Part 3 Northville-Placid Trail
In this post I (almost) finish the description of my trip.
As I mentioned previously I hiked to Tirrell Pond after going through the Lake Durant campground, as seen here.
After dinner I returned to the campsite I had just passed (I prefer to not eat at or close to my camping spot). I also did not want to push on to the next lean-to thinking it might be occupied and there would be no good camp site after that.
During the night it started raining a little. When I got up it was raining slightly and the sky was very overcast. After I started hiking the rain picked up and made everything very wet. Although it is expected on a week long trip that rain will occur I still wished it wasn't (alas it turned out to be a forlorn hope). I reached the Salmon Pond area where another trail crew was working on a small bridge, but as they informed me it would be two more days before it was complete. So I was too early for another bridge as well.I thanked them for their work anyway and they were kind enough to point out the alternate (and dry) route to me. Shortly after this point I started up the climb to the height of land in the Blue Mt Wilderness. It was pouring rain off and on at this point. And it didn't help that the trail is overgrown in spots. At the highest point I took out my cell phone to see if I could get a signal (and what do you know I did, but barely). At that point I tried to call my spouse, but the signal was apparently too weak for the call, but I did text and inquired about the weather. What information I did get back wasn't encouraging, but at least it felt good to make contact with the 'outside' world. In case you were wondering about the quotes, it really did feel like I was in a different world with the rain and overcast conditions. I could not see a thing from my vantage point on the mountain (I suspect a nice view could be had on a clear day).
The downhill slope from the top is quite steep and my left knee paid the price for the steepness (it would hurt for the remainder of the trip). From the bottom of the mountain I hiked towards the intersection of the road going to the village of Long Lake. You will notice at this point I haven't included any videos. Well, with the rain there wasn't anything to really shoot and I didn't fell like taking out the phone unnecessarily. I crossed the road and started on the path (it was on Tarbell Road) towards the Long Lake section of the trail. On the road, I met two people out for a run in the rain going the same direction as I. I asked them about the weather, hoping for a more complete set of information than the texts I had exchanged earlier. However, they said it would rain after 3PM without any elaboration. As it was almost 3 PM then and still overcast that didn't help much. After the trail entered the woods I decided to get to one of the lean-tos on the lake as long as I met my distance goal for the day (18 miles) that put me only about 3-4 miles away at that point (I forget how much right now). Finally I reached the Kelly Point lean-to which has two lean-tos close together. It was still rainy and getting chilly.
So I relaxed, watched the lake and had some food (the only time I ate at my campsite the whole trip - I figured the rain was so bad no bear was going to venture out to find it). As I was sitting there keeping warm I saw a small boat come up to the beach with two men on it. This was about 7:30 PM (kind of late in my opinion to be out on a the lake and on a rainy day at that). One fellow gets out and starts hauling gear to the other lean-to. At one point I decided to day hello (I must admit I wasn't feeling like chatting then, but I try to make the best of the situation). He says that he, his wife and father are spending the weekend at the lean-to and asks if I need anything. I really did not need anything , but admitted to having a craving for a soda (worth a shot I thought). Turns out he was willing to provide some but had to wait for the boat to come back. When it did he gave me a cup (Styrofoam) of soda (Coke I think, it tasted good then - thanks Mark!), though I probably did not need the caffeine. My bigger problem was that I could not set up the hammock in the lean-to and I did not want to brave the rain to set it up in the trees. So, I used my pack as a sleeping pad and spent a very uncomfortable night with hardly any sleep.
The next morning I packed up (the family next door were basically still asleep so I left without saying goodbye - didn't want to disturb them). Although the rain had stopped, it was still overcast and wet. A mile or two up the trail was a spring house. Being fussy about the taste of my water I decided to get some. Problem was the pipe with the water was out of reach. I took the cup from the night before (I had saved it, just in case) and put it through my trekking pole hand loop and held the cup in it to get some water. I managed a few cupfuls. It tasted good. But it was too much work to collect a lot of water that way so I pressed on.
Just south of Plumley Point I encountered beaver dams. As unpleasant as it was I had to walk on top of them. And the water was so high each step released water from the dam making my feet very wet.
After Plumley Point the trail leaves Long Lake and starts on its journey to Lake Placid. At around lunch time I reached Shattuck Clearing, as seen here.
At this point in the trip I felt psychologically like I was nearly done and would indeed finish. Also, some small breaks in the clouds appeared to slightly raise my spirits after the rain of the previous day (my feet were still wet though). A while after leaving Shattuck Clearing I met several hikers going in the opposite direction. They inquired about trail conditions (I mentioned the beaver dams, but I don't think they were headed in that direction) and they informed me of blowdowns near Seward lean-to.
I didn't worry too much about the blowdowns the other hikers mentioned for a while. Instead I enjoyed the view below.
After this point I started encountering the major blowdowns mentioned before. They were some of the biggest blowdowns I have ever seen and obviously recent as there was barely the usual herdpath around the. Off to the side it was possible to see significant numbers of trees down. I am not sure if it was Tropical Storm Irene related or not, but the blowdowns I had to detour around (there were 3-4 of them close together) were not Irene related though. After Seward lean-to the going was better and eventually (after a brief stop at Oulaska lean-to - the spot I had camped at some years ago on my first overnight on the N-P Trail) reached the Rondeau site below.