DSettahr
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Pictures Here
Both Anna and I had to work on Saturday afternoon, so we opted for an easy overnight trip into Pharaoh Lake for Friday night.
We arrived at the trailhead at about 5:30 to find two other cars parked there. Having a low-clearance car, we opted to park at the farthest "legal" spot down the road, and avoid risking bottoming out on one of the numerous rocks sticking out from the road between the edge of the wilderness area and the "illegal" parking area down near the Pharaoh Lake Outlet crossing. On the hike in, we passed a van from a college parked along the road- perhaps there was an outing club on a trip back into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness? We never saw them though, so who knows. The road down to the Pharaoh Lake Outlet crossing is in pretty rough shape... due to the fact that it still gets a fair amount of truck use, and has not received maintenance (presumably due to the fact that it is technically closed) it has numerous muddy spots with deep standing water.
We arrived at the "illegal" parking area to find it packed with 11 pickup trucks (I don't recall seeing a single vehicle that was not a pickup truck). At first I was a little concerned that we would run into large crowds at Pharaoh Lake, but rationality quickly made me realize that each of these pickup trucks probably had only carried at most 2 occupants to the trailhead, and most of them had probably had brought 1 person each.
The trail into Pharaoh Lake from beyond the outlet crossing is mostly in excellent shape. There's a few muddy spots here and there, and herd paths have developed around them, but the majority of the trail is easy, gentle walking. On our way in, we passed a young couple hiking in at a pretty slow pace with headnets on. We never saw them again, hopefully they made it in alright and found a good spot to stay at before darkness overtook them.
We did get some nice views of Pharaoh Mountain at the campsite about halfway in. Just past this campsite (and the second crossing of the Outlet) we ran into a solitary hiker with an enormous amount of gear- coolers, fold up cots, a massive tent, and large military surplus packs. Apparently, his group had been carrying most of there gear in on a cart, which had broken it's axle and been rendered useless. He was tasked with watching the gear while the rest pushed on to Pharaoh Lake- apparently they planned to shuttle gear back and forth by hand to the lake. They had been planning on paddling to and staying at Pharaoh Lake #4, the lean-to by Split Rock Bay on the northeast shore of Pharaoh Lake.
Upon reaching the outlet of Pharaoh Lake, we took the trail around the south side of the lake. We quickly came upon a nice designated campsite in the middle of what looked like an old foundation- is this where the Ranger Station was formerly located? It was quite close to the outlet.
Just beyond the camp site, we reached the first lean-to. It was occupied by about 6 or 7 guys (presumably responsible for some of the pickup trucks at the trailhead), one of whom prominently was sporting a 46ers hat... they had several tents set up next to the lean-to. We chatted with them for a few minutes before moving on.
We arrived at the second lean-to to find it empty. The second lean-to is of a dying breed of shelter that I like to refer to as "party lean-tos." It was easily large enough to fit at least 15 people comfortably, and probably up to 20 in a pinch. I know of only two other lean-tos that are this size (or larger): The one at Watch Rock (also on Pharaoh Lake) and one of the lean-tos at Marcy Dam. The lean-to was set back a little ways from the lake, but a short walk of about 30 feet or so brought you down to some rock ledges along the shore with really nice views of the lake, Pharaoh Mountain, and the sunset. We had originally planned on staying at Pharaoh Lake #3, farther east along the shore, but given the approaching darkness and the possibility of arriving to find a large group there, we opted to stay in #2 instead. (Lean-to number 77 for me!)
With nightfall came the light of numerous campfires along the shore. On my first trip to Pharaoh Lake, I stayed at Watch Rock, and I remember at night being able to see multiple campfires all along the shoreline, and this night was no different. We could see the light of two fires across the shore at lean-to #5 as well as the Watch Rock Lean-to, and another fire from a group that was camped out just east of us along the shore. The bugs, which had been bothersome (particularly the black flies) at the trailhead, were non-existent at Pharaoh Lake. We had brought bug nets to sleep under, but never needed them.
We arose early the next morning, as we needed to be back in Albany by 2 pm, and wanted to hike around the lake before heading out. I'd previously visited both the east and west shores of Pharaoh Lake on separate trips, but had never hiked the loop around the whole lake. The trail along the south shore was pretty flat, and in many places crossed open rocks. We passed another designated campsite about midway along the south shore, in which two guys were asleep beneath a tarp. We also passed numerous old fire rings and campsites, most of which were illegally located.
We arrived at the third lean-to to find it empty... oh well. I'd not stayed in the second lean-to yet anyways, and pushing on would have certainly meant hiking in the dark, so no big loss. Beyond the third lean-to, the trail got pretty overgrown and poorly marked in some spots. This was a trend that would continue until we reached the Pharaoh Mountain trail all the way back on the northwest shore. The trail around the far end of Pharaoh Lake is in desperate need of some side trimming and better marking. Very few large blowdowns, however, which was good. In contrast to the flat trail on the southern shore, the rest of the loop had some ups and downs, nothing major, but still making for slightly slower going.
The bridge over the stream from Wolf Pond is out, but we had no difficulty rock hoping across. As I made my was across, I saw something interesting in the stream, so I took a closer look... and realized that it was a very large snapping turtle. The shell was about a foot and a half across, and the tail was at least a foot long. I'd often seen big ones down south in Georgia, but rarely in New York. After taking a couple of pictures, we gave him a wide berth (they can move incredibly fast) and moved on.
We made our way to the fourth lean-to near Split Rock Bay, which was also empty. It was apparent that the group with the broken cart never made it there. I opened the log book to find an entry from my visit the previous summer on a loop around Treadway Mountain from the Short Swing Trail.
Most maps don't show a trail connecting the Long Swing Trail with the Pharaoh Mountain, but it's there, marked with blue markers. This was probably the most overgrown section of trail, and the section most in need of some maintenance and marking.
After returning to the outlet of the lake, we headed back to the trailhead. Along the way, we ran into the broken cart group again- camped out right next to the trail, with a fire going right on top of the duff layer. Apparently, after realizing that they were never going to be able to carry their gear in to Pharaoh Lake by hand, they opted to camp out right where they were.
On the way back, we also passed three young guys hiking in for an overnight trip... one of whom only had a day pack and was carrying his sleeping bag in his arms.
The rest of the hike back was uneventful. This was my fourth visit into the Pharaoh Lake area, and some things are starting to become pretty apparent to me about this area: The west shore of Pharaoh Lake is extremely popular, and gets a lot of use and impact. Not only have I encountered large numbers of people there, the number of lean-tos and campsites in this area attests to its popularity. We also found very little firewood near the lean-to, and I'm hard pressed to think of a similar area that I know of outside the High Peaks that has been impacted as badly. This is probably due to the ease of access, as the trail in is pretty flat and not too long.
In contrast, I have found that the eastern shore of Pharaoh Lake, as well as all of the other numerous ponds and lean-tos in the wilderness area, receive significantly less use. Something to think about when planning future trips into this area.
Both Anna and I had to work on Saturday afternoon, so we opted for an easy overnight trip into Pharaoh Lake for Friday night.
We arrived at the trailhead at about 5:30 to find two other cars parked there. Having a low-clearance car, we opted to park at the farthest "legal" spot down the road, and avoid risking bottoming out on one of the numerous rocks sticking out from the road between the edge of the wilderness area and the "illegal" parking area down near the Pharaoh Lake Outlet crossing. On the hike in, we passed a van from a college parked along the road- perhaps there was an outing club on a trip back into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness? We never saw them though, so who knows. The road down to the Pharaoh Lake Outlet crossing is in pretty rough shape... due to the fact that it still gets a fair amount of truck use, and has not received maintenance (presumably due to the fact that it is technically closed) it has numerous muddy spots with deep standing water.
We arrived at the "illegal" parking area to find it packed with 11 pickup trucks (I don't recall seeing a single vehicle that was not a pickup truck). At first I was a little concerned that we would run into large crowds at Pharaoh Lake, but rationality quickly made me realize that each of these pickup trucks probably had only carried at most 2 occupants to the trailhead, and most of them had probably had brought 1 person each.
The trail into Pharaoh Lake from beyond the outlet crossing is mostly in excellent shape. There's a few muddy spots here and there, and herd paths have developed around them, but the majority of the trail is easy, gentle walking. On our way in, we passed a young couple hiking in at a pretty slow pace with headnets on. We never saw them again, hopefully they made it in alright and found a good spot to stay at before darkness overtook them.
We did get some nice views of Pharaoh Mountain at the campsite about halfway in. Just past this campsite (and the second crossing of the Outlet) we ran into a solitary hiker with an enormous amount of gear- coolers, fold up cots, a massive tent, and large military surplus packs. Apparently, his group had been carrying most of there gear in on a cart, which had broken it's axle and been rendered useless. He was tasked with watching the gear while the rest pushed on to Pharaoh Lake- apparently they planned to shuttle gear back and forth by hand to the lake. They had been planning on paddling to and staying at Pharaoh Lake #4, the lean-to by Split Rock Bay on the northeast shore of Pharaoh Lake.
Upon reaching the outlet of Pharaoh Lake, we took the trail around the south side of the lake. We quickly came upon a nice designated campsite in the middle of what looked like an old foundation- is this where the Ranger Station was formerly located? It was quite close to the outlet.
Just beyond the camp site, we reached the first lean-to. It was occupied by about 6 or 7 guys (presumably responsible for some of the pickup trucks at the trailhead), one of whom prominently was sporting a 46ers hat... they had several tents set up next to the lean-to. We chatted with them for a few minutes before moving on.
We arrived at the second lean-to to find it empty. The second lean-to is of a dying breed of shelter that I like to refer to as "party lean-tos." It was easily large enough to fit at least 15 people comfortably, and probably up to 20 in a pinch. I know of only two other lean-tos that are this size (or larger): The one at Watch Rock (also on Pharaoh Lake) and one of the lean-tos at Marcy Dam. The lean-to was set back a little ways from the lake, but a short walk of about 30 feet or so brought you down to some rock ledges along the shore with really nice views of the lake, Pharaoh Mountain, and the sunset. We had originally planned on staying at Pharaoh Lake #3, farther east along the shore, but given the approaching darkness and the possibility of arriving to find a large group there, we opted to stay in #2 instead. (Lean-to number 77 for me!)
With nightfall came the light of numerous campfires along the shore. On my first trip to Pharaoh Lake, I stayed at Watch Rock, and I remember at night being able to see multiple campfires all along the shoreline, and this night was no different. We could see the light of two fires across the shore at lean-to #5 as well as the Watch Rock Lean-to, and another fire from a group that was camped out just east of us along the shore. The bugs, which had been bothersome (particularly the black flies) at the trailhead, were non-existent at Pharaoh Lake. We had brought bug nets to sleep under, but never needed them.
We arose early the next morning, as we needed to be back in Albany by 2 pm, and wanted to hike around the lake before heading out. I'd previously visited both the east and west shores of Pharaoh Lake on separate trips, but had never hiked the loop around the whole lake. The trail along the south shore was pretty flat, and in many places crossed open rocks. We passed another designated campsite about midway along the south shore, in which two guys were asleep beneath a tarp. We also passed numerous old fire rings and campsites, most of which were illegally located.
We arrived at the third lean-to to find it empty... oh well. I'd not stayed in the second lean-to yet anyways, and pushing on would have certainly meant hiking in the dark, so no big loss. Beyond the third lean-to, the trail got pretty overgrown and poorly marked in some spots. This was a trend that would continue until we reached the Pharaoh Mountain trail all the way back on the northwest shore. The trail around the far end of Pharaoh Lake is in desperate need of some side trimming and better marking. Very few large blowdowns, however, which was good. In contrast to the flat trail on the southern shore, the rest of the loop had some ups and downs, nothing major, but still making for slightly slower going.
The bridge over the stream from Wolf Pond is out, but we had no difficulty rock hoping across. As I made my was across, I saw something interesting in the stream, so I took a closer look... and realized that it was a very large snapping turtle. The shell was about a foot and a half across, and the tail was at least a foot long. I'd often seen big ones down south in Georgia, but rarely in New York. After taking a couple of pictures, we gave him a wide berth (they can move incredibly fast) and moved on.
We made our way to the fourth lean-to near Split Rock Bay, which was also empty. It was apparent that the group with the broken cart never made it there. I opened the log book to find an entry from my visit the previous summer on a loop around Treadway Mountain from the Short Swing Trail.
Most maps don't show a trail connecting the Long Swing Trail with the Pharaoh Mountain, but it's there, marked with blue markers. This was probably the most overgrown section of trail, and the section most in need of some maintenance and marking.
After returning to the outlet of the lake, we headed back to the trailhead. Along the way, we ran into the broken cart group again- camped out right next to the trail, with a fire going right on top of the duff layer. Apparently, after realizing that they were never going to be able to carry their gear in to Pharaoh Lake by hand, they opted to camp out right where they were.
On the way back, we also passed three young guys hiking in for an overnight trip... one of whom only had a day pack and was carrying his sleeping bag in his arms.
The rest of the hike back was uneventful. This was my fourth visit into the Pharaoh Lake area, and some things are starting to become pretty apparent to me about this area: The west shore of Pharaoh Lake is extremely popular, and gets a lot of use and impact. Not only have I encountered large numbers of people there, the number of lean-tos and campsites in this area attests to its popularity. We also found very little firewood near the lean-to, and I'm hard pressed to think of a similar area that I know of outside the High Peaks that has been impacted as badly. This is probably due to the ease of access, as the trail in is pretty flat and not too long.
In contrast, I have found that the eastern shore of Pharaoh Lake, as well as all of the other numerous ponds and lean-tos in the wilderness area, receive significantly less use. Something to think about when planning future trips into this area.
