Tirrell Pond - Les's First Backpack

Bob and Les Brenner picked me up on Thursday morning May 8 to head to a trailhead on IP land, deep into their logging territory.  We were planning to go to Spruce Lake after a 4 mile hike.  When we got to the turnoff from Route 30 north of Speculator, the access road was closed.  The trail guide says the roads are closed for 6 weeks in the spring to allow road crews to put the roads right after the spring thaw.  This must be that time. So we went on to Mason Lake, and the access road was closed off from that end also.

We decided to continue on to Indian Lake, then West on route 28 and hike into Tirrell Pond.  There are 2 lean-tos there and a nice campsite about halfway between them.  We were the only vehicle at the parking spot, and no one was signed in at the trail register.  It was sprinkling a little when we got there.

Les and Bob waited for me to catch up when they got to the 1883' PBM placed in 1949.

Here is the map and elevation plot of our trek.  The elevation left to right is from the lean-to out to the road.  You can see that we're following the Northville - Lake Plcid Trail, and the size of the O'Neil Flow east of our track.  The elevation scale on the plot is 400', and you can see that there was about 250' variation in the track.  The camp site is about 100' higher than the trailhead.  We parked at the waypoint marked PKDURANT on NY28, and camped at the lean-to marked LTOF.  You can see the summit of Blue Mountain marked on the map to the west of the lean-to.

We arrived at the O'Neil Flow Lean-To about noon, 3.5 miles from the trailhead, and about 1:33 moving time, per the GPS.  There was no one there.

We cooked some soup and coffee for lunch and decided to spend the evening here.

During the afternoon several groups came through.  First, a guy hiking ahead of the rest of his party.  He decided to push on to the next lean-to, at the north end of the pond, about 1.1 miles farther.  Then the rest of that party, another guy and two women.  They were planning some fishing, and one of the girls wanted to swim.  We told her that probably wouldn't happen.

Bob and Les went fishing I rested a while, although I couldn't sleep, so I gathered firewood for the evening.  They came back, and Bob went to fish downstream.  Les and I talked while a couple of Paul Smiths fellows came through on a through hike from Upper Benson to Lake Placid.  One lived in Upper Benson, the other lives on Averyville Road, and they are classmates.  They pushed on.  Then a single fellow with his dog stopped by.  He was contemplating staying, but also decided to go to the next lean-to.  During the afternoon, we saw some canoers, and found out that a seaplane had deposited a group of eight at the far end of the lake, with 4 canoes, boxes of supplies, and an electric motor for one of the canoes.  The notion that the wilderness can now be crowded by people who don't even have to walk in is a little frustrating.

Bob cooked a wonderful medley of gourmet selections that evening.  It began by cooking lemon pudding, then tying it in a plastic bag and putting it in the stream to chill.  Then he cooked a load of bisquick bread, and while it cooled, a chicken pasta selection.  We dipped chunks of hot bread in the chicken and sauce and past noodles, and it was terrific.  Then we finished that off with coffee and pudding, to be topped off with hot coca later.

I built a fire after dinner, but it began to sprinkle.  The sprinkle turned into a steady rain, and we got in the lean-to for the night.  During the night we had a thunderstorm, and I saw some of the lightning, but Bob and Les slept through it.  Everything outside was pretty wet in the morning, but we were toasty and dry.

Friday Page.