Crown Point - Day 187

  I know I get excited about a lot of places on the North Country Trail, but the Crown Point Fort is truly an awesome site.

The French originally built Fort St. Frederick on the site in 1731. Anyone with any military sense at all knew that holding the narrow spot on Lake Champlain was the key to controlling the transport of goods and troops along the waterway that basically extends from the St. Lawrence River to New York City (this includes a portage).

You can see some remnants of Fort St. Frederick, but the real news at this location was when the British built the Crown Point Fort in 1759. This has been called the greatest British Fort in North America. It is also one of the best preserved forts of that era.

A good fort of that time period had earthen ramparts or scarps surrounding the fort (on the left), a ditch that invaders had to cross, and counterscarps on the outside of the ditch. Crown Point has a lot of rock walls that naturally break through the earth, and these were included in the counterscarps when possible.

Once you are up on the earthen ramparts, you can see at the end of this wall that there is a projection at the corner. Those are called bastions. This was a five-sided fort with star bastions. Defenders could fire from the bastions at invaders that might have made it down the counterscarp into the ditch. Attackers could not hide in the shelter of the fort walls with this design.

And, how cool is this? The NCT is now routed right along the top of the ramparts!

Inside the fort walls are the remains of an officer's barracks, and the soldier's barracks. The officer's building has finer stonework. It had tiled floors and brick chimneys. Officers slept two to a room, while soldiers had 12 or more roommates, and they had to share wide bunks.

This is inside the officer's barracks. The floors are missing, but can't you just imagine when military men were living here?

The armory burned, and the British left only a skeleton force. The Colonials, under Seth Warner and the Green Mountain Boys, captured the fort in 1775.

There are also brand new North Country Trail interpretive signs here, since this is no longer the eastern terminus.

There is a nice museum, book/gift store, and visitor center. They also do reenactments here. I hope to see one some day.

Miles today: 9. Total miles so far: 2381.5

Fortier Rd to Crown Point Fort, NY

See Let's Talk About Trail Junctions

Lets Talk About Trail Junctions - Day 186

  So, the conclusion to the missing trail story isn't very thrilling. That was just hype. I decided I was going to have to go back and do a roadwalk around this supposed piece of trail I couldn't find.

This was perhaps a sensible decision, but it was a horrible one. I did know that I had someone- Kelli from Vermont- who was going to pick me up at the end of the day. I also knew that the number of miles I would need to hike in the big pack was high.

I put on the sandals and waded through that long puddle yet again. Let's also talk about that little stretch of road/trail between where I camped and the flooded section. I walked this at least 4 times, perhaps 6. I walked it the first time I went through the puddle. I went back to the puddle once with the full pack on loooking for the trail junction to Blue Hill Trail. That's 3 times. I did it the fourth time this morning. I'm not positive, but I think I walked to the puddle and back to my campsite once more after I had the big pack off. But I guarantee you that I walked this- maybe a quarter mile- at least 4 times.

Now it's the morning of June 4, and I am starting this big road walk, but wait. Walking back the other way there is a small sign WAY high on a tree at the top of the hill just past the flooded area. It says "TRAIL" with some faded words under it that I could not read.

I followed it. It went down the hill, and wandered around, and came back to the road/trail on the other side of the flooded area. It was not the Blue Hill Trail. Then I walked back to the sign. In the big pack of course... I was hopeful it was the missing trail. A hiker need to know that bypass trail is there when coming from the other direction, not this way. When I was able later to blow up a picture of that sign, it says "TRAIL AROUND FLOODING." I have no idea why the sign was on that side of the tree.

I had to walk 7.5 miles that didn't count on the road, all the way around to the Blue Hill Trailhead on Route 74 where I would have come out if I'd been able to find the trail junction.

I looked in the register book and there were pages and pages of people who had signed in who were hiking to Crane Pond. Clearly, that trail went through. Should I have walked farther toward Crane Pond to find the other end? I was surely kicking myself for not exploring that option. Since I had heard the paddlers the night before, I knew Crane Pond wasn't far away.

One thing I forgot to put in yesterday's post is that there were 6 full pages in the register at the trailhead for Alder Pond Meadow Trail, and not a single person had written that they were hiking to the Blue Hill Trail. That's another reason I was having doubts about it's connection. Everyone was going to Crane Pond, and beyond that to the south, to Pharoah Mountain.

Now, I was at the northern end of that "missing" trail, so the rest of the road walk for this day counted.

I had a nice talk with a guy on Stony Lonesome Road who had also visited with Denali last year. His wife had made a little trail sign!

Stony Lonesome road fit both of those descriptors. Eventually, it came out on a paved road, and I made it past Ironville, a place I'll need to go back to some day when the museum is open. This is where it was discovered that you could pull the iron out of melted ore with a magnet. That was a huge step of technology in the process of making iron.

Kelli picked me up in another mile. I walked a total of 19 miles, 11.5 of which count toward the NCT total (plus the flood bypass trail twice). But, that's not what I'm reporting below. The link to "Out of Sequence" covers the miles on the elusive Blue Hill Trail.

Here's the kick in the pants. When I got to the end of the Blue Hill Trail, here's what I found. As I was coming down the last hill, I could see the trail/road ahead. It was a curve I recognized. I could NOT believe it! Even more incredible is that there was a perfectly good trail junction sign.

In my defense, I will say that this was definitely not visible when walking east. That lets me off the hook for 2 or 3 times walking past it, but not for the 2-3 times I walked past it going west. I even remember looking into that opening. But it did not look like a trail to me. Those low hemlock branches completely closed in the pathway, and I discounted it. The post with the signboards is shorter than most.

I suppose I can beg off for not seeing it in the evening because I was already very tired, and I was annoyed with having to wade that flooded area. I have no excuse for the next morning except perhaps that I was no longer looking, at that point. And I was still annoyed at having to wade.

The mileage reported is the combined 2.7 miles (I tracked it in my app) of the Blue Hill Trail, and the 11.5 road miles that count.

Miles today and on June 10 that count: 14.2. Total miles so far: 2372.5. Miles that don't count: 7.5 plus maybe another 0.3 or 0.4.

just past Blue Hill Trail jct to Fortier Road, NY Adirondacks

See Jones Hill and Beyond See Out of Sequence

Jones Hill and Beyond - Day 185

  I was pretty excited about the main goal of the day, to cross Jones Hill. The experience that has been lacking from this Adirondack adventure is views of the mountains from the trail. I mean- lakes, loons, moose, rocks, etc are all very cool, but there have to be some views!

Jones Hill is going to be a favorite place on the NCT. It's quite low at only 1900 feet, but as the saying goes, "location, location, location." Remember, the NCT was not allowed to go through High Peaks, or even the portions of the Adirondack Park that have higher peaks. But this is pretty nice anyway. You can stand on bare rock and have unobstructed vistas.

After you climb the west side of Jones Hill, this is the view to the south. I think what you are seeing in the distance is hills on the other side of Schroon Lake.

I am able to identify this. I had to zoom pretty far to get it- thus the haze, but this is North Pond, to the southwest, which I hiked past earlier in the day.

After you reach the summit of Jones Hill, the open views are now to the north. The most outstanding peak is Hoffman Mountain, at 3694 feet.

There were longer views to the southwest and northeast. This is northeast, maybe looking up the Schroon River Valley.

Now let's talk about my choice to hike over Jones Hill. This piece of trail technically is not open, but I was determined to do it, and was field checking the route for the maps. The trail up the west side, what I followed to this point, is well defined. It is not yet blazed because of the NYDEC rules that say the trail can't be blazed until it is completed road to road. But it's getting quite a bit of use.

And, why isn't it completed? Several reasons. First, let's get me partway down the east side of the hill. This was marked several years ago with flagging tape and red spray paint on small trees. If you can't see those markers, you are in good company. but they are there. This was a real test. Don't call me a complete fool, though. It was just last August that I followed these markers UP the east side of the hill. I had some GPS waypoints, and knew where I needed to end up.

Once I reached Platt Brook, then I pretty much remebered the route. It was also flagged, but much more completed and easier to follow.

I began to recognize places we worked. Finally I came to our amazing rock water bar. It's doing its thing like a champion! Although it wasn't raining, so I can't verify that.

Just over one more mile, and I was down at the road.

But, let's talk about why this trail isn't completed. For one amazingly stupid thing, there was a big law suit a couple of years ago against a snowmobile club that cut trees and built trail without permission. So, until this is resolved, a rule was made that no trees can be cut in order to build trail. This has been interpreted by the legal eagles to include no cutting of even the tinyiest saplings. The unintended consequence of this is that foot trail building and some maintenance is totally on hold until that ban is lifted. The other thing is that a minimum security prison crew was going to come put gravel in all that rock turnpike we built last summer. But that facility closed, so no crew and no gravel.

When I reached the road, I thought that was going to be the end of my adventures for the day. In fact, I was pretty tired. Finding my way down the east side of the hill was a bigger challenge than I expected and it took a long time. I decided to reward myself with a cold drink at a gas station.

While I was there, I met two interesting people. The first is a new friend, Shaunequa, who wants to do more backpacking.

I didn't even get the name of the other lady, but we talked quite a while, and here's how that went. She was close to my age, and is an avid hiker (who grew up in the Swiss Alps) who knows the local trails. She asked what I was doing and where I was going yet today. I showed her the map, but she was not happy with my choice of trails.

"Why don't you just take Route 74 across to the Blue Hill trailhead."

Because I am trying to stay as close as possible to the eventual route of the North Country Trail.

"I don't think this is right." (looking at my map)

"It's a copy of the National Geographic Adirondack maps, so it should be pretty accurate."

"Well, Crane Pond is a lovely place." (near where I needed to turn north on Blue Hill Trail)

We did about 3 interations of this same conversation with tiny nuances. My takeaway was that a person who is pretty familiar with the area was not very confident that I would find the Blue Hill Trail. My plan was to take it north before camping for the night.

I hiked on, mostly on dirt road walk, but as you can probably guess, the situation deteriorated. It was getting later in the day than I wanted. I had decided to just turn on Blue Hill Trail and camp at the first good spot. By now, I'd gone far enough past the register and official trailhead to know that the Alder Pond Meadow Trail was actually all dirt road. However, there were some serious washouts, to the point where I would not even drive over them, and I'm considered reckless by some people.

At six in the evening, I came to this. Crane Pond was still ahead of me, and I had not found the junction with the Blue Hill Trail. My GPS app said it was also still ahead of me.

I just wasn't up to this wade. I turned off the trail and looked for a place to camp. I simply could not find one. So, I sighed, put on my sandals and slogged through the water. On the far side, I found a place where there seemed to be a sort of trail opening, and there was a trail marker right at the exact point where my maps with GPS said the trail should be. I climbed up it, and came to a nearly sheer bluff that went down to a wet hemlock swamp. There was no additional trail marker. I hunted for more markers, and walked all the way back to the flooded area looking. Nothing.

I'd had it. I wasn't going any farther tonight, and I wasn't bushwhacking through a hemlock swamp (See, I have a little common sense). You can see how the land falls off in front of my tent. I set up camp and pondered my options.

After a while, as I was reading in my tent, I heard the voices of young people yelling and a lot of splashing and banging. After being startled at first, I realized I must be almost to Crane Pond, and people were paddling out there. Soon, there was a lot more crashing and banging as watercraft were being loaded on a vehicle. Then it got quiet.

Just after dark, two trucks went by on the road below me, back toward the trailhead. I assume these were the paddlers, returning home. Trucks could definitely get through on the road. So, now I knew that Crane Pond was nearby.

You can see how the land falls off beyond my tent.

What is Joan going to do? Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion to this thrilling adenture.

Miles today: 14.2. Total miles so far: 2358.3.

Big Pond to just past turnoff for Blue Hill Trail, NY Adirondacks

See How Deep?

How Deep? - Day 184

  This day was about 2/3 road walk. But once I got back in the woods "things" started to appear. The red-belted polypore is often found in the Adirondacks. It's easy to identify, and handsome. As in trees, the bands indicate a year's growth. Fomitopsis pinacola.

A small but handsome garter snake.

And the best experience of the day was to see a bird behavior that I also saw a few days ago, but this time I got a picture. (Again, not a great picture, but you can see what I'm describing) Sometimes, instead of flushing or attacking, mother birds will do what is called a "rodent run" to lure predators away from the nest. I had heard of this, but never saw it before. This is a mother grouse. She bent over so her back was arched and her head low to the ground. She slithered through the tiny saplings on the forest floor and made a strange little mewling sound. Indeed, when I first saw this, I couldn't figure out what I was seeing and thought it was a baby porcupine.

But the title of the blog post, "How Deep?," refers to the crossing of the North Branch of Trout Brook. I confess that when I reached this spot I was highly dismayed. I always seem to have hopes that the trail miles will be clear walking and without severe difficulties. I should know better, right?

You can see the bridge abutments out in the middle of the water. Trees had fallen and created a dam, turning the creek into a wide pond. You couldn't see the ends of it for farther than I wanted to bushwhack- the forst was pretty dense.

So after whining a bit, I got to it and put on the sandals and rolled up the pantlegs. I stowed all the electronics in the dry bag. I started across. Not so fast. The bottom was soft and mucky, but that wasn't really the issue. I walked out along where the bridge had been. Fortunately, I was paying attention. One more step and I would have been wet to my chest! I waded downstream a ways and finally was able to get across to some of the fallen trees. Then I walked on those to the far shore.

Of course, then I had to dry my feet, put the shoes back on and get my gear back where I wanted it. How wet did I get? Well, not quite to my crotch. I guess I shouldn't have bothered rolling up the pants.

I expected the trail on the other side of the missing bridge to be awful, but apparently people had come in from the other direction to do some clearing. There was evidence of recent trail work. I was really happy about that. I made my planned goal- to camp near Big Pond.

Miles today: 14.5. Total miles so far: 2344.1

Olmsteadville, NY to Big Pond, NY Adirondacks.

See Across the Hudson River

Across the Hudson River - Day 183

  After leaving Botheration Pond in the morning, I encountered this track. What the heck?

Aha! Large log beside the trail. It only took me until finding another one to realize that supplies were being brought in to rebuild the bridge that is out just south of Botheration Pond. You may recall that crossing that creek was not a highlight of the previous day. Then I found a third one. Three stringers for the new bridge.

Obviously, they were being dragged to the location, but from how far away? Just over a mile. Because at a trail junction, I found this cart. They were brought by cart about a mile from a dirt road. For a total of about 2.5 miles of serious hauling.

Behind them, I found two sleds loaded with boards for the decking. I found no evidence that horsepower was used for all this hauling. I did find a lot of deeply embedded human boot prints. Conclusion- this is a crew of young people who are getting a real workout!

Following the ski trail down toward North Creek, there is this odd structure. It's labeled as a Ski Rescue Sled Shed from the 1930s. Look how high off the ground it is. That's a message about the normal depth of snow.

After I reached the trailhead, I roadwalked into North Creek. I treated myself to a hot lunch at a diner. One block of downtown has several nifty mosaic murals.

North Creek is likely to stay on the North Country Trail route, because it has a bridge across the Hudson River. Even though the Hudson's source is in the Adirondacks, it is already a significant size by the time it gets here.

This was the second day that Paul and Shirley were planning to pick me up. I had 8 road miles to walk, and it was supposed to start raining. I told them they could relieve me of my pack so I could walk faster. My goal was a small town called Olmsteadville. Just a crossroads, really, but it has a gas station/store.

Paul didn't realize how fast I can walk when I'm determined, and have a clear path (like a road). They reached me in time to take my pack for only the very last mile, and I got to the car just as the sprinkles turned into something more significant.

They had friends over for dinner that night, and we enjoyed yummy pulled pork and salad and fresh fruit and STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE.

Miles today: 16.4. Total miles so far: 2329.6.

Botheration Pond to Olmsteadville, NY Adirondacks

See More Siamese Ponds Wilderness