A friend and I are planning to do the CL50 later this year and as our first hike to get us into the swing of things I took him to Lake George Wild Forest. I've never been, but have been studying maps and wanted to scout it for a possible one or two night backpacking trip later, so off we went. From Albany, I wanted to take 4/32 to 22 to 6 instead of the highway, for the scenery, and the plan was to stop at the Big Apple outside of Whitehall for breakfast around 7:30am before hitting the trailhead. Due to poor planning by both of us the night before and some atrocious driving on my part we were a bit delayed and ended up stopping at Eli's in Schuylerville (delicious and friendly) and signing into the register at 9:05am. Not terrible.
The plan I had mapped out was this: instead of doing the short Black Mountain loop from Pike Brook Rd, that goes up and over Black, taking the left past Black Mountain, Round, and Lapland Ponds before heading north back to the parking lot, I wanted to go up and over Black, then take a right, down to Black Mountain Point, then follow the shore south a bit and turn up the Fishbrook trail, along the north side of Fishbrook Pond, then north past Millman and Lapland and back to the car. Maps put this at just over 12 miles.
To give a little background to what follows, we're moderately experienced hikers. He's done the Devil's Path and a few other peaks. I've done a few high peaks, including a torturous scramble up East Dix from 73. The last hike we did together was Cascade & Porter, hungover and full of bacon grease. Neither of us will ever set any records, but we can get where we're going and this wasn't our first rodeo, though we have a lot of room for improvement. I expected about 8 hours with breaks but wanted to budget 10, which we had time for.
The approach to Black was calm and uneventful. Only three other vehicles were in the lot and we were the first to sign in that morning. Once we got off the access road and onto the trail, there were plenty of muddy sections where the trail had been widened, and so many red efts I probably stepped on a few without even noticing them. We hit the first junction quickly and began the climb up Black, which was nowhere near as strenuous I as I expected based on the Discover guide (thanks for a great text, Bill I.!). The windmill is still doing its thing, and best of all no black flies. In fact we had no black flies and just a few mosquitoes the entire day. Did I mention it was 70's and partly cloudy? If you weren't in the Lake George Wild Forest today I feel bad for you son, I have 99 problems but trail conditions ain't one.
On the way down the other side, we met a group of three heading up. Overall our day was extremely quiet and we had practically the entire length of the loop to ourselves. Now, I can hike and scramble uphill all day, I might slow my pace a bit eventually (like a Buick I'm built for comfort, not speed), but I won't get too sore. Downhill is where my knees start complaining, and according Discover, Black Mountain summit to Black Mountain Point is a 2,320ft elevation difference. My left knee agrees. This was a brutal descent for me, and I admit that I'm probably doing something wrong with my body mechanics or other factors. But there were some stunning views, particularly of the south of Lake George and Black Mountain/Round/Lapland ponds. Leaves are fully out, partially occluding the views, but they're still breathtaking. I'm excited about visiting again in fall. Maybe winter?
We got to Black Mountain Point just before noon, great timing for lunch. The day use area is excellent; it makes for a perfect break for a meal on this loop, with outhouses (though one has been crushed by a tree) and plenty of space for multiple groups. As we were eating a motorboat pulled in with with the advance guard of a 20-strong group celebrating an 80th birthday. The point we were on was a bit windy for them and they found one of the other picnic table clusters to their liking. After about forty minutes we hauled our packs back on and headed for the Fishbrook-Lake George Trail, and the most interesting part of the hike.
This trail is, how should I gently put it, very little used. And challenging. It's a strenuous trail at best, and tested our mettle as moderate hikers after the long descent to the point. We slowed our pace and picked our way from trail marker to trail marker, which were few and far between. The trail on the ground virtually disappears under the leaf litter covering the entire forest floor, and the lack of traffic obscures the typical wear signs of a trail that novice hikers depend on. Taking it slow and scanning carefully, we never lost the trail, but I definitely saw the need to practice my orienteering skills. To compound the issue, there is heavy blowdown in spots; we laughed at the snowmobile trail markers as it would be impossible to ride this, let alone groom it.
But, there's a huge reward here. If you want to feel like you're in a true wild forest and see a side of the park that not many others get to, this is your trail. It is not easy for someone of my skill and fitness level, but I found myself often slowing down just to look around and marvel the scene around us.
I had brought only a Nalegene with water and my friend only a couple of 2/3rd liter bottles, so we took a break just before the junction of the Erebus trail to pump water in a cascading stream. The hardest part was over by then, though there was still a climb and a hike to Fishbrook. This was where we saw likely the most interesting scene of the day. There's a small beaver pond just west of Fishbrook, and rounding it we heard a strange rustling in the brush. It turned out to be a large brood of mallard ducklings who we had spooked, along with the mother. The babies slipped into the pond and bolted in one direction, while the mother went perpendicular to them, flailing in the water. She was playing lame, thinking we were predators (I do love roast duck), enticing us to chase the wounded adult instead of her clutch. Just beautiful; we trod as gingerly as we could through, but it just put the exclamation point on how infrequently traveled this path is. There were baby ducks literally on the trail!
When we got to Fishbrook, we saw a couple in a guideboat, and reaching the lean to, the other two members of their party with a nice fire going. And two tents set up directly on the trail, next to the lean to. But, they were fairly nice folks and this area looks so heavily impacted that tents next to the lean to might be better than tents somewhere a few hundred feet away - at least they aren't creating herd paths off the trail. I don't know, my feelings were mixed, but I didn't say anything about it, and they even offered to let us relax with them before we moved on. Super nice folks.
From there on out the trail is relatively flat, which leads me to: if you want to do this loop, I highly recommend this counterclockwise direction. You get to glide out of the forest after finishing the hard stuff; I can't imagine what descending Black would have been like after the hike down to the lake and back up.
At the Millman Pond lean to we saw something that did bother me, but again I couldn't muster the gumption to say anything. A group plenty over the size limit for overnights, with several tents set up next to the lean to and the trail, just owning the place. It looked like some kind of youth group outing, so again I looked on the bright side: these kids probably aren't getting out into the woods any other way, and hopefully the experience will lead them to learning more respect and better practices.
On the remaining walk past Lapland and to the Black junction we saw our only other hiking group, who we passed on our push to the car. We signed out, seeing six other groups who had come and left while we were out, and I enjoyed the heavenly feeling of changing socks. We finished in almost exactly 7.5 hours, for a respectable moving average of around 2mph. The GPS said we had done a total of 2,715ft of elevation gain! I'm not sure how accurate that is, I have to actually check the track, but my knees tell me it's about right.
On the ride home we grabbed dinner at a bar & grill in Whitehall and had some extremely interesting conversation with the staff and other patrons. I dreaded the drive back, knowing how stiff my knees would get, and when I dropped off my friend around 8pm I had a call from a roommate who I had left trip details and instructions to. "Are you stuck under a rock? Did you cut off your arm?" Thankfully no problems on this long loop in unfamiliar territory. When I got home, I had to take the three flights of steps to my bedroom one at a time, but after some icing it's getting better. I'll probably shelf my plans to hit the Tongue range tomorrow. Probably.
In short, the LGWF is a great resource for those coming to the Adirondacks from the capitol region or Hudson Valley, and this is an excellent long day for anyone who is up for a strenuous hike. I look forward to trying it again, what a gorgeous trail network.
A short slideshow of photos from the trip.
The plan I had mapped out was this: instead of doing the short Black Mountain loop from Pike Brook Rd, that goes up and over Black, taking the left past Black Mountain, Round, and Lapland Ponds before heading north back to the parking lot, I wanted to go up and over Black, then take a right, down to Black Mountain Point, then follow the shore south a bit and turn up the Fishbrook trail, along the north side of Fishbrook Pond, then north past Millman and Lapland and back to the car. Maps put this at just over 12 miles.
To give a little background to what follows, we're moderately experienced hikers. He's done the Devil's Path and a few other peaks. I've done a few high peaks, including a torturous scramble up East Dix from 73. The last hike we did together was Cascade & Porter, hungover and full of bacon grease. Neither of us will ever set any records, but we can get where we're going and this wasn't our first rodeo, though we have a lot of room for improvement. I expected about 8 hours with breaks but wanted to budget 10, which we had time for.
The approach to Black was calm and uneventful. Only three other vehicles were in the lot and we were the first to sign in that morning. Once we got off the access road and onto the trail, there were plenty of muddy sections where the trail had been widened, and so many red efts I probably stepped on a few without even noticing them. We hit the first junction quickly and began the climb up Black, which was nowhere near as strenuous I as I expected based on the Discover guide (thanks for a great text, Bill I.!). The windmill is still doing its thing, and best of all no black flies. In fact we had no black flies and just a few mosquitoes the entire day. Did I mention it was 70's and partly cloudy? If you weren't in the Lake George Wild Forest today I feel bad for you son, I have 99 problems but trail conditions ain't one.
On the way down the other side, we met a group of three heading up. Overall our day was extremely quiet and we had practically the entire length of the loop to ourselves. Now, I can hike and scramble uphill all day, I might slow my pace a bit eventually (like a Buick I'm built for comfort, not speed), but I won't get too sore. Downhill is where my knees start complaining, and according Discover, Black Mountain summit to Black Mountain Point is a 2,320ft elevation difference. My left knee agrees. This was a brutal descent for me, and I admit that I'm probably doing something wrong with my body mechanics or other factors. But there were some stunning views, particularly of the south of Lake George and Black Mountain/Round/Lapland ponds. Leaves are fully out, partially occluding the views, but they're still breathtaking. I'm excited about visiting again in fall. Maybe winter?
We got to Black Mountain Point just before noon, great timing for lunch. The day use area is excellent; it makes for a perfect break for a meal on this loop, with outhouses (though one has been crushed by a tree) and plenty of space for multiple groups. As we were eating a motorboat pulled in with with the advance guard of a 20-strong group celebrating an 80th birthday. The point we were on was a bit windy for them and they found one of the other picnic table clusters to their liking. After about forty minutes we hauled our packs back on and headed for the Fishbrook-Lake George Trail, and the most interesting part of the hike.
This trail is, how should I gently put it, very little used. And challenging. It's a strenuous trail at best, and tested our mettle as moderate hikers after the long descent to the point. We slowed our pace and picked our way from trail marker to trail marker, which were few and far between. The trail on the ground virtually disappears under the leaf litter covering the entire forest floor, and the lack of traffic obscures the typical wear signs of a trail that novice hikers depend on. Taking it slow and scanning carefully, we never lost the trail, but I definitely saw the need to practice my orienteering skills. To compound the issue, there is heavy blowdown in spots; we laughed at the snowmobile trail markers as it would be impossible to ride this, let alone groom it.
But, there's a huge reward here. If you want to feel like you're in a true wild forest and see a side of the park that not many others get to, this is your trail. It is not easy for someone of my skill and fitness level, but I found myself often slowing down just to look around and marvel the scene around us.
I had brought only a Nalegene with water and my friend only a couple of 2/3rd liter bottles, so we took a break just before the junction of the Erebus trail to pump water in a cascading stream. The hardest part was over by then, though there was still a climb and a hike to Fishbrook. This was where we saw likely the most interesting scene of the day. There's a small beaver pond just west of Fishbrook, and rounding it we heard a strange rustling in the brush. It turned out to be a large brood of mallard ducklings who we had spooked, along with the mother. The babies slipped into the pond and bolted in one direction, while the mother went perpendicular to them, flailing in the water. She was playing lame, thinking we were predators (I do love roast duck), enticing us to chase the wounded adult instead of her clutch. Just beautiful; we trod as gingerly as we could through, but it just put the exclamation point on how infrequently traveled this path is. There were baby ducks literally on the trail!
When we got to Fishbrook, we saw a couple in a guideboat, and reaching the lean to, the other two members of their party with a nice fire going. And two tents set up directly on the trail, next to the lean to. But, they were fairly nice folks and this area looks so heavily impacted that tents next to the lean to might be better than tents somewhere a few hundred feet away - at least they aren't creating herd paths off the trail. I don't know, my feelings were mixed, but I didn't say anything about it, and they even offered to let us relax with them before we moved on. Super nice folks.
From there on out the trail is relatively flat, which leads me to: if you want to do this loop, I highly recommend this counterclockwise direction. You get to glide out of the forest after finishing the hard stuff; I can't imagine what descending Black would have been like after the hike down to the lake and back up.
At the Millman Pond lean to we saw something that did bother me, but again I couldn't muster the gumption to say anything. A group plenty over the size limit for overnights, with several tents set up next to the lean to and the trail, just owning the place. It looked like some kind of youth group outing, so again I looked on the bright side: these kids probably aren't getting out into the woods any other way, and hopefully the experience will lead them to learning more respect and better practices.
On the remaining walk past Lapland and to the Black junction we saw our only other hiking group, who we passed on our push to the car. We signed out, seeing six other groups who had come and left while we were out, and I enjoyed the heavenly feeling of changing socks. We finished in almost exactly 7.5 hours, for a respectable moving average of around 2mph. The GPS said we had done a total of 2,715ft of elevation gain! I'm not sure how accurate that is, I have to actually check the track, but my knees tell me it's about right.
On the ride home we grabbed dinner at a bar & grill in Whitehall and had some extremely interesting conversation with the staff and other patrons. I dreaded the drive back, knowing how stiff my knees would get, and when I dropped off my friend around 8pm I had a call from a roommate who I had left trip details and instructions to. "Are you stuck under a rock? Did you cut off your arm?" Thankfully no problems on this long loop in unfamiliar territory. When I got home, I had to take the three flights of steps to my bedroom one at a time, but after some icing it's getting better. I'll probably shelf my plans to hit the Tongue range tomorrow. Probably.
In short, the LGWF is a great resource for those coming to the Adirondacks from the capitol region or Hudson Valley, and this is an excellent long day for anyone who is up for a strenuous hike. I look forward to trying it again, what a gorgeous trail network.
A short slideshow of photos from the trip.
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