Continuation hike of the Northville Placid Trail: Piseco to Wakely Dam

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 20:14

Having completed the Upper Benson to Piseco section of the NPT in the late fall last year, we had to wait all the way until this past week to get to do the continuation section hike from Piseco to Wakely Dam. We're following in the very well documented travels of HF's very own 12trysomething's (Rob) inspiring footsteps along with his awesome trail buddies. I was joined by Chris183 & his wife Diana again on this 5 day, 32 miler. To nobody's surprise we shared lean-to's with some of the nicest people you could even hope to run into in the woods. They truly made our trip memorable and that much more enjoyable to say the least.

Our trip started with an approximate 5 hour drive to drop off the lead car which we would ultimately hike to at trips end followed by the brisk drive down to the trail head at the continuation point of the Piseco lot. After much deliberation prior to the day of, we decided to press our luck and pace to reach the Fall Stream clearing at the 4.4 mile mark. It was a great group decision as we rolled into camp just as dusk was quickly settling in and we had that much less to hike Thursday.

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Shortly after packing up the Wednesday Fall Stream camp, we stopped to re-load our Nalgene bottles. Chris's MSR Dromedary gravity filter setup was an excellent piece of kit that served us very well.

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Crossing some off shoot of the Jessup River on our way to the Spruce Lake Lean-to.

**2ply** · 05-25-2015, 20:31

Great looking scenery. Looking forward to the rest of the trip.

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 20:39

Starting Thursday, on our way to the Spruce Lake lean-to.

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Reaching the first Spruce Lake lean-to which we decided to pass on in favor of the latter, more scenic lean-to, a decision which we would end up thoroughly enjoying making since we met two very nice friends & locals, Cole & Brian who were there through the weekend fishing the local Brook Trout in a row boat left at the lean-to by locals. These guys were just loads of fun to converse with in camp the whole time.

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Spruce Lake where we all heard our first Loon serenading the night. It was a mesmerizing chorus as I'd always wanted to hear their songs in person in spite of the hours I've probably racked up listening to their calls on video in years prior. Nothing beats the real thing folks.

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Pitched camp. I used the Warbonnet Blackbird 1.7 multicam double custom XL covered by the Warbonnet Superfly Digicam. Top quilt I use is the Warbonnet Black Mamba and underneath is a regular length Hammock Gear Incubator Zero Degree UQ w/ 4 oz overstuff. It got down to the mid 40's on Thursday night and it was arguably the best sleep I had the whole trip.

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The Spruce Lake lean-to we kicked around with Cole & Brian at. Future dwellers beware, the nearest corner in the picture has about half a dozen scalps in its quiver from us bonking our heads on the rafters of which I could account for 3 myself.

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The amenities at the Spruce Lake lean-to included custom super deluxe duct tape y-stick paddles with an "outta sight" warrantee. Believe it or not, Cole & Brian successfully paddled against a very generous and stead 10+ mph wind across & around the lake fishing for their dinner all day.

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**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 20:41

Originally Posted by 2ply

Great looking scenery. Looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Yep plenty more coming. All my pics are taken with my iPhone 5S but once Chris183 tacks on his trip pics which he took with some heavy duty professional photography gear, you'll need a napkin.

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 20:59

Some local flora.

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On the move Friday morning toward the majestic West Canada Lake lean-to we crossed this bridge over the falls of the Sampson Bog.

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**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 21:35

Stopping for lunch on the foot bridge with a view of Mud Lake in the near distance.

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We reached the South Lake lean-to which had a very nice lake side locale but the wind was hellacious that day and the hang spots were not aplenty so we moved on to West Lake which was an easy decision we would not regret in the least.

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Moving on to the West Lake lean-to..

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It also allowed us to meet 2 really great guys Matt & Mark who are a pair of civil engineers who've grown up together coming to the West Canada Lakes for many years. Leading up to this stop I was insisting we take advantage of the cold temps moving w/ the crazy high winds and we double up the mileage. Had we missed this locale, I would've been justifiably strung up by my toes by Chris & D. Matt & Mark over the years have built the stone walk along the bushes in front of the lean-to in warmer years prior and their work is just a testament to the love that people have for their great parks. Another note was that the injuries were mounting for everyone in the party and we were all having some sort of issues with our tires but Matt put any ideas of abbreviating the trip by letting us know that "you guys are committed now that you're out this far since there's no car access to this place within a good 10 miles!".

The best part of the whole trip was Matt showing us this very well hidden rocky outcrop that you have to scale a very dead tree to reach this perspective for.

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If you're wondering why we looked so bundled up in the middle of May, it's because that night we had a crazy cold front blow in over the saddle of the north mountains that kept funneling in a thick wet mist of spitting rain and at days end some snow! It got down to 26 degrees that night as the forecast had called for earlier in the week. That was nuts.

**pilsburythrowboy12** · 05-25-2015, 22:04

The 2nd half looked something like this:
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The West Lake lean-to that we stocked very well with dead standing Balsam Fir & Birch.

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Friday night blew in like winter's 2nd wind and Saturday's sun came in to put things back into perspective with a mid 50's-60's day touched by some timely and consistent breezes that could not be beat with a stick in terms of perfect hiking weather. The weather was so good that with a little consternation we ended up racking up 13 miles on the day (thanks to an unplotted re-route around a blown out dam we needed to cross apparently). So on Saturday night we ended up at the Cedar River Flow lean-to which was the most serene lean-to stay we had since we had it all to ourselves. The winds dissipated, the skies cleared and Chris finally got a chance to do some night time astro-photography with his pro gear. The man knows his photography nuances folks!

On the march to Cedar Lake lean-to that we would ultimately bypass due to surprisingly poor tree hanging selection.

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Reaching the Cedar River Flow lean-to that we would spend the last night at in total serenity.

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Sunday we were on a mission to get to the car cuz we wuz H-A-W-N-G-R-Y for some McDonalds junk junk goodness.

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Shortly after about another 2 miles we reached the car and headed home. Chris will be putting up his epic photography shortly so stay tuned! Thanks and hope you enjoyed.

**Jshep420** · 05-25-2015, 22:11

Looks like a great time. How was the new pack?

**Chris183** · 05-25-2015, 22:17

Thanks for the trip report. Here are a few random pics, in no random order since I haven't finished the album yet

Diana signs us in at the start!

1stsignin-1 by Chris G, on Flickr11

Spruce lake lean to view :

sprucelake-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

South lake beach front :

southlake-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

Brook on the last leg of the hike :

lasthike-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

Cedar river's water access near the lean-to

cedarriver-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

One of MANY water crossings :

watercrossing-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

Random trail pic showing the green of spring :

trailday-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

The stars at night from the cedar river lean to :

canopy-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

West lake @ west canada lakes 3rd lean to :

westlake-1 by Chris G, on Flickr

I wish i could finish editing the pics, but i find myself staring at the pictures! It was a great trip, and we met some really great people during our trip. I can't imagine passing up lean-tos for their gorgeous views they provide.