Adirondacks - Castle Rock

We're running out of days here at Indian Lake in the Adirondacks, and we wanted one more big payoff for our hiking time.  People recommended the hike to Castle Rock, which, while only four miles, has lots of variety with a gorgeous view over Blue Mountain Lake.  Since we had a window to repair this morning, we selected this hike so we could fit in a big-souled experience in only half a day.

Here, Kathy signs us in at the trail register.  You can see that we are starting to pass the peak of color, and there are lots of browns and reds - all dried leaves - on the ground.  After the rain swept through yesterday, the temperatures were almost 10 degrees lower than earlier in the week, so we had to add a layer to our hiking gear:

Our first notable landmark was a bridge over the stream that drains Chub Pond (more on that later) and itself empties into Blue Mountain Lake.  Here is a photo of Kathy on the bridge.  If you look closely in the shadow, you'll see that the bridge is unusual, in that it is constructed of three huge, squared-off beams running lengthwise across the stream.  Unfortunately, the middle beam had rotted and broken, leaving a gaping chasm the length of the bridge.  A hiker crossing it had to either put a foot on either side of the hole for every step across the bridge, or step gingerly on one side or the other (we picked the side with the handrail):

We had seen a pile of lumber at the trailhead, and it looks like someone plans to repair the bridge by nailing long 2x4's as planks, perpendicular to the existing beams, the length of the bridge.

The trail to Castle Rock is actually composed of two alternate routes to the top, one circling clockwise to the west of the summit, and the other circling counterclockwise to the east.  We chose the westerly route because it featured a side-trail down to Blue Mountain Lake.  We took that side trail, and, here, you see David exploring a mysterious stone structure on a stream that descended to the lake.  We think it may have been a spring house, but it was unclear.

By the time we got to the lakeshore, the wind had picked up and some clouds had closed in, so the lake was not as calm and blue as we had hoped.  Our view was restricted, but we could see some color still in the trees around the lake:

Further on up the trail, as we neared the summit, we came to some caves formed by huge, tumbled, house-sized boulders.  Pretty nice homes for some black bears, we think.  Here, Kathy checks (VERY CAREFULLY) to see if anyone is home:

We had to climb up over the big boulders, and the route we found was a narrow slot.  Kathy peers back down the slot in this photo:

The final few hundred yards were nearly-vertical clambers over boulders, which amply repaid careful climbing with this view to the south across Blue Mountain Lake --

-- and this one to the southeast across Blue Mountain Lake toward Lake Durant and Bullhead Mountain in the center background --

-- and this one southwest toward an unknown peak:

The summit was crowded with perhaps 20 people, and, for some reason, they all decided to descend right behind us.  We were planning an alternate route down, so we asked all of them to pass us.  Now alone and much calmer, we returned to the junction of the western route (which we had climbed) and the eastern route (which we would be returning on).  It was pretty clear that the eastern route is hiked much less frequently, because the leaves that covered the trail were almost completely undisturbed.  We hoped, however, that this route would give us some happy surprises - which it did.

Here, Kathy uses her head as she explores a fallen tree resting on a huge glacial erratic boulder:

Eventually, the eastern route joined with the Upper Sargent Pond Trail.  Here, Kathy is synchronizing her GPS with the trail markers:

 

Further along the Upper Sargent Pond Trail as we returned to our trailhead, Kathy spotted this huge wasp nest hanging unmolested from a tree branch.  Luckily, the season is late and the weather cold, and the occupants were not on alert.

 

On our way up to the summit of Castle Rock, we had passed Chub Pond, which is actually now a series of estuarial channels that have been formed by beaver dams, leaving the balance of the former pond a broad wetland.  We had been unable to get a photo of Chub Pond as we hiked up, but this alternate route gave us a great view of the pond - with Castle Rock (the right-hand peak in the background) to boot!

 

We spotted what looked like a couple of beaver dams and two beaver lodges, but no direct evidence of beaver logging.  Here's a photo of one of the beaver lodges:

As we finished our hike, the windy weather blew heavy clouds in and darkened the sky, while reducing the afternoon temperatures markedly.  We were happy we had extra layers, which we kept on from our lunchtime stop at the summit.  Happy with our journey, we returned to the trailhead and drove home eager for something to warm us up.