Gun Harbor on Stillwater Reservoir
From June 27 to July 4, 2010, I traveled to Wanakena, NY and performed the Stillwater Reservoir to Cranberry Lake trip I previously discussed here on June 23rd (see trip plan here). It was a complete success and I intend to describe it in detail here soon. Since its length and the extensive area covered (due to the trail portions), I decided to continue my previous convention of writing a single post for each day of the trip. Therefore in the next few weeks I will be posting the trip report in eight parts with an occasional side bar post covering a related topic sprinkled in. Each post will contain a Google map showing the approximate route taken for that day, including any interesting landmarks I saw while traveling through the area. Unfortunately, most of the extra ponds and lakes I thought I might have time to explore on this trip to the east of Witchhopple Lake and north of Clear Lake were not visited due to the trip taking much longer than I originally planned.
Dead Creek Flow on Cranberry Lake
This trip can be dissected into five different parts. The first part was a single day of hiking on marked trails from trailhead in Wanakena, NY to Wolf Pond. The second part consisted of approximately two days of bushwhacking with campsites at upper Riley and Summit Ponds. The third part was a 2-day trek from Summit Pond down the Red Horse Trail and a short bushwhack to Gun Harbor on Stillwater Reservoir for a ceremonial washing before returning the same way after a night spent in the Trout Pond lean-to. The fourth part included a two day bushwhack from the northern terminus of the Red Horse Trail to Toad Pond for a night and then west to Streeter Fishpond for another night. The fifth part was my exodus with a trail hike from south of Wolf Pond to Cat Mountain for a night spent John Wayne style under the stars, followed the next day by a hike to Cranberry Lake for a quick dip before returning to Wanakena, NY.
Toad Pond
Some of the highlights of the trip included: scrambling through multiple blowdowns (luckily no extensive 100% blowdowns were encountered), fresh moose tracks on two different occasions, fresh bear tracks, multiple fireworks displays, common loons with young, and a gray jay lured in by one of my short but intense displays of frustration hanging a food bag. The first day’s report should show up here soon.
