Plains region. Before leaving, I poked around a little bit, and found what I think is the foundations of the observer's cabin, although I wasn't entirely sure on that fact.
The descent went as quickly and easily as the ascent had been, and soon I had my pack back on my back, and was headed west back along the old road. Here I started to feel the miles in my feet... there is something about hiking on flat ground that wears out your feet much more quickly than ups and downs! Nevertheless, I still made good time on the old road. Just before I got back to the junction with the second crossover trail, I decided to stop and check out a small pond I'd seen from the road on my way in. I bushwhacked around to the west shore of the pond, and found a clearing with old bits of metal and what looked like logging equipment- presumably an old logging camp. In the middle of the clearing was an old milk jug, on which I could make out the words "Dairy CO" and "Brooklyn NY." Definitely an interesting find!
----------------------
Continued....
