Old Forge - Day 176

  I kept my promise to myself that I would get hiking early, and had my feet on the trail at 7:15. There was a little repeat performance of the day before when the trail disappeared. However, I was close to the snowmobile route I needed to follow to get to the trailhead, so I just bushwhacked. It wasn't any big deal except that I wasn't able to verify the location of the junction. I'm still not sure how I could have lost a trail that leads to a place that obviously gets used a lot, but I wasn't willing to spend the time to figure it out. I had miles to walk!

On the way out to the "big" road that I would take for most of the day, I passed McKeever Station, a former stop on the Adirondack Railroad.

This temporary trail route has to come out to Route 28 to cross the Moose River. The ultimate route won't take 28. When Marie and I hiked with Mary in 2007, we stayed much closer to that plan. But there are issues with permissions, etc., so for now, we take a long road detour up through Old Forge.

I had decided I would buy lunch somewhere along the way. There was a North Country Market in Thendara, and they had deli sandwiches. They had named one "The Woodchuck." I had to try it! Roast beef, turkey, bacon, tomatoes, cheese, and Thousand Island dressing on marbled rye. It was delicious and huge! I ate half and saved the rest for another meal.

As I was leaving, I discovered they had an immense open grill covered with chicken halves out on the lawn. I said, "Oh no, I came too early."

The owner said they would be ready in another hour. But I couldn't wait, and I was full. He actually offered to drive to Old Forge and bring me a chicken dinner! I thanked him sincerely, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat half a chicken on top of that sandwich!

This was a major road I was walking, but down in a little hollow I found this fine fellow just enjoying the warm day.

Old Forge is the quintessential Adirondack tourist town. I've been there a couple of times and done some shopping. I was even there as a kid with my grandmother to visit the Enchanted Forest. Back then it was like a storybook village with statues from classic children's books and rhymes. Now it's mostly a water park, although the other parts are still there. I looked it up, and it opened in 1956, so we must have visited when it was very new.

Old Forge is also the beginning of the Fulton Chain. This is a series of eight lakes created by dams on the Moose River. Canoeing the Fulton Chain was an option available one year from the Girl Scout camp I attended. I chose not to do this because that same year they started a "primitive" unit where we got to learn really basic camp skills. That first year, we literally carved the unit out of the woods. We started from scratch. I have never regretted my choice because it's where I learned many of my woods skills. We did not go to the mess hall for meals- we carried supplies to the unit every few days and did all our own cooking. We pitched our own tents and lashed tables. We built the first fire ring there and dug our own latrine. Nevertheless, I could still get excited about paddling the Fulton Chain!

The worst part of Old Forge for me was that I had to walk an extra mile to get to a campground. It was fairly reasonably priced, but the bugs were as bad as everywhere else, and the site was dirt. However there was a picnic table. Also a long walk to the bathroom. But I did get a shower which felt extra good, as the day was hot, and I walked in the sun on the road.

The best news of the day was that I opened the top pocket on my backpack to get something out, and my good headnet (the one I couldn't find when I was packing) fell out into my hand! Hooray! It has a much finer mesh. The most persistent of the bugs were occasionally able to get underneath it, but this one excludes most of them.

Miles today: 14.4 that count. Total miles so far: 2233.9. (miles that don't count: 1.0)

See Bear Lake Trail Adventure