Third Lake in the Southern Adirondacks

Date - 12/15/05
Log of solo snowshoe trip
Trail to Third Lake, town of Stratford, Fulton County NY

Got to the trailhead at 10:18 am, there was abt 4 inches of snow and a well broken trail. I signed in the book that the forest rangers leave there and then headed out. Got to the first trail intersection, one mile in, at 10:48. I stopped and took off my sweater as I was already getting warm and also had a granola bar to eat. I followed a path made by cross county skiers for the next 1/2 mile until they turned off the trail to the East. When they had signed in they said that they were going 5 miles in and staying for two days, so they must have camped somewhere off the trail. I will have to try that sometime!

Between there and the next trail intersection was a distance of 1.7 miles with 6 inches of snow in areas and some small rises to go over. Along this part of the route one of my shoes came unstrapped and I had to take a min or so to reconnect and tighten things. It had been strange to look down and not see the bright yellow snowshoe there when it happened! It was sunny at that point with a puff of wind once in awhile. Lots of animal tracks which I think were mostly deer and mice. I made that next intersection at 11:45 for a total of nearly 3 miles in the first hour. The trail then turned East for a mile to Third Lake.

There was a bit of downhill just before the lake and the snow was clinging to the shoes a bit, making travel a bit slower. I got to the edge of the lake at abt 12:15, making it 3.9 miles in abt 1.5 hrs. the sun was very bright and I estimated the temperature to be abt 15 degrees with a very light breeze starting up. After standing for just a couple of mins I felt myself getting chilled and so I got out my wool sweater out of my backpack. When I took off my coat I found that my long sleeved shirt was soaked with sweat so I changed into the spare that I had brought and then put the sweater on. I spent 15 mins or so taking photos of the lake.

My original goal was to make it all the way to Long Lake a pond that was still another mile to the west over unbroken trail. I decided that I had gone far enough out for the day and packing my camera still on the tripod into the tripod carrying case with a shoulder strap I headed out. I had hoped that following the now broken trail would make the trip back less of an effort, but I found that it was not really the case.

The snow continued to stick to the shoes causing just a bit of extra effort on each step. In fact, at the end of the trip I had to hammer the built-up ice off the crampon on the bottom of the left shoe. On the way back the wind started to pick up a bit blowing snow from trees and causing some of the branches to pop under the stress of being moved around.

Some of the trail I had made going in was already getting covered in windblown snow. It was interesting to hear that around me as I traveled. I also hear that distinctive tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker, but never was able to see the bird.

The mile back to the turnoff towards the trailhead took me nearly 45 mins, possibly because I stopped set up the tripod and take some photos along the way. The sun was almost covered with clouds and there was a bit more chill in the wind as I was going through this section of the trail. The next 1.9 miles to the first intersection that I had encountered on the way in was uneventful and I got there at 2:05. I only stayed long enough to finish my water.

The last mile took 25 mins and I was back to my car right at 2:30, a total of 8 miles in abt 4 hrs. It was a great trip and one that I hope to do again in the future.