T Lake - Piseco New York

These photos were taken along the trail to T Lake in Piseco, town of Arietta, Hamilton County, NY. I am posting them with the intent to write about the trail and hike in a few days. I have converted some of the photos to either black and white or a shade of sepia.

Enjoy!
Dave

March Snowshoeing in the Southern Adirondacks

Glorious..... that is the best word that I can find to describe this day of snowshoeing. There was not a cloud in the sky, the air was crisp and clean and the occasional wind was just enough to make the tree tops provide a restful whisper for background music. It was a day that I will long remember for its peace and serenity.

This first photo is of Fourth Lake, it is about a two mile hike North of Rte 29A in Stratford, Fulton County, right near the border of Hamilton Co. The lake is typical of the marsh lined ponds that dot this area of the Adirondacks.


This next shot caught my eye while I was looking for a place to take a photo of Third Lake. It is a simple scene, and what I saw was the shadow of the massive tree with this small sapling defiantly sticking it's head above the snowcover.

I converted the photo above to Black and White as I wanted to highlight the contrast and detail of the snow against the starkness of the thin branches and shadows.

As you can see, there was a lot of snowmobile activity on Third Lake during that weekend. Not five minutes after taking this three snowmobiles came flying across the lake from the distant shore.

I had hoped that the long line of the shadow would add more drama to the shot, but it did not work out as well as it could have. The scene does have good detail and contrast. This shot was taken at Fourth Lake.

Overall it was a wonderful day out enjoying nature. It was an excellent way to end the snowshoeing season, as though there was nearly a foot of snow in the woods, it will not be long before it is gone from the trails and Spring arrives

A visit to Long Lake

I was greeted by a beautiful February day when I got to the trailhead at Rte 29A in Stratford. Fulton County. This is the very Southern edge of the Adirondacks, an area that draws me back again and again to enjoy it's quiet beauty. The trail to Third Lake and Long Lake passes along Burnt Vly (sometimes spelled Vlei) with a number of spots that offer views of the open marsh and beaver meadows. The trail has a few slight elevation changes, but is well maintained and easy to follow. It is nearly 4 miles to Third Lake. At about 2 1/2 miles you will pass Fourth Lake on the East just a bit off the trail. From Fourth Lake to where the trail turns East towards Third the woods opens up offering a very tranquil scenes as you pass through the area. Once you turn towards Third the trail becomes wet in spots, but nothing that a good pair of waterproof boots will not conquer. This first photo is the sky over Third Lake. For some reason the shots from this day were not well exposed, it could have been that the high temperature was only 15 degrees and the camera was not handling it well. Whatever the reason, they are still useful as records of my visit.

Just before you get to Third Lake there is a trailhead with a sign showing you the way towards Avery Place. About two miles down this trail will bring you to another trailhead that is the intersection of the trails from Good Luck Lake on the North and Stoner Lakes to the South. Third Lake is within sight at this point. As you follow the trail along the West side of Third Lake it is apparent that there is much less snowmobile activity coming from this direction on the trail toward Long and Spectacle Lakes. It is no more than a 1/2 mile until you get to an opening where the main trail bears to the right and the trail to Southern side of Long Lake begins going left. While it is easy to see the beginning of the trail, there are fallen trees across the trail that show it's disuse. The next photograph is of Long Lake, a long, narrow body of water that is becoming more of a marsh due to beaver activity. There are trails on both the north and south sides, going along it's very marshy shores. I followed the trail that takes you along the Southern shore.

On this trip I traveled as far as an active beaver dam, with a lodge nearby and I would assume occupied. This dam cuts across much of what was once the Eastern third of the lake. The photo above was taken from the far Eastern end of the lake. Across the lake you can see some unnamed hills that are just North of Ayers Lake. Be aware that the trails on either side of the lake are not well maintained, though there are still snowmobile trail markers in spots. It would also suspect that the area is very wet most of the year. After returning to the main trail, I traveled further towards Spectacle Lake and started down the trail that leads to the North shore of Long Lake. I did not travel very far on this trail before turning back due to very wet conditions that would have forced me to do a lot of bushwacking. I started heading back close to Noon and was back to my car by about 2:30, having traveled about 11 miles in 5 1/2 hrs. I will close with a photo of me from that day looking much like an Evil Snow Ewok......

Another snowshoe trip to Spectacle Lake

On February 5th, 2006, I headed out for a day of snowshoeing in the Southern Adirondacks. This trip I started at the Good Luck Lake Trailhead, which is 6/10ths of a mile West of Rte 10 in Arietta, Hamilton County. The high temperature for the day was 28 degrees and there were snow flurries off and on. There was only 6 - 8 inches on the trail to Dexter and as I got closer to Spectacle much of the Southeast facing slope was bare. The trail to Dexter Lake goes West past Dry Lake (shown in the next photo), which looks like it is slowly becoming more marsh than lake.


As you get within sight of Dexter, there is a steep downhill section where the trail has been washed out by runoff from the higher ground. It is an area that you need to be careful going through due not only to poor footing, but also potholes along the trail can be covered with ice and snow that are not strong enough to support a person. Once you get to Dexter Lake (see below) the trail runs straight along the South side of the lake for about a 1/4 mile until it turns and heads South and connects with the snowmobile trail heading towards Spectacle Lake.



You can see from my photo, once I got the Spectacle Lake I was down to just the liner for my parka and no gloves. I was hoping to be able to find a way around Spectacle Lake and connect with the trail going towards Third Lake, but short of bushwacking around the shore there was no way I could make the connection. There were snowmobile tracks running across the lake, but snowshoeing, especially alone, is not the time to take such risks.


As you can see from the photo below of Spectacle Lake, the snow was just about gone around the edge of the lake. On the left side of the photo you can see the snowmobile trail going out onto the lake.

After I had returned to the trailhead I spent an hour snowshoeing the trail that goes past Good Luck Lake. As usual the trail is very wet and badly torn up by snowmobiles. I went as far as the inlet stream on the south side of the lake before turning back. I estimate that I went 11 miles in the 5 1/2 hours that I was snowshoeing.