A Little Wild: Lost trails; Little Squaw Brook and Colvin Brook

In my previous post I wrote that I don't often return to trails I've walked before because there are so many new and interesting places left to see. Particularly because I like to pick out old trails to see if I can find and follow them. Routes that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) lists as "unmaintained" are my favorites. So the trail to Carry Pond and then up the valley of Little Squaw Brook would be just perfect. Plan A was to ford the Cedar River (near the Carry Lean-to), visit Carry Pond, and then follow the trail up the valley for a couple of miles. For reasons I'll get to in a minute, plan A did not happen.

South along the Northville Lake Placid Trail from Cedar River Flow. The yellow lines are trails from the DEC trail reference (KML file you can download). The blue line is my route covering about 12 miles out and back.

Cedar River Flow. A warm, cloudy and very still mid-October day. So warm in fact that a few misquitos joined in the fun.

Heading south on the Northville Lake Placid Trail from the Moose River Recreation Area main road (Trailhead and small parking pullout located a mile south of the Cedar River Flow entrance) the route passes along the south west side of Cedar River Flow and then through an area logged in the not too distant past. The trail follows what was originally a well-built logging road and the forest is primarily second growth with several bogs and swamps thrown in to keep things interesting.

Looking west across one of several bogs crossed by the Northville Lake Placid trail south of Cedar River Flow; Manbury Mountain in the distance.

A sphagnum moss bog passed between Cedar River Flow and the Carry Lean-to. This was taken on my return trip when a brief glimmer of sun gave hope that the heavy cloud cover might break. Five minutes later it was raining.

A little over three miles from the trailhead an abandoned woods road enters from the west and you pass iron posts that would have supported a gate. A bit further on I noticed an indistinct and unmarked trail leaving the NLPT towards the east and a minute later I reached the spur trail leading to the Carry Lean-to. Which meant that the indistinct trail just passed was the trail to the ford that would start the route to Carry Pond and Little Squaw Brook. Going back, I followed what is best described as a trace of a hint of a path down to the Cedar River. As places where you might try to ford a river go this was as unappealing a crossing as I have come to in the Adirondacks. The river at that point is slow moving and muddy providing no glimpse of the bottom so you could gauge the depth and footing. Worst of all the banks on both sides are steep and lined with thick brush. Crossing there? Not gonna happen.

Cedar River at the place where the abandoned trail to Carry Pond and the Little Squaw Brook valley crosses.

Trail signs at the junction where the short spur trail leads to the Carry Lean-to (which, based on signs on the trail has been renamed the Cedar River Lean-to).

Returning to the main trail I retraced my steps to the junction and followed the short spur to the lean-to to see if it might be possible to cross there. Though there is a landing on the near side of the river below the lean-to the basic conditions of the crossing reamined the same. Also not gonna happen. So, on to plan B. Which was to follow the main trail south to the Colvin Brook trail and follow it to the Colvin Brook lean-to.

The Colvin Brook trail is an eight mile spur that connects the NLPT with Route 30 at the Lewey Lake Campground. The route crosses a 3000 foot height of land between Lewey and Cellar Moutains. On the east side (coming from Lewey Lake) the trail is called the Sucker Brook Trail and it is an interesting and easy to follow route through stands of never logged or selectively logged hardwoods (I hiked it in 2013). On the west side, however, trail guides going back to the 90s have warned that the three mile stretch between the Cedar River and the height of land is obscure and difficult to follow. In keeping with this the DEC recently closed the trail citing extensive blowdown and beaver flooding. This is the trail that David Boomhower took in 1990 attempting to bail out on his NLPT through hike. A huge search effort failed to find him and his body was eventually discoverd a few months later by a hunter. He had made it over the height of land and was just a quarter mile from the trail. He had apparently lost his way and succumed to physical and mental exhaustion.

You'd need crampons to cross this partially collapsed bridge. It was steeply pitched and very slippery. Luckily, the water was low making it easy to bypass the bridge and rock hop across the stream.

Junction of the side trail to the Colvin Brook Lean-to and the NLPT.

From behind the Colvin Brook lean-to. This is a really attractive spot and this lean-to looks like it gets very little use.

But the mile long section of trail between the NLPT and the Colvin Brook lean-to is well marked and as attractive a forest walk as any in the Adirondacks. The route passes through maturing second growth stands of both hardwoods and softwoods including stands where large spruce and fir are present. The lean-to is on the east side of the Cedar River --so you have to cross to get to it-- but it's easy to rock hop across at times of low water.

The river provides a really attractive setting for a lean-to which appears to be infrequently used. The Colvin Brook trail proceeds past the lean-to where it immediately enters a stand of what I took to be old growth spruce and fir. That stand contains Red Spruce with diameters over 30 inches; uncommon in a region where spruce were relentlessly pursued by loggers. I followed the trail past the lean-to for quarter mile and it is intriguing, but I had six miles to cover to return to my car and the steady drizzle was threatening to become a full-on rain. So I headed back.