A friend and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather this past weekend by taking a quick and easy trip. We selected the lean-tos at Hopping Bear Point on Moose Island on Lake Placid as out overnight destination- the lean-tos were just over 2 miles of snowshoeing across the frozen surface of the lake from the public boat launch in the Village of Lake Placid. Our arrival coincided with sunset, and we were treated to spectacular views of Whiteface as we made our way across the ice and the light faded.
We were a bit worried that we might have difficulty finding the lean-tos in the dark, but either by chance or navigational skill, we snowshoed almost directly to them. It wasn't long before we were settling in, donning warm layers, and getting supper started. An amazing dinner of tortellini with alfredo sauce, broccoli, red pepper, and chicken sausage filled us to the brim (and it was the dog's lucky night, as there was more dinner than our powers combined could consume).
Soon we were crawling into our sleeping bags and turning out our headlamps. Across the way, the boathouse lights at a private camp on Hawk Island shone brilliantly- so brilliantly, in fact, that they were almost an obnoxious hindrance to falling asleep. They must've been on a timer, as they eventually shut off around 2:00 in the morning.
The next morning dawn grey and windy. I took a few minutes to poke around the surrounding area- the lean-tos appear old, but are generally in good shape regardless.
Both of us had work to do that day, so before long we were packing up and setting out back across the ice.
As we made our way back towards the Lake Placid boat launch, the winds steadily increased, whipping the clouds above us into a fury of towering cathedrals of vapor. Blue sky appeared, and even the sun showed its face in peaks and glimpses.
All in all, it was a fun and easy trip for a simple 1 night winter getaway. The convenience of the ice made it easy to access these shelters especially without much planning or forethought (although the boat launch in Lake Placid only allows parking for 24 hours, so additional planning would be necessary for a trip longer than a single night). I've long had my eyes on these lean-tos for overnights towards the lean-to challenge- and now I've got one of them checked off on my list. :) At some point, I'll be back to stay in the second.
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