French Louie Loop Trip Report

Late August 2020

The French Louie Loop is a ~20 mile backpacking loop in the Adirondack's West Canada Lake Wilderness. I hiked part of this trail twice: first, on a August 2019 thru-hike of the Northville Placid Trail and then a July 2020 overnight to Cedar Lake Leanto #1.

This trail is in a beautiful and remote area of the park, and it follows one of my favorite sections of the NPT. I was excited to return and show it to Greg!

The loop was a little longer than usual this year. We had to park at Sled Harbor and add 1.1 miles each way due to a road washout on the way to the Pillsbury Mountain trailhead.

We split this backpacking trip up over three days and hiked the loop counter-clockwise.

Around 9AM, we arrived at the trailhead. The first mile was an easy, gradual uphill climb on the road. Then, we reached the trail register at the actual trailhead. There was a catastrophe here when I learned that Greg did not bring the hand sanitizer he said he would. During a pandemic!

About a mile later, we took a water break and I found I had not one but two hand sanitizers stowed in my own pack! Nevertheless, Greg had already earned his trail name of Antagonist.

The trail traverses a pretty swamp before entering a beautiful pine forest.

The boardwalk has some broken boards but it is not too difficult to navigate.

The whole loop is moderate. There are some small hills but the trail is never very steep.

After the swamp and pretty forest, the next major landmark is when you get to the Cedar Lake Dam! It was built in 1904 for logging purposes. The dam is in disrepair (and apparently leaks) but the DEC just plans to let it deteriorate, like Duck Hole.

Originally, there were three separate lakes (more like two lakes and a marshy area) but the dam rose the water level to make one.

The next section of trail offers spectacular views as you hike around the lake.

It had been a super dry summer. There were almost no berries! Last year, there were so many that Paul earned his trail name "Forager" because he was always picking fruit.

Before long, we were at Cedar Lake Leanto #1! This is a beautiful spot but the leanto has a real mouse problem. Our goal for the night was Cedar Lake Leanto #3, which is a .5 mile off the NPT. I had never seen #3 before.

Last time I was here, I swam to the island from Cedar Lake Leanto #1. It was marshy, so I didn't do that again. I did swim though!

Greg made us a delicious ramen and vegan jerky lunch while I swam and took a bunch of photos!

It was nice to be back at this scenic spot, but I was frustrated at the amount of trash that had accumulated since my last visit. Just a few weeks ago I had packed out a bunch of leanto trash and dismantled an illegal fire pit. Unfortunately, the leanto and firepit were once again full of trash and the illegal fire pit in the grass near the water was back. I cleaned up again and left a note in the leanto log book.

After lunch, a storm rolled in. It was brief, but it held us back just long enough to meet some NPT thru-hikers who planned on staying in Cedar Lake #1 that night. One of them was even a 2018 RPI graduate!

When the skies cleared, we said goodbye and continued on.

The bridge over the marsh is one of my favorite parts of this hike!

I'm incapable of hiking the NPT without developing blisters so naturally, this trip was no exception. We reached the third leanto just in time... because my feet had definitely had enough! We brought plenty of food and supplies, so our packs were pretty heavy.

We reached the leanto relatively early so we took a lot of photos, washed off, read the leanto entries, built a fire, ate dinner, and relaxed. There were so many loons nearby!

A NPT thruhiker eventually showed up, but he set his tent up nearby.

We continued on, excited to see the West Lake area. This was one of my favorite parts of the NPT.

My feet were getting sore but we hiked until we reached West Lake #1. I've never spent the night here but its magical views make it one of my favorite shelters on the trail. There was another French Louie Loop hiker here, but we mostly kept to ourselves as he read his book and we prepared lunch. More ramen!

After lunch, we took a swim! It was refreshing but eventually the winds changed and it began to get a bit chillier. Another storm was approaching so we dried off and waited under the leanto for the brief rain to pass.

We got lucky on this trip. There were a few short storms, but every time we were able to find shelter and wait them out.

Woohoo! This bridge is another famous landmark of the trail. We took some more photos and soon arrived at South Lake Leanto. We stopped to enjoy the beach view and read the log book.

Not long after these photos, we had to leave our beloved Northville Placid Trail for the French Louie Loop! I love being on the NPT but I was excited to get closer to our evening destination, Sampson Lake.

The terrain on the FLT consisted of more rolling hills. It was muddier, brushier, and buggier. However, it was also very quiet. Unfortunately, when we rolled into camp, a group was already set up in the leanto. They were nice though and we ended up setting up our tent nearby and enjoying yet another swim! We ate dinner as we listened to some downloaded podcasts and I fell asleep to an old episode of Foot Stuff Podcast.

The next day we hiked out and got some Dunkin Donuts for the ride home!

It was nice to return to some of my favorite areas of the NPT, explore a new trail, and get to show it all to Greg!