Joined Justin on a trip he has made a few times. Bill also made the trek as did Moody, but just for the day. After signing in at the register I expected to start bushwhacking but instead there was an obvious path.
I asked if this was in Bill's book and do not recall the response. He did mention he took Barbara M on this path when he first took over the series as she had not known about this path.
It wasn't before the pretty brook came into view. There are falls and cascades upstream, but the path and our eventual destination did not follow the brook. Streamside was a nice spot for a lunch break.
We continued on, the weather was nice. In the 60s with enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away. The path had been going uphill slightly and now began a steeper climb. When the path eventually became obscured, flagging helped guide us.
After passing through a short draw we came to a marshy pond. Our next saddle to pass through was on the other side so we made our way around counter-clockwise. Every once in a while signs of old trail clearing were apparent; cut logs mostly.
Following the other side of the pond, we needed the second drainage to follow up and over the saddle to Birch. This drainage had multiple splits but was easy enough as we just went up. Mostly open woods.
As we approached the saddle we tried to find where justin had camped with no luck. Also did not find it on the return trip.
The drop down from the saddle was not as prominent as the climb and we were soon at our destination. Water level was low as we stood on the grassy area which had been underwater at some point. The low level allowed us to follow the lake edge rather easily. At the outlet was a nice flat rocky area.
From here we explored down the outlet a ways, finding the location of a now dispersed hunting camp about a quarter mile away. Some artifacts still remained.
Back at the lake we looked for a place to camp. We finally chose a spot on the N. Shore. Moody headed back. Bill, Justin and I had a nice relaxing camp for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The black flies did appear shortly, but a smudge fire helped.
I am surprised I was able to stay up as long as I did considering how early I was on the road. When I finally climbed into my hammock it was not long before I was asleep.
The night time temps were quite cool. Great for sleeping. With the sky being clear, I did mot deploy the tarp so I was able to see the stars through the tops of the trees. In the early morning a pink cloud was directly over head. It moved eastward as the sun rose.
We arose slowly, had coffee breakfast and packed up even slower. Whe opted to continue around the lake. The shore line was easy, but soon we found ourselves in thick brush inland. I pushed back down to the shoreline and navigated over the skeletons of the downed trees.
We did not pause much on the return trip. Except for a few small climbs through the draws it was mostly downhill. Back at the register we noted Moody had signed out a little after 5pm. A short bit of real trail and we were back at the cars.
Great trip. Good to get together with the guys again (and Bella, I forgot she joined us too.)
