CATS Hamlet-to-Hamlet Hike Success, Future Plans, & Saturday Trail Project

Walking up Cook Rd to Boquet Mt. Trail (Credit: Chris Maron)

“Fabulous day!” barely describes Champlain Area Trails’ first Hamlet-to-Hamlet hike from Wadhams to Essex. About 60 people met at Dogwood Bakery to hike the 12-mile trail on the most beautiful day of the year. Perfect temperatures, amazing colors, and crisp, clear air. Twenty-one people completed the entire route, with the first (Bruce Boisen and Louis Comeau) arriving at Lake Champlain Yoga & Wellness (LCYW) in Essex in 4 ½ hours. The final group arrived about an hour later.

Thanks to Pok-O-MacCready Camp and its director, Sarah Disney for the shuttle to take people back to their cars from several places along the route. And to LCYW for allowing the hikers to rest their feet, get some refreshments, and talk about the day. We’re already thinking about the next hamlet-to-hamlet hike (or ski) when we would end at the Essex Inn for drinks and food after a foot massage at LCYW.

See a few pictures from the Wadhams-to-Essex hike below (click to enlarge):

Looking at hawk on Boquet Mt Trail (Credit: Chris Maron)

Smiles at Rocky Ledges Trailhead (Credit: Chris Maron)

Glen Chapman walking along Essex Farm (Credit: Chris Maron)

The crest of the hill before Essex (Credit: Chris Maron)

Glen Chapman snapped this picture of migrating geese and the moon as he walked into Essex.

Plans for Essex-Willsboro Hike; Help Build the Trail Tomorrow

We want to have a hamlet-to-hamlet hike between Essex and Willsboro. We could leave from Essex, get to Turtle Island for lunch and then get back to Essex for drinks and dinner at Essex Inn or if summer, then there’s the choice of Chez Lin and Ray’s, Essex Inn, Old Dock House, the Ice Cream Shop, Pink Pig, and maybe a new bistro?

To do that, we need your help this Saturday in making a trail that will be part of the Essex to Willsboro Trail. Yes, this Saturday afternoon, October 19, you can help finish clearing the Flatwoods Trail located on Essex Road (Rt 22) about two miles north of the ferry (on Dick and Leanna DeNeale’s property). It’s called the “Flatwoods Trail” because the trail is…yes, it’s….pretty flat. But don’t let that deceive you–it goes through a beautiful woods with huge maple trees, along a shrub swamp with flittering birds, next to weird rock outcrops, and beside a pond with migrating ducks. It will certainly be a great asset to Essex.

Thanks to a crew from Mountain Lake Services, we’ve made a lot of progress on the trail and now we really do need your help to finish cutting branches and clearing fallen limbs. Please meet at 12:30 at the Essex Ferry parking lot to car-pool to the trailhead. Bring loppers or you can use our tools. We’ll finish about 4:30 and with a good turnout, way before that. Everyone is welcome.

Upcoming Essex Events 10/13-10/19 (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Essex Gains $3.1 Million for Water Project (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Essex Farm Stand OPEN Daily (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Daily Doodle: Driving Lake Shore Road (essexny.us)

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