Bear Lake Trail Adventure - Day 175

  So, no one had really checked this temporary route in the western part of the Adirondacks. The suggested lines on the NCT maps didn't even match with the National Geographic maps. Now, don't start thinking that this is because of someone's shoddy work. Getting this route on the ground is very much a work in progress and I am part of that process as I do field checking for the Association on this hike.

I was hiking along on the trail, occasionally checking on Avenza to make sure I was where I wanted to be. Part of this temporary route was a snowmobile trail, and at a junction you turned and walked right past a small house that may have been a snowmobilers club house of some sort. It was very strange to see in the middle of the woods where there was no actual road!

What I was looking for was the Bear Lake Trail which was supposed to turn off the snowmobile trail. Got it! And just 1.9 miles ahead. My goal for the day was to get water and camp slightly past there. Follow the blue dots.

I followed clear trail with blue DEC disks for a half mile to... a small signpost in the woods with one blue disk, no words, and the trail seemed to end there. Huh. I looked at Avenza, and I'm NO WHERE NEAR the trail line. What the heck? I figured I must have missed a turn, probably near a blowdown (tree) I had to walk around. I walked all the way back to the sign pictured above. That's when I discovered that the sign isn't even on the trail that shows on the map.

I went back to where that line on the map was, took off my big pack, and scouted all around for about two-tenths of a mile in . I could not find any evidence that a trail has been there in recent memory. So, I must have just not looked carefully at that blue dot on a signpost, right? I ate my lunch and walked back to the blue dot. I found one, count it, ONE more blue disk just to the west of that post. Then... nothing. Do you see any kind of trail here? Me neither.

What to do? I decided to bushwhack west toward where the trail was supposed to be. There was one stream crossing, and one never knows if they will be a big nothing with rocks to walk on, or something serious. I angled west and hit the line of the trail on the map after about 0.8 mile. The crossing at Mill Brook was no big deal, but there was still no evidence of a trail at all. As bushwhacks go, this wasn't bad. The woods was fairly open. It's just that the footing is always poor when you are wandering over uneven, un-compacted soil with leaves on top of it. Lots of rocks, too.

Along the way, I found Bunchberry (ground dogwood0 in bloom.

After about another 0.7 mile, suddenly there was visible treadway, and in another couple of tenths, a footprint and a trail marker! And then, there I was at Bear Lake!

I was planning to go farther, but there was a truly lovely established campsite (and also a new lean-to farther along). There was a breeze coming off the water that knocked the black flies down enough that I was able to take off the head net while I set up camp. Here's the story on the net. When I was packing my backpack before this section, I could not find my headnet. So I bought another. On this day, I discovered why I was still getting chewed. The mesh was large enough that the smaller flies could go right through it. I'm thinking this is going to be a pretty miserable two weeks. Stay tuned.

The water was gorgeous. The feeder creek was very close, so I didn't have to carry my large water bottle full at all. I set up the tent and then went to get water.

I know I can't even see how lovely the site is when I'm closed up in the tent or sleeping, but it makes me very happy just to know that beauty is out there. The loon calling helped me remember that! Since I stopped a little early, I knew I'd have to get up and get moving first thing in the morning, but the next day was mostly road walk, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. I made the decision to stop at this beautiful place.

The flies were BAD. Even being very careful while putting things in the tent I ended up with about 50 of the little monsters inside that needed to be killed.

Miles today that count: 10.4. Total miles so far: 2219.5. (miles that don't count: 1.1)

See Here I Go