Seneca and Spruce Mountains - Wilcox Lake Wild Forest - 1/5/19

My idea for a first hike in the new year was to find something new that I hadn't climbed before.  I pulled out my map and studied it for a bit and my eyes settled on the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest.  I haven't done much exploring there so I had lot of possibilities.  I decided to drive up past Stony Creek to Lens Lake Road and see if there was a place to park to hike one of the surrounding peaks.

The road was plowed past Lens Lake and almost to Middle Flow.  There was a parking lot at that location and the State Land boundary was right there.  I studied the map and opted to head for Seneca Mountain first.  

The end of the plowed road.

The followed the unplowed road until I reached the private property boundary.  I skirted left to stay on state land.  The woods were open hardwoods and a the bushwhack was easy.  It really wasn't much of a climb to reach the summit, perhaps 500-600' vertical.   Just as I was reaching the true summit, a large snowshoe hare leapt out from behind a rock and bounded off.  Rev took off in hot pursuit.   The hare quickly disappeared and Rev came trotting back.

The summit of Seneca Mountain.

From Seneca Lake, Great Sacandaga Lake in the distance.

I took a hot chocolate break and then opted to head for Spruce Mountain.   Rev and I bounded down the mountain until we reached Paul Creek.  The creek was larger than I expected and there was no way for us to cross and keep our feet dry.  We followed the creek a bit and then headed back towards the car.  At Middle Flow, I found a nice warm spot in the sun and took a break, soaking up some rays.  It felt so good I lingered for a bit.     

Middle Flow

Middle Flow

My warm sitting spot

While basking in the sun, I took another look at the map and determined I could climb Spruce Mountain by starting at the car and hiking straight East.  Paul Creek was no longer a factor.

Five minutes into this 2nd hike, I came to a small creek and saw a cairn in the water.  Looking around, I saw small orange paint blazes on the trees.  Someone had illegally cleared and marked a trail. Shortly afterwards, I saw a sign pointing back to the parking lot.   

Pointing back to where I started...

The orange blaze trail turned northward briefly before turning back eastward.  No doubt this trail was going to the summit.  Next I came to a junction... orange blaze and red blaze.  The orange continued eastward and upward, the red blaze were heading south traversing the slope of Spruce Mountain.  

I continued along the orange blaze path and soon reached a prominent viewpoint where I could see Lens Lake, Middle Flow, Livingston Lake and Great Sacandaga Lake.     

A nice viewpoint

Supplementing the orange blazes were cairns placed along the way.  The trail was not only blazed, but trees had been cut and trees had been de-limbed.  Someone had spent quite a bit of time making this trail.

One of many cairns

And even a few signs

This summit cairn was Leesa's height.

The illegal trail did not end at the summit, it continued northward down the north flank and towards  the unnamed peak a mile north of Spruce.  We followed the trail and ended up on the summit of the northern peak.

Summit of the unnamed peak north of Spruce Mountain.

Rather than return the way we came, we side-hilled he west slope of Spruce Mountain until we regained the orange blaze trail down low, not too far from the car.

Hike Stats:

Seneca Mountain & Return:  5.5 miles

Spruce Mountain & unnamed peak to the north and return:  5.8 miles

Total time  7.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2000'  

The route

Spruce Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 1/21/18

There's no doubt that there are a lot of fantastic viewpoints overlooking Lake George.   On the east side of the lake, one of the best is from Spruce Mountain, a little known location near Huletts Landing.  Today was my third visit here; all in winter.

It was a warm day and a fleece and microspikes were all that was needed for extra gear.  I parked at the end of the plowed portion of North Road and Rev and I started out.  We followed the unplowed potion of North Road until we came to the Richard Phillips Hayes property and his marked trails that lead to state land.

The steep portion of this hike is near the beginning.  Once you get up on the ridge, there is not too much more elevation gain and you are treated to a series of viewpoints.  The best viewpoint is just before the true summit, near where the airway beacon used to be.

There are several trails in the area.  Some are marked with red discs and there is also a white blaze trail that hugs the western edge of the ridge.  There are also some signs.  That being said, portions of the marked trails are not well marked.  If you go, make sure you have map and compass. 

 

Today's view.  Some ice this year.

This photo was from 2 years ago 1/18/16 

It was overcast at the start, but luck was on my side and the clouds began to break just as I was getting to the viewpoints.

  

Interesting sign at the start

The seasonal portion of North Road

Richard Philips Hayes has a vision.  Thank you!

Choices, choices.

A first look

Sugarloaf Mountain back left, Black Mountain back center.

A closer look

Blue skies beginning to emerge!

Mother Bunch islands in the distance

The hamlet of Huletts Landing is tucked on the cove on the left.

My trusted scout... Rev 

Framed!

A zoom view

Remains of the airway beacon

Rev on the descent

Richard Philips Hayes does a great job with his signs.  He also did the Shore Owner Association (SOA) signs in Lake Placid 

The old schoolhouse.   There is a #2 on the other side.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  ~ 4 miles

Hike Time:  3 hours, including stops

Elevation Gain:  ~ 1000'

The route

The route on the Nat Geo map.

Hogback Mountain and Spruce Mountain - Lake George Wild Forest - 1/23/16

After whetting my apetite on Spruce Mountain last week, I came back for some more exploration.  I had two goals for the day; Hogback Mountain and the trail from Spruce Mountain to the old Lake Shore Road on the East shore of Lake George.

I parked at the end of the plowed portion of North Road and followed the unplowed portion over the height of land past the old building on the right (which I'm guessing was a schoolhouse).  I went downhill to a cairn on the right side.  This is where the yellow disc trail comes out, and also where a white paint blaze trail on the left heads towards Hogback Mountain.

This is where the yellow disc trail intersects the jeep road. 

The sign at the end of the yellow disc trail said 2.1 miles to Hogback and that is where I started for first.  The white blazes were easily visible and I followed them for perhaps a half mile until I came to a junction with blue blazes to the left and white blazes to the right.  I chose to stick with the white blazes.      

Standing at the white blaze/blue blaze jct. looking at the next with blaze. 

The white trail contoured around the west side of a small bump on sloping rugged terrain which was icy and tricky to walk on, even with microspikes.

A view of Spruce Mountain and Lake George.

A view of Lake George from the white trail to Hogback. 

The white trail continued south and went over a small knoll.  Soon after that, I lost the white blazes. I searched but couldn't find them.  Coincidentally some old red paint was at that location, but it looked like property boundary paint.  I followed the red a short distance and then picked up the white blaze again.

I continued following the white, but soon lost it again.  At this point, I was about a half mile from summit.  I gave up on the blazes and went to the summit where I found the blazes again.  The summit is quite open, especially facing south, where there is a great view of Sugarloaf Mountain. 

Sugarloaf Mountain from the summit of Hogback Mountain.

A zoom view of Sugarloaf.

When I left the summit, I was able to follow the white blazes back to where I had lost the trail and then retraced my steps back to the woods road.   Next up was exploration north of Spruce Mountain.  I crossed the woods road and started up the yellow disc trail towards Spruce Mountain.  I had done this same route 6 days earlier and my tracks were still visible in the snow.

The yellow disc trail ends at a white paint blaze trail which then continues all the way to the summit of Spruce Mountain.  This is a very pretty route in my opinion.  I'll be back in the summer for sure.    

The awesome view from near the summit of Spruce Mountain.

Last week I went to the summit, but failed to notice that the white blaze trail continued north; hence the need for a return visit.  If you continue northward, hugging the western edge of the ridge, you'll see that the white blazes continue.  

This sign is near the summit of Spruce Mountain and points north

From Spruce Mountain north was new for me.  The trail starts dropping down off the summit, then turns abruptly to head SW to to avoid some steep terrain.  Another switchback turned the trail back in a northwesterly direction.  Next I came to what appeared to be the remnants of an old logging road.  The white blazes became few and far between.  At one point, I lost them, but discovered the trail had turned in a westerly direction.

Soon after that, I came to the sign pictured below.  I chose to take the spur trail (marked in blue paint), to the view.   

The view from the spur trail.

The spur led to a ledge that offered a great view south on Lake George.  I could can see all the way through the Narrows to Montcalm Point and beyond.   I returned to the white trail and continued north.  The trail hugged the edge of a ridge with a very steep dropoff.  It also sloped towards the dropoff.  I move slowly in my microspikes.  They weren't always gripping well on the snowcrust that was covered with 3" of snow.  I made sure my dog Rev stayed away from the edge as well.

Rev's last look over the edge before I moved her away from the sloping terrain that followed.

The trail continued north along the ledge for what seemed like forever.  Finally the ledge ended and the trail made a sharp turn west and started dropping down a ridgeline.  The white blazes ended, but white cloth ribbons were tied on the trees.  I descended the ridge to another viewpoint and a cliff. The trail turned north again and I followed the ribbons which soon changed back to white paint blazes.

    

Another viewpoint. 

The white ribbons replaced the blazes for awhile.

A last viewpoint

Bluff Head down below.

I came to another junction with a spur trail leading to yet another ledge.  Again the spur trail was marked with blue blazes.  The ledge looked promising, but I was starting to get concerned about time.  It was now about 2 PM and I still had to go all the way back.  I bypassed the spur trail and kept going.

Another spur trail in blue paint.

As I got down lower I had a great look back up to the ledge from the 2nd spur trail.  It was pretty impressive looking.

The ledge reached by the 2nd spur trail.

Finally the white trail reached the old abandoned Lake Shore Road at a location just SE of Odell Island on Lake George.  I walked the old lake road for a couple minutes to see what it looked like, but unfortunately I had to shift into high gear to get back before it got dark.  I retraced my steps and reached the car feeling pretty worn out. 

The old abandoned Ford pickup truck visible from the Lake Road.  

Late afternoon on Lake George

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  12.5 miles

Hike Time:  6.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  3700'

The 1st portion of the hike - Hogback Mountain

The 2nd portion of the hike - Lake Shore road

The combined route