In short, the leaves are falling, if you want color now's the time!
Packed in to Newcomb Lake for one night. The road to Great Camp Santanoni is a relatively easy 4 miles. Had one of the weekend's many pleasant interactions, with a gentleman heading out who said a group who did not sign in was occupying the Fish Rock leanto. Had a tent, no problem.
There are eight campsites on the east short of Newcomb Lake, five before the great camp and three after. Maybe seven, since I never found site #2. Otherwise, nos. 1-5 have numbered signs at the path to the site, but I didn't see any "camp here" discs at any of them. The trail passes the great camp and becomes rooty and uneven but easy to follow. Sites 6 & 7 are... undesirable. They're barely big enough for one tent and directly on the trail. Site 8, a bit past the bath house, is absolutely gorgeous. Plenty of room, directly on the Sucker Brook, and good views over the water. Also, a bit of walking and you'll find all of the firewood you'll ever want (though the fire ring could use some cleaning). All of the sites have privies, and the last three sites do have "camp here" discs. Hard to overstate how great this place is for a quick pack in.
Saturday night the weather could hardly be more perfect. Visiting the great camp near sundown, when most of the day visitors are gone, is a great experience. Another camper who set up at site #5 said he was going to do some stargazing at the great camp, and I'm sure he had a great view. The sky was absolutely clear Saturday night, and the lake was calm enough to see the stars' reflections.
Sunday was supposed to be a leisurely hike to Moose Pond, then back to camp to pack out. The north shore trail is beautiful, it climbs steeply at first but levels out and passes some enormous birches. Eventually it passes the Ward Pond Brook leanto which is beautiful and probably underused. The adopter has cleverly put the register in a sealed PVC pipe and has taken very good care of the place (if you're reading this, thanks for the hard work Eric!). If you feel like bringing a boat into the camp and canoe/kayak camping, this is a great spot to shoot for.
Once past the junction for the south shore trail and on to the Shaw Pond trail, things change quickly. This trail is extremely well parked, but it's a tossup between being a herd path or a bushwhack. You'll have to walk across a beaver dam at one point and the blowdown is so heavy that your best way to find the trail is look for the next obstacle. The mud is sort of an afterthought. We did see moose and bear sign, heightening the true wilderness feeling of this trail. If you want to be off the beaten path, this is it. Unfortunately, the 2 miles to the junction with the horse path took much longer than expected, so if you take this trail give yourself plenty of time.
Moose pond is lovely, with a great view of the southern Santanoni range. DEC's GIS data says there are two campsites here, but a quick search was disappointing. The first "site" is just off the left of the trail, past a privy. There is no "camp here" disc and it's been heavily impacted, enlarged and with a second fire ring added, and heavy erosion down to the water. The trail peters out near the second site, which also has a privy and no disc, but looks like it hasn't been used in years. You could easy miss the fire ring, it's so overgrown. However, with enough poking around a suitable camping spot 150 feet from the pond should likely present itself.
Running late, we decided to head back to camp the long way around, down the horse trail and then back up the bike trail to the great camp. The horse trail is a very scenic and easy walk in the woods, alternating between forest on both sides and views of the smaller peaks to the west. We were surprised to make it to the bike path in just over an hour and back to camp with enough daylight for a quick meal and then the hike out. With packs, we practically sprinted back to the parking lot in an hour and a half, giving us just enough time to stop at Adirondack Brewery in Lake George for dinner -- so glad they're open until 9 on Sunday!
I would have liked to spend more time, but I'll definitely be back. This is a top-notch place if you're just looking for a nice waterside site/leanto to pack into and slow down for a while. The Greta Camp is nice to wander around for a bit and with enough time the local trails make a nice relaxing day hike. I didn't get the water -- rumor is there are leeches -- but in the hotter months it would be irresistible.
Packed in to Newcomb Lake for one night. The road to Great Camp Santanoni is a relatively easy 4 miles. Had one of the weekend's many pleasant interactions, with a gentleman heading out who said a group who did not sign in was occupying the Fish Rock leanto. Had a tent, no problem.
There are eight campsites on the east short of Newcomb Lake, five before the great camp and three after. Maybe seven, since I never found site #2. Otherwise, nos. 1-5 have numbered signs at the path to the site, but I didn't see any "camp here" discs at any of them. The trail passes the great camp and becomes rooty and uneven but easy to follow. Sites 6 & 7 are... undesirable. They're barely big enough for one tent and directly on the trail. Site 8, a bit past the bath house, is absolutely gorgeous. Plenty of room, directly on the Sucker Brook, and good views over the water. Also, a bit of walking and you'll find all of the firewood you'll ever want (though the fire ring could use some cleaning). All of the sites have privies, and the last three sites do have "camp here" discs. Hard to overstate how great this place is for a quick pack in.
Saturday night the weather could hardly be more perfect. Visiting the great camp near sundown, when most of the day visitors are gone, is a great experience. Another camper who set up at site #5 said he was going to do some stargazing at the great camp, and I'm sure he had a great view. The sky was absolutely clear Saturday night, and the lake was calm enough to see the stars' reflections.
Sunday was supposed to be a leisurely hike to Moose Pond, then back to camp to pack out. The north shore trail is beautiful, it climbs steeply at first but levels out and passes some enormous birches. Eventually it passes the Ward Pond Brook leanto which is beautiful and probably underused. The adopter has cleverly put the register in a sealed PVC pipe and has taken very good care of the place (if you're reading this, thanks for the hard work Eric!). If you feel like bringing a boat into the camp and canoe/kayak camping, this is a great spot to shoot for.
Once past the junction for the south shore trail and on to the Shaw Pond trail, things change quickly. This trail is extremely well parked, but it's a tossup between being a herd path or a bushwhack. You'll have to walk across a beaver dam at one point and the blowdown is so heavy that your best way to find the trail is look for the next obstacle. The mud is sort of an afterthought. We did see moose and bear sign, heightening the true wilderness feeling of this trail. If you want to be off the beaten path, this is it. Unfortunately, the 2 miles to the junction with the horse path took much longer than expected, so if you take this trail give yourself plenty of time.
Moose pond is lovely, with a great view of the southern Santanoni range. DEC's GIS data says there are two campsites here, but a quick search was disappointing. The first "site" is just off the left of the trail, past a privy. There is no "camp here" disc and it's been heavily impacted, enlarged and with a second fire ring added, and heavy erosion down to the water. The trail peters out near the second site, which also has a privy and no disc, but looks like it hasn't been used in years. You could easy miss the fire ring, it's so overgrown. However, with enough poking around a suitable camping spot 150 feet from the pond should likely present itself.
Running late, we decided to head back to camp the long way around, down the horse trail and then back up the bike trail to the great camp. The horse trail is a very scenic and easy walk in the woods, alternating between forest on both sides and views of the smaller peaks to the west. We were surprised to make it to the bike path in just over an hour and back to camp with enough daylight for a quick meal and then the hike out. With packs, we practically sprinted back to the parking lot in an hour and a half, giving us just enough time to stop at Adirondack Brewery in Lake George for dinner -- so glad they're open until 9 on Sunday!
I would have liked to spend more time, but I'll definitely be back. This is a top-notch place if you're just looking for a nice waterside site/leanto to pack into and slow down for a while. The Greta Camp is nice to wander around for a bit and with enough time the local trails make a nice relaxing day hike. I didn't get the water -- rumor is there are leeches -- but in the hotter months it would be irresistible.
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