Cliffs: 20 mile/ 4 day hike through the Adirondack wilderness.
The plan was to leave at 12:00am Friday morning on a six hour drive to Wevertown, NY where we will be renting two canoes. We will be using these canoes to find and travel to a remote campsite along Thirteenth Lake for the night. The next morning we will hike through the mountains for 10 miles until we reach our destination at the Siamese ponds. We will spend the night at the ponds and awake to the return 10 mile hike back to 13th Lake, where we will again spend the night. On the 4th day we will pack up and row back up to the North beachhead of the lake for the drive back home.
Here are some pics of my backpack preparation. I decided not to bring the gun as this area has only a few black bear sitings and it is way too heavy:
Friday: We finally arrived in Wevertown at 7am in the morning. With barely any sleep and empty stomachs we found “The Deer Crossing”. A small homely diner that will be perfect for our last good cooked meal before heading off into the mountains. At this point we take the hot breakfast for granted as we have no idea what these next four days will hold for us.
10am: With our canoes ready to launch, excitement builds as we start our 2 mile float to the South end the Thirteenth Lake, to find a campsite suitable enough for the night and close enough to the Puffer Pond trail which will connect us to the East Branch Scandaga Trail. At 5.2 miles this trail will take us to the Siamese Ponds Trail which, of course, will bring us to our destination at the Siamese Ponds.
The first thing that you notice about this place, besides the beauty, is the bugs! The mosquitoes are far more aggressive out here and the black flies are about the size of a quarter. They are constantly buzzing around your head and two layers of clothing are needed as the mosquitoes will sting you through the first layer. Bug spray works, but for only about a half hour. After that it seems to have little effect. Even with %100 deet spray!
We set up for the night and enjoy a nice steak dinner on the fire. It seemed to taste better knowing that after this it will be nothing but Ramon noodles, power bars, and MREs. Plenty of beer and whiskey was brought along but nobody drank any alcohol because of the physically demanding day we had ahead of us.
Some pics of the campsite:
Natures refrigerator:
A pic of the lake from our campsite:
Another pic of the lake about halfway through the canoe ride:
Minus swatting the bugs, we spent the rest of this day maintaining a decent fire, fishing (no luck), and boiling drinking water to fill our CamelBaks.
The weather forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms all four days of the trip but so far so good. Only humid temps and rain clouds that havn’t opened up yet.
Saturday: We all slept suprisingly well and woke up at about 10:30am. The plan this morning is to be packed and ready to go by 12:30pm so that we could boat the last 100 yards to the very south end of the lake and begin the hike. We achieved this goal and decided to keep one of the canoes tied up to the campsite so that we can reserve it for the last night of our “vacation”. It took several trips to do this but we felt it was worth it as this site now feels like home.
The first part of our hike was a 0.4m climb up a steep hill through the thick trees and rocks that just wait to sprain your ankles. The GPS kept us on track so that we did’nt miss the Puffer Pond Trail.
That tiny hike was a huge wake up call as we already needed a break upon hitting the trail. All of us were carrying way too much weight at around 55 pounds each, but none of our gear/food was expendable so onward we went.
First break:
Onward!:
Withing the first 10 minutes of the actual trail hike we were already finding fresh black bear and moose prints:
Taking a breather to rest and fill up with semi clean water. We used iodine tablets to purify the water so that we wouldn’t get sick and stranded out in the middle of nowhere:
Josh is showing signs of exhaustion and still about 3 miles left to go:
In the 70’s the state built a series of lean tos around the park. This one would connect the Scandaga Trail with the Siamese Ponds Trail. In this lean to was a composition notebook that some backpacker left years ago. In the notebook were hundreds of entries left by hikers and skiiers. Just broad details about their journeys. Even a pencil was included. I mention this because it was an eye opener for me. People out here are different. They are a more respectful bunch. Not only was litter nowhere to be found, but reading through this journal, I couldn’t find a single curse word or a drawing of a certain male reproductive organ anywhere! Even banks have to keep their pens tied down but the pencil in this book was not stolen.
Here’s a pic of the nearby swinging bridge. The things are scary:
The final 2.3 miles of the hike were on the Siamese Ponds Trail. This trail would prove to be the most demanding of the entire trek. The whole thing was uphill.
Combine that with the fatigue of the 8 miles before it and you get this (Josh is having a hard time):
Just before sun down we finally reached the Siamese Ponds! The excitement here was extreme as I have just completed one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my entire life (And I have to do it again tom)
Sunday: We woke up early but didn’t end up leaving the ponds until about 1pm. Fatigue slowed down our boiling of drinking water and preparing or breakfast. So far this trip has been non stop work. We were always setting up, taking down, cleaning, etc. By the time we were all set for the next step of the journey, we were too tired to stay awake. So early bed times were a common thing.
It started to rain late last night so we set out pots and pans to collect whatever water we could.
The clouds don’t look too good for the return hike:
A few pics I took on the way back:
A huge turkey print:
An open field right in the middle of thick woodlands. I wonder how it got there:
Last nights rain has us walking through mud like this for much of the return hike:
Last chance for drinking water:
And finally reaching our original campsite. At this point we look like 7 year old kids with chicken poxs from all of the insect bites.
This night was the only night we could work alcohol consumption into the schedule. Too tired to build a fire, the lantern felt sufficient.
Monday: 8:30am wake up.
One last look out at the lake:
Thinking about “The Deer Crossing” diner was motivation enough to get us packed and back up to the North end of the lake before noon. One thing was for sure. This time the food was absolutely delicious. Every bite of my bacon cheeseburger with onion rings was met with pure bliss and every sip of my cold pepsi with ice felt like heaven! Harold and Kumar making it to White Castle didn’t even compare to this!