Northville-Placid Trail Summer 2019 Thru-Hike (Part 2)

See Part 1 here.

DAY 6

We woke up to a very foggy morning at Carry Lean-to. Packing up as quietly as possible to avoid disturbing Ryan and Steve, we headed out for our last hike with Courtney. She was supposed to meet her friends today for an annual women's backpacking trip and camp at Stephens Pond Lean-to. We would push on to hammock camp near the outskirts of Lake Durant.

We took a break in the sunshine at Wakely Dam to eat almonds and sugared dates, courtesy of Ryan and Steve. We talked to a lot of the friendly campers while we hung out, enjoying the sun. One man told us stories of his own NPT thru-hike, in which he was circled by a bear who wanted his pack for a mile in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness. He told us another intense bear story involving his travels out west, where he had to carefully navigate around a grizzly. He traveled using the wind direction to ensure his scent wouldn't blow towards the bear. His final story was also from out west, when he caught the flu during a camping trip as a bad storm rolled in. He was attempting to hike out with a high fever when he became disorientated. The man made it to some logging roads but didn't know which way to turn. A crow landed near him, and hopped down the road a bit until the man figured out that the bird wanted him to follow it. He did and the road eventually lead him out of the woods and to safety. He told us that the bird saved his life.

I don't know how much of that is true and how much is Back In My Day, but the man definitely entertained us. As a parting gift for eagerly listening to his stories, he gave us some fire starters!

We eventually had our fill of sunshine and decided we should probably hike on. Unfortunately for a tired Courtney and Bartlett, Stephens Pond Leanto was full of boy scouts. Courtney wasn't interested in trying to find a place to set up tents with her friends near the young boy scouts, so she decided to push on with us towards Lake Durant.

We met Courtney's friends on the trail and they turned around with us and started heading back to Lake Durant. They grabbed a site for the night and we said our goodbyes before parting to cook dinner and figure out our own plans. Our last real dinner consisted of bean and broccoli burritos. We had some tortillas left to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfasts and lunches, but a resupply was definitely needed.

Clarisse paid the small fee to take a shower and considered quitting again. There was a phone booth at Lake Durant that she wanted to use to call her mom. Paul and I convinced her that we were too close to the end.

We met a ranger who asked us about our trip and the trail conditions. We told him that overall, the trail was in pretty good shape in these parts, despite some blowdown. He told us that the trail basically always has some blowdown because due to wilderness restrictions, they can only operate chainsaws for a few months a year. For half of chainsaw season, the remote trail is covered in several feet of snow. The NPT definitely has some pretty difficult trail work conditions.

After talking to the ranger, we packed up again and considered our options. We could stay at Lake Durant but we would have to pay for a campsite. There were only a few more miles to Tirrel Pond Lean-to and we still felt strong. It would help take some miles off of tomorrow's difficult day as well, so we decided to push on.

We made it to Tirrel Pond Leanto at dusk, where we found an unwelcoming couple from Vermont with a very welcoming campfire. They were on a trip "to get away from their kids". Their gear was littered all over and their tent was set up inside the lean-to (illegal). They made no effort to move anything and told us we could try to find a place around their stuff (there was none). They barely made eye contact, gave us weird vibes, and obviously weren't interested in us staying.

I sarcastically thanked them for their hospitality and we hiked on through our exhaustion towards Tirrell Leanto. It wasn't that much farther, but it gaves us a 21 mile day.

Right before reaching Tirrell, we came to a massive mud pit. Clarisse tried to cross it... unsuccessfully. She sunk quad-deep as she cried out, "I just showered!"

I tried to help Clarisse out of the pit. She scraped the mud off of her legs the best that she could. We continued towards Tirrell in the dark with Clarisse quietly sniffling.

To my great relief, we arrived to an empty lean-to with a nearby tent. We quietly got ready for bed, briefly admired the beautiful stars, and then immediately passed out. It had been a long day.

DAY 7

Clarisse managed to get some service on her phone from Tirrell Lean-to and found a map of the new spur trail to Long Lake Village that Courtney had mentioned to us. We briefly chatted with the couple that was camping in the tent while we packed up in the morning. They were backpackers who were section hiking the trail.

With our long day ahead of us, we didn't waste time getting on the trail.

We passed through an unbelievable meadow, formed by beavers.

Paul earned his trail name through his keen eye for berries. We called him "Forager".

We took the awful, knee-killing, up-and-down spur trail to Long Lake village and hiked down to a Stewart's in town. We all grabbed a snack and sat outside on a brick ledge to eat so that we wouldn't shop hungry and buy the whole store. Afterwards, we purchased the supplies we would need to feed ourselves for our last few days on trail.

Outside of the Stewart's we were lucky enough to meet a couple named Tom and Jill that had done the NPT themselves before. They offered us a ride down to the trailhead, which we gratefully accepted. We tried to hand them some cash at the end, but they refused. We traded stories instead and gave their dog Tipper some love. She had done the NPT as well.

From the trailhead, it was a short 1.9 miles into the lean-tos along Long Lake. Both were occupied so we set up our hammocks in the trees instead.

We cooked dinner, built a campfire, and then watched the sunset on the lake. As the sun set, we talked to one of the groups that were occupying a lean-to. They were high schoolers in a leadership program from New York City. Their group was hiking from Piseco to Lake Placid in 20 days. The teens that hung out near the water with us were funny and we enjoyed their company. They even encouraged Clarisse and I to go for a swim in the lake when we were on the fence about it. It was so refreshing.

The other lean-to was occupied by some college kids who had canoed in. They were kind of obnoxious, even yelling back and forth for a while across the lake to each other at one point. I fell asleep to them loudly singing Hooked on a Feeling (badly) and shining their headlamps towards our hammocks.

There was some super loud music coming from directly across the lake as well as another loud camping group on another corner of the lake. To add to the noise, float planes seemed to be nearly constantly landing and taking off during the day. Long Lake had a very social atmosphere so if you wanted to meet people and hang out while camping, it'd be the place for you. If you were seeking solitude, I'd go elsewhere. It was quite different from the rest of our backcountry experiences on the NPT.

Still, maybe I was just really tired and comfortable, but I slept incredibly well in my hammock.

DAY 8

We were supposed to have been done with our long, hard days... but then we accidentally walked the wrong way. We had been laughing about a funny story involving my dad's unlikely newfound interest in crystals on the hike in and not focused on our surroundings like we usually were. We made it all the way back out to the trail register near the road, when Paul opened the book and saw my name in it already. The same cigarettes we had seen the day before still sat next to the logbook.

"Oh, no..."

That was a 3.8 mile mistake.

We eventually came to a sign that stated we were within 30 miles of Lake Placid! To me, that still seemed quite far. But Clarisse and Paul were thrilled.

To be fair, ~30 miles to Lake Placid means we had already gone ~110 miles.

I still wasn't that impressed though.

We met another young man who was solo hiking. He had some cigarettes in his pocket, and I later found a nearly empty pack on the ground that I think he may have accidentally dropped. I carried them out, but forgot to return them when I saw him again. He stopped at the 1st Cold River Lean-to, which looked like a lovely site.

We were in the High Peaks Wilderness now and the terrain was a bit more unforgiving. Luckily, our packs were lighter than they were in the beginning of our journey and we felt strong.

There was a lot of fresh bear poop (very purple with berries) on the trail for miles. Wildlife also like to follow trails sometimes– it's easier than forging a path through dense brush.

I think we also heard a bear nearby this bridge (or at least a very large animal). However, Clarisse walks loudly and we made it a point to talk when traveling through dense vegetation. So we may be the only NPT thru-hikers who didn't see a bear or a moose.

We arrived at the Seward Lean-to around mid-afternoon. It was occupied by a man and a young couple. The man (we'll call him "Dave") definitely seemed a bit off but the couple, Gene and Esther were really cool. Dave said he was staying the night, so we hoped Gene and Esther would as well. We thought about pressing on (and Dave tried to convince us to) but the next lean-to was several miles away and we were tired of pushing so many long days in a row.

The Cold River was absolutely beautiful in the afternoon sunshine. We explored a bit, took some photos, filtered water, and enjoyed nature.

I think the Seward Lean-to is probably my favorite lean-to on the trail. I'd definitely stay here again.

Dave dove into the water head first (without fear of rocks).

Back at the lean-to, we got to know our fellow campers a bit better. We made dinner and Esther even shared some of her fruit cobbler dessert that she made with us. Dave told us how he didn't see any benefit to hot meals and only carried snack bars. To each their own.

Esther and Gene are music teachers at Keene Valley. They were fairly new to the Keene area, having moved from Saranac Lake. This was really cool to me, as I want to live in one of these towns one day. They told us more about life in the Adirondacks, and the unique stressors that Keene Valley students face. Their school is so small that the students feel pressured to participate in everything to keep the sports teams and music programs alive.

We talked a lot about music and life as well, while Dave interjected that he is self-taught on the piano. He makes up his own songs and some people even think Dave is classically trained, to which he says, "Do you not notice that I never blend the white and black keys!?" He doesn't want to learn anything about how music is "supposed" to be, because it would ruin everything about how he plays.

Dave wanted to be retired by 40, which he said he was. He now just worked a part time job as security at a bar. He lived in an apartment with a roommate, had no car, and hadn't had a credit card since 2006.

He was also super into martial arts, with tattoos of Asian characters on his neck and down his spine. Dave explained it as a spiritual practice that helped him feel more connected to the earth, and that he could feel power from nature, like the water coursing by him in the Cold River.

He was also vegan. Except he ate local, humane meat. He was currently eating a beef jerky stick as he mentioned, "I should look into how this one is made."

I was getting a bit skeptical of this situation and while Paul also thought Dave was off his rocker, he found him harmless.

If anything, he was the most intriguing person I had ever met.

Esther and Gene were really awesome at least.

We all wanted a campfire, so we set about gathering wood. Dave was extremely unimpressed with our results and left us to head down towards the riverbank. He returned hauling a massive dead tree uphill to the lean-to as he called out, "Now this is what I'm talking about!"

I was concerned about a forest fire, but Dave assured me that the log would burn very slowly and he would watch it.

I went to bed, kind of afraid that Dave would murder us. At one point, he walked right near our hammock camp and stared directly at us with his headlamp. I assumed he was looking for more firewood? I don't know what he was doing, but part of me thought that he might be learning where we were sleeping so he could return without a light later. I clutched my pocket knife in hand.

He did return not long after, but continued on past us with just a rope in hand. I'm not sure what he was doing on the hill across the trail. He had a bear barrel and didn't seem to have much food except his snack bars, so I don't think he was hanging a bear bag. I could see his head lamp looking around in the trees. Eventually he returned to the lean-to and seemed to go to bed. It took me a while longer to fall asleep.

DAY 9

We said goodbye to Esther and Gene (Dave was still sleeping) and began hiking towards Moose Pond Lean-to, where we would spend our last night on the trail.

The NPT now goes right through Noah John Rondeau's old hermitage.

You can see some remnants of his old camp still, like his tin cans.

The guide book mentions this area being popular with horses... and to watch your step!

We took a break to read the logbook at Cold River #2.

The Duck Hole was an amazing site to see as we emerged from the trees. I had heard so much about this place. It was exciting to finally get to see it with my own eyes.

There used to be a dam here, which has since broken, and now nature is reclaiming the space.

We met a man and his old dog at the new golden lean-to. We were both a bit surprised to see each other, but the gentleman was really kind and told us how he used to come up here to Duck Hole for years, even back when it was dammed up. We chatted about each other's plans and then parted ways.

The trail past Duck Hole gets more difficult in terrain. The blowdown also increased, making it more difficult to find the correct path at times. We came across some current logging areas as well, which made staying on trail even more confusing.

We still managed to reach Moose Pond Lean-to fairly early in the afternoon. Paul considered how close we were to Lake Placid (about ten miles) and knew we could finish the hike that night. He was right, but we decided to stay put and enjoy our last night in the woods instead.

Clarisse tried to filter water from Moose Pond but couldn't find water that wasn't mucky. I read about a stream not far up trail in the northern direction and Clarisse headed there to filter water instead, while Paul and I gathered dead and down wood for a campfire.

We ate dinner, read logbook entries, wrote our own submission, and watched hummingbirds and moths in the flowers near the front of the structure. After stargazing from the comfort of the lean-to, we went to bed.

DAY 10

Last day!!!! I was excited to get to Lake Placid and eat a big veggie burger and fries with a cider. But I was also already a little sad to leave the trail.

We took the very short side trip to Wanika Falls on our way out.

The hike featured dense green vegetation that made me feel like I was in Jurassic Park. Clarisse was gliding through the jungle, moving quickly and not tripping or rolling her ankle once. She had really evolved over the course of these last ten days.

By late morning, we arrived at our final trailhead: we had finished the wilderness portion of the trail!

We did it!!! We called our loved ones to check in as we completed the last short bit of road walk to the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society (declining a ride from a nice man for the last few blocks). At this point, Clarisse and I were indifferent but Paul was determined to finish strong. We made it to Paul's car (through pure human-power) and then grabbed a victory lunch at Dack Shack.