Hiking the Elk Lake Preserve, Chillin’ at Elk Lake Lodge

Part 1 of 3

It has been a long time coming that Corenne and I were to stay at the Elk Lake Lodge. We have talked many times, over a cold beer, about hiking a bunch of their trails and revisiting the 100-highest peaks that reside on the property. You see, the trails on Elk Lake Property are only open to guests of the lodge, which in my opinion make them quite unique and as you may have guessed, very quiet. It was Corenne’s birthday, or soon to be, so I thought I would put out a little surprise for her. Except what was I going to do, pack her bags, blindfold her, throw her in the trunk and let her out once we got there? As you can see the thought had crossed my mind, but I opted to wait till the last minute to clue her in.

Boreas Mountain

Once we got checked in at the lodge they were kind enough to set us up with a property map with all the trails outlined – this is important you see; their trails are not on other maps. We decided to go for Boreas Mountain as our day one hike of choice. While I am not super familiar with their trails and the map they gave us was a bit busy with the trails leading from the lodge, I decided we should start along the Marcy Trail until we intersect theirs.

We hiked back up the road for a bit to the state trailhead located there and made our way as the trail descended back down to Shore of The Branch. This crossing was over a swinging bridge, which did just that, along with a little bouncing. We then crossed Nellie Brook over a solid wood bridge which was along an old woods road. This woods road would be our route to the base of Boreas Mountain. Just over the bridge the state trail to Panther Gorge and Mountain Marcy exited sharply uphill, we remained low on the road. The mosquitos were out in the low areas of the road where wet features surrounded us. It was very odd this late in the season to see or get bitten by those blood-thirsty microscopic vampires, but we were.

The soft woods road under our feet would soon end as we came to a massive intersection with another foot trail and logging road that has been recently developed. Unfortunately, we had to use the logging road. While the road was not attractive it was easy to walk and got us where we needed to go in right fast fashion. On a good note there were several moose tracks along the road, maybe we would get a glimpse of the allusive Adirondack moose, that dream kept us motivated too.

The Fire Observer’s Cabin

We knocked off the logging road quickly, mainly because it was pretty much all downhill along a gentle slope, that I am sure won’t feel as gentle later in the day. Now back in the forest under a tight canopy of green we started our climb. After a short stint on a narrow footpath we had to climb ever so steeply up an embankment and onto an old woods road, which essentially was the access road to the observer’s cabin. The old road was a delight to be on, ever so soft under our feet, even better than the one from earlier. The road climbed steadily as the brook babbled down past us on the left. Hopping a couple smaller washed out stream beds we came upon an attractive grassy field which was the location of the fire observer’s cabin, so long ago.

The route was now a narrow foot trail, not all that dissimilar to those found in the High Peaks Region. Once we crossed a small stream it was all uphill and at times very uphill! While still quite soft and seemingly unused by the masses we had only one small section of wet, muddy terrain. Leaves littered the trail, showing signs of autumn knocking on the door, but yet it was very humid and hot in the air around us. We could smell the decaying leaves and the moist odor of mushrooms that lined the trail. We could hear the squirrels dropping pine cones from the tops of the evergreens, foraging for winter’s pantry.

Summiting Boreas Mountain

Much of what the Adirondacks had to offer was right in front of us and then we stood atop Boreas Mountain, where the fire tower once stood, where only a concrete block and some metal anchors remain. The views are fantastic, even lacking the fire tower, we only imagined the sweeping views the tower must have opened up in its time. We could see the Dix Range as it towered high over Elk Lake. Clear Pond glistened below. Another viewing area called my name a bit further left and it was a gem of a view. Standing atop a small split rock we could see the entire sweeping ridge of the Great Range all the way to Allen. It was getting late; we had spent a lot of time on the summit and wanted to get back to the lodge for tea that would be waiting for us in the lounge.

Back at the lodge

A quick shower relieved us of all the pine needles down our back and cobwebs in our hair, now we would relax with a hot cup of tea, a cold glass of infused water, and raisin bread. Once that was done, they served cheese, fresh fruit, and crackers in the lounge to get our appetites ready for dinner. My dinner was a New York strip, Corenne had the trout, they had even catered to our gluten intolerance and they had gluten free bread and dessert ready for us. It was so nice not having to worry about anything other than relaxing on the porch sipping a nice white wine. Relaxing soon turned to looking at old photo albums, which turned to slight nodding in the chair. We retired and looked forward to our next day on Sunrise Mountain.

Read part 2 of our Elk Lake adventure.