Middle Settlement Lake Loop

Middle Settlement Lake loop

The afternoon of June 2, the whole family took off to Old Forge for this 10 mile loop.  We got a late start and didn't get to hiking until around 4pm.  This loop is actually a mixture of several different trails.  The terrain was really mixed.  After signing in at the trailhead registry, we made a steep ascent of about 100 feet.  Riley was wonderning what she had gotten herself into.  After that climb, things leveled off with a few ups and downs.  It had rained buckets the day before, and lots of the trail was wet, requiring some clever bushwacking to get around those sections.

Ryan loves stopping for pictures.

I've learned that when Riley gets tired, all I need to do is power her up with some snacks.  She'll eat about 10 M&Ms (biting them in half to savor the flavor) and be charged up for an hour of hiking. 

The forest was beautiful.  The bugs were low (they almost always are when you're moving).

We made our way and finally got to the lake.  It took us about 3 1/2 hours to go ~5miles.  This is Riley speed - which is just fine.  I learned from the trip the week before that I need to take more breaks.  I talked to a guy at EMS yesterday who said he did the Cranberry Lake 50 in 3 full days, but that if he does it again, he'd use 4 full days.  Ryan and I were on pace to do it in 2 days and I have the scars to prove it.  I think that a good rule of thumb is 10 minutes of break-time for every 50 minutes of 3-4 mph hiking. 

I'm fascinated by the mushrooms!  They are awesome. 

We also saw a lot of frogs and it turns out that the orange salamanders we always see on these trips are actually red spotted newts. Who knew?  I was cruising ahead of the group at one point and found a turkey with his tail spread, standing right on the trail.  Unfortunately, he left before I could get a shot or the others could catch up to see him. 

The lake was inhabited.  Inhabited by two groups of partying young men.  We met one of the groups, which consisted of a couple of soldiers from Ft. Drum.  The other group, we only heard.  The two we met were nice enough, but clearly had been drinking most of the day.  They went and joined the other group at night (we met them as they were walking to the other group), and partied until early morning.  They were chopping wood at about 2am, which is too bad as they were camped only a couple of hundred yards from us.  Incidentally, we didn't get back on the trail until almost 9am.  They were still sleeping.

Middle Settlement Lake

Ryan and I brought our fly rods.  We've been out of fly fishing for several years and decided it's time to get back into it.  Things were a little unorganized in terms of gear, but that will be solved by the next trip (USPS willing).  There were no fish to be caught on this trip.  The other two groups had been trying all weekend with no success, either.  It probably coincided with the lack of bugs (and the rising barometric pressure). 

We headed out, the following day.  There is a lean-to nearby (that the group we didn't meet used).  Those boys left right before we did.  They went back the way we came (clockwise around the lake).  Sadly, when we got to the lean-to, we found a lot of trash. 

Apparently, the trip from Middle Settlement Lake around the counter-clockwise side of the lake is not used quite as much.   The trail was iffy in several spots.  There was one serious ascent that had Riley crying.  We had to tell her that crying made it harder to breathe.  In true Riley fashion - once armed with that information, she rationalized not to cry during the tricky parts. 

The first afternoon, we came to a stream that was about 30 feet wide.  It was moving pretty well.  There was a couple of logs laid across it, but they were pretty high up.  We opted to forge the stream - using our trekking poles against the current, and all was well.  The water was knee high on me, waist high on Riley.

On the way back to the trailhead the next day, we came upon two rivers/beaver ponds that we had to cross.  The first thought was to cross the dam, but that's not always safe.  The other was to cross above the dam, but it's hard to say how deep that is.  The third way to go was below the dam.  This was our route for both crossings. 

We were pretty deep on these.  I got to almost waist height.  I had to pick Riley up and carry her over one spot.  Everyone did really well. I think next time, we'll dry it above the dam.  There should be fewer logs on the bottom and if it doesn't work, we'll back up and go with the proven method.

Dang beavers

We covered some area with ferns that were taller than me.  It was great.  It's kind of strange to think that dinosaurs walked among the same plants.  The bugs got a little worse, but still not bad.  Candie and Riley were almost bite free.  Ryan and I shed some clothing.  We didn't feel any of the bites that day, but 2 days later our arms and legs were really itchy.  Lesson learned.

We got off the trail, after traversing that steep spot we encountered in the beginning.  It was definitely trickier on the way down.  It was a great trip, despite some loud neighbors and getting wet with a little rain toward the end.  I can't wait for the next trip.  Is there a way to get paid for this?

Thanks for reading!

I think I was looking at a bug
on my arm.