Thu, Oct 9 to Sat, Oct 11 – Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Backpack
Leader: Mark McAniff
We hiked 3-1/4 miles on the Short Swing Trail, an old roadway, over rolling terrain passing a couple of marshes and in some lovely stately forest. Then from Lilypad pond followed a singletrack trail, occasionally losing the trail for a short while due to the number of leaves down. We circled Rock Pond to the south, over a bridge between it and Little Rock Pond. After 2 miles Camped in the Rock Pond Lean-to. On Friday back over the bridge we took the Clear Pond Trail stopping at Clear Pond to relax, soak in the sun and enjoy the limited foliage left. Then on to Treadway Mountain Trail which was our favorite. At times it felt like the Catskills, other than the Adirondack then just before the false summit it felt a lot like the Shawangunks including plenty of quartz in the rock slabs. Soaked in the views on both the false and the summit. Manny had the summit all to himself until Mark caught up. He took the time to get in some stretches on the slabs. After a while a couple of women came along for lunch and we left. On the return we missed the turn but decided to continue around the opposite side of Clear Pond. On that side someone was canoeing in the pond while his friend was tending to the lean-to. They had brought in a huge, wheeled cooler, a bunch of other gear and had strung LED lights across the front. Total round trip was about 7 miles and 1200 ft of elevation gain. Saturday, we returned the way we came in stopping at Lilypad pond on the way. That lean-to had a father with 2 daughters and their friend with a tent set up in the lean-to. We chatted a bit. Then on deciding to pass up any of the bushwack options on the way out. At the parking lot we discovered that the car battery was dead, but fortune favored us, and someone had just pulled into the lot. I had cables and he gave us a jump. There is a short stop for some food on the way back in New Paltz about 5:30. Participants were Emmanuel (Manny) G. and leader Mark McAniff.