Plan is to go on a 4 day 3 night hike through the central West Canada Lakes area.

Legend: green acronyms such as (PLWC) indicate waypoints loaded into my GPS. BMM36 acronyms refer to sections described in Barbara McMartin's "Discover the West Central Adirondacks."

Thursday:

Our loop will start near Sled Harbor.  To get there, we'll use I-90 to exit 33, 365 to 8 East to Speculator.  Turning left onto NY30, we go about 2.9 miles to the left turn onto the Jessup River Road, an IP gravel road.  This road should take us past Perkins Clearing (~4M), past where the Miami River lean-to used to be (~5.4M), to Sled Harbor(~6M).  This would be the parking lot (PLWC).

From the parking lot, we head NW up the road trail about 0.5 miles to a barrier and register (THWC).  With 4WD we could drive this far, but there is limited parking.  Now follow Red trail NW to a junction at 1.2M (WC01) with the trail L to Pillsbury Mt. (BMM28). Continue NW, at 1.8 miles cross an intermittent stream, a steep and eroded section at 2.4 miles, a clearing at 2.8 miles and an intersection with an unmarked log road to Camp 22 (BMM29) to the right (WC02).  There is a guide board in the clearing with mileages.  Straight ahead is BMM44, where we return via on Sunday.  BMM44 leads 2.7 miles North to the Cedar Lakes Dam.

Take the left fork.  At 3.9 miles there is a cabin in a huge clearing (WC03).  There is a roadway past a garbage dump to the R, but keep straight SW.  200 yds. from the clearing cross a bridge, then a drying beaver flow (4.4M), a ridge and at 4.7M turn left to the lean-to at the lake (LTPL).  Spend Thursday night here, 4.8 miles for the day.

Friday:

The (BMM36) trail to Whitney lake is red-marked.  Heading south from the lean-to, over a rise, through a flooded area, begin a climb 0.6M from the lean-to.  The BMM34 trail goes off the to R in a field.  At 1 mile, make a couple right turns to avoid marshy areas.  The red trail joins a road, more westerly now, along the N side of a hill.  At 1.8 miles the water of Whitney Lake is visible to the right, down the slope through the trees.  At 2 miles, the trail is briefly level, and a flagged and faint path leads N, then after 100 yds. intersects another flagged trail that heads W back up to the red trail, then past a an old burned camp and garbage dump, then steeply down past the remains of a float plane landing.  No campsites or paths along the lake shore, but a bay.  This is the end of BMM36 (WC06), 2.4 miles.

Next up is the BMM37 trail to Sampson Lake, 0.9 miles West.  The red trail continues west on the ridge above the lake.  At 0.4 miles (WC07) the trail crosses to the left side of the ridge and begins to drop;  Sampson Lake is visible through the trees to the left.  At 0.5 miles there is  a spring on the south.  The old shelter is 100 yards farther on the left.  At 0.7 miles there is a marked fork left, downhill, 0.2 mile to a new lean-to (LTSAL) on Sampson Lake.

Now on BMM38, 2.5 miles to the bridge over the West Canada Creek near Mud Lake.    The trail is still red marked and level until about 0.6 miles (WC08), where it turns slightly north.  At about 2.0 miles reach the junction with the NLPT (TR129).  Turn right for a few feet to cross the West Canada Creek at the outlet of Mud Lake.  Just upslope from the bridge is the West Canada Creek Lean-to (LTWCC).  This is 5.8 miles for the day and may be the place to spend the night.  But there are many more lean-tos in this area.

Saturday:

Three more lean-tos lie along or near the BMM39 trail, which leads 1.2 miles past South Lake to West Lake.  This is actually a short section of the NLPT that we've hiked before, ending at the site of the former West Lake Ranger headquarters.  The trail heads SW from the lean-to.  At 0.5 miles there is a path to the left to the lean-to on the shore of South Lake (LTSL).  There are also many campsites in the flat area nearby, and a great sand beach.  The trail enters woods at 0.7 miles, and at 1.0 miles a path leads left to another lean-to (LTWLS).  Now the trail turns NE along the lakeshore and reaches an intersection in a grass field.  This is where headquarters used to be.  All that is left are the remains of the rock foundation and French Louie's fireplace.  A third additional lean-to (LTWL) lies 0.3 miles west on BMM41, if necessary.

From the intersection, take BMM43 6.65 miles to Cedar Lakes Dam.  This is another section of the NLPT.  At 2 miles is the bridge over Mud Creek.  Just short of 3 miles is a path on the R to King's Pond.  At 3.75 miles the trail turns left, and an unmarked trail goes straight.  This side trail is marked in yellow, and leads to a lean-to (LTCL3) after 0.5 miles.  The NLPT continues and passes near a small bay on Cedar Lakes at 3.95 miles.    There is a nice campsite here.  At 4.4 miles a long (0.7 mile) uphill begins.  At 5.1 miles you reach height of land, and begin a 0.6 miles descent.  You can glimpse Beaver Pond to the NW.  Within 100 yards of the channel between Beaver Pond and Cedar Lakes, there is a three-way fork.  A path leads left  200 yards SW to a spring.  The right fork leads to a promontory and a good lean-to (LTCL2).  The trail continues straight to 5.9 miles where you cross the bridge over the channel.  Beyond the dam the trail is atop a long causeway.  A tent site lies to the N on the shore of Beaver Pond.  At 6.05 miles there is a marked intersection (TR156).  A yellow trail left (BMM45) leads to Lost Pond.  The blue trail curves away from the lake, heading E, and after crossing a stream, approaches the former Cedar River HQ.  All that remains are 1 lean-to (LTCL1) and 3 privies.  East of the lean-to are foundations of buildings.  A bridge crosses the dam to 2 nice campsites on the opposite shore of the outlet.  Spend the night here, after 6.65 to 7.85 miles (depending on where you stayed last night).

Sunday:

BMM44 leads 2.8 miles to the intersection with the Pillsbury Lake Trail (BMM33) and then the original 2.7 miles of this loop back to the car at Sled Harbor.  On the E side of the bridge, take the yellow trail, the first mile is mostly level.  At 1.5 miles there is a clearing.  At 1.9, a grassy meadow through which flows Grassy Brook, crosses on a solid plank bridge.  This is followed by a stretch of planking, then an open meadow where the foundation of IP's Camp 20 was.  At the end of the clearing, there is another plank bridge over Stony Brook at 2.3 miles.  There is a spring down a path to the left.  To the left is an old stone bridge foundation.  The intersection with BMM33 is at 2.7 miles.  Then follow BMM33 from day 1 in reverse.