lundi 3 février 2020

Broomstick Lake, FLWF, 3 Feb, 2020

After a week with the flu, it was good to get back out in the woods and scratch my itch to hit up Broomstick Lake in the Ferris Lake Wild Forest. While still not at 100%, the nice short walk to Broomstick was medicine for my soul. Two weeks ago, Tredhed and I attempted this hike and the parking lot wasn't plowed out. Today, we took my truck, figuring I'd have to bust through a snowbank. Not so, our early arrival at the Rt. 10 trailhead found the parking lot well plowed out. Thanks to whoever does this. It's a great thing.



After signing into the woods, Tredhed and I started the 300' ascent up to the lake on a trail that was liberally marked with yellow disks.



The trail conditions were excellent. A well packed trail made for easy snowshoeing. There were only a few areas of blowdown closer to the lake, but they were easily bypassed.



In no time, we arrived at the outlet of Broomstick Lake and the end of the trail. A band of lake effect snow reminded us that winter still has a good grip on this part of Fulton County.



No winter visit to Broomstick Lake is complete without a quick visit to the icefalls on the west end of the lake. We quickly walked the 1/4 mile across the ice to the far shore and found the icefalls. While not as large as those at Pinnacle Creek, these were still pretty neat.





What's different about these icefalls is that you can actually crawl behind them and get a very unique perspective.



After spending a few minutes snapping pictures, we headed back across the lake. Just as we were nearing the shore, we met Kathy and Sue who were headed out to the icefalls. I joked as we had met Kathy at our last hike into 9 Corner Lake a few weeks ago. If this happens again, I'll start to worry she's stalking us. :)

After exchanging pleasantries, Tredhed and I headed to the designated campsite for a look around.



We could see that Kathy and Sue were making good progress across the lake.



All that was left to do was point our snowshoes downhill and walk out to the trailhead. While it was a short hike, the trip to the icefalls sure was the icing on the cake (no pun intended). It was a great morning to catch a few hours of time in the woods and clear my head of all the funk that's been swimming around for the past two weeks. Thanks to Tredhed for putting up with my uncharacteristic glacial pace. Can't wait until the next hike.


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