Moose and McKenzie 5/29/6

[Tom Rankin]

Laurie and I left Poughkeepsie at 4:30 and were on the trail for M/M by 8:30. The traffic was almost non-existant, but the rain came down pretty hard in places. We were worried we would walk all day in the rain. But it never rained on us while we hiked. We wandered around for a little while in the camps at the end of Chipmunk Lane, but soon found the trail with help from a friendly resident. He was the only person we would see until we returned to the car!

The Shore Owners Association has a network of trails around Lake Placid and the nearby mountains. The trails are very well marked with SOA markers, and even had several mileage markers in the middle of nowhere to the next waypoint. Springs and views points were also mentioned on signs. There is a spring .4 miles off the trail between M/M if you're really thirsty. There is water in quite a few other places, generally below 3,200 feet.

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Unfortunately, the trails were filled with quite a bit of what appeared to be very recent blowdown. Green needles were still on many of the fallen trees. The trails seem to wander around needlessly, but a trail is better than no trail, and there is ample evidence of recent maintenance, so our thanks to whoever is still maintaining these trails!

After leaving the Lake Trail, we wound our way up to McKenzie, but first we came to Bartlett Pond. This is fairly large pond, maybe 500' across. The beavers have been very busy here, and have raised the water level at least 2 feet!

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There is an old rowboat along the shore with a large gash in the bottom!

Right after the pond, the trail turns sharply upward, and climbs about 1,000 in .6 miles. Near the top, there is a junction to head over to Moose. At this point, we dropped our packs, and summited McKenzie, which was only .2 miles away. The views were pretty good considering the clouds were fairly low.

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Heading over to Moose is 3.1 miles, even though it would be much less on a straight shot. We lost the trail a few times, mostly due to abrupt turns that are not easy to spot. But we eventually made it over to Moose, having gone over a few small bumps. The trail dips 600' at the most in between the 2 summits.

Moose has a few small bumps on top, but you have to traverse them all to continue the loop, so we must have found the peak somewhere. There are several view spots, and again we had decent views considering the weather.

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Leaving the summit, you soon come to a choice: visit Loch Bonnie or not. We decided to go to the Loch. You end up down at another fairly large pond, with a leanto and grassy meadows on one side. There were tons of peeper frogs 'singing' to us! There were also quite a few birds out on the trails, most of which were heard, but not seen. After leaving the loch side, you have to climb back up a stream bed (this was unusual) to the main trail that descends to the Lake! I was expecting to hear maniacal laughter and see Pete Hickey and Pete Fish jump out from behind a tree with large sharp power tools!

After getting back on the main trail, we wound our way back to the lake side. The flies were very bad on the last section, maybe because it had finally warmed up and a lot of the trail was in a tiny stream bed.

The total trip is about 10 miles, with about 3,000' of elevation gain. We hadn't done a trip like this in a while, so we were a little whupped at the end of the day, but some Frostbite soon helped us feel better!

 

[AntlerPeak]

Nice Tr Tom. We did that loop in reverse last year. Up the Two Brooks Trail to Moose then across the ridge to McKenzie. We backed off McKenzie and down the Barlett Trail.

You are right about the blowdown we did not encounter any when there. There was a "confused area" around Barlett Pond, or was it confused hikers?. We must have run into the same resident you did as we wandered around that parking area at the end of Chipmonk Lane for quite awhile until some elderly fellow came out of a house. He walked us across his lawn and pointed out the trail, at any rate great trip

 

[mavs00]

Hiked it, liked it.... Took lots of PICTURES .

A true Adirondack gem often overlooked in favor of higher places. Very nice report.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Nice Tr Tom. We did that loop in reverse last year. Up the Two Brooks Trail to Moose then across the ridge to McKenzie. We backed off McKenzie and down the Barlett Trail.

You are right about the blowdown we did not encounter any when there. There was a "confused area" around Barlett Pond, or was it confused hikers?. We must have run into the same resident you did as we wandered around that parking area at the end of Chipmonk Lane for quite awhile until some elderly fellow came out of a house. He walked us across his lawn and pointed out the trail, at any rate great trip

Yup, there are some very steep sections on those 2 peaks, and I think we mostly ended up going down the worst of them by choosing the route we did.

The Bartlett Pond area was very straight forward.

Must have been a different guy, this man was about 50, smoking a cig, unloading his car. He seemed to know what we were talking about and pointed us to the correct path.

One good way to avoid the confusion is this:

- Take the left-most of the 2 paved driveways that come off the cul-de-sac.
- Walk straight towards the lake. Turn left just before the lake and walk past all the houses. There are a few plastic markers down here, but they are faded.
- When all the camps/houses end, bear left and up, away from the Lake, (still on a trail), and you will see the signs that others have talked about.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Hiked it, liked it.... Took lots of PICTURES .

A true Adirondack gem often overlooked in favor of higher places. Very nice report.

Thanks, it was partly because of your recommendation that we went. Your pics make me want to go back!

 

[moose_mckenzie]

These two peaks are among my favorite hikes in the Park. when the SOA trail from Moose to Mk was first cut (incidently by ONE person), it was akin to the herd paths on the High Peaks in the '80's. There was moss underfoot and a couple of under-and-overs.

I usually have zero problem parking; a friend who lives nearby told me where to park. The trailhead is along the lake, past the beach.

As many times as these peaks will be written up in local press, people keep focusing on the same goals -- the 46'ers. No time soon are Moose & MK or any other under 46'er going to become the main draw.

Moose

 

[Tom Rankin]

These two peaks are among my favorite hikes in the Park. when the SOA trail from Moose to Mk was first cut (incidently by ONE person), it was akin to the herd paths on the High Peaks in the '80's. There was moss underfoot and a couple of under-and-overs.

What a surprise that you would like those 2 peaks!

The trail is very soft, and there's *STILL* moss underfoot in places. And it sure does wind around a lot!

 

[moose_mckenzie]

Well, I also like Jay and Hurricane, but this board already has a "Jay H" ;^))

Moose

 

[spongebob]

Well, we could get rid of JayH for you. He is played out anyways.