[Journal enrty for November 3, 2014; Lake Wanoksink, Harriman State Park, New York].
I parked at the public boat launch by Lake Sebago, off of Seven Lakes
Drive, in the mid-afternoon. The lot had
been repaved and somewhat enlarged since my last visit and the view of the lake
was more open that I remembered it. I
viewed the lake for a few minutes. While
the season of fall foliage is now nearing its end, the leaves that remain are
beautiful shades of amber and brown, with occasional reds – especially from
bushes along the lakeshore – thrown in.
I crossed
Seven Lakes Drive and took the Seven Hills Trail (blazed in blue) across
Conklin Mountain. It rises steeply through
high woods that are fairly open underneath. The ground is covered mainly by
rocks, fern and low-bush blueberry. I
descended the far side to where the trail crosses Diamond Creek. Very little
water was flowing today, for the fall has been quite dry. A large rocky knoll, called Monitor Rock, is
located besides the trail. I explored
the side of it that faces the trail, which has a vertical scarp perhaps twenty
feet high. A small overhanging section forms a shallow cave. I crawled in, for it is only about four feet
high, and sat in it a moment. The floor
is covered with angular boulders, so I think this is not a cave in which one
could easily be comfortable.
I then
continued on, crossing another hill and joining with Pine Meadow Road, a major
woods road that connects several of the lakes in this part of the park. In a few minutes I arrived at Lake Wanoksink, at a point near its dam. I bushwhacked though a few hundred yards of
woods until I reached its shore, at a point just north of the spillway of its
dam. Along the way, I passed several
small concrete structures that II suppose to have been part of some old water
works. The dam is a long earth-filled affair and the spillway is concrete and
stone, built on top of rock ledge.
Judging from the tracks of bulldozers, some repairs on underway. They are needed, for I judge its condition to
be poor, as some slumping of earth appears to have occurred.
I took an
informal path northward along the lakeshore, through dense high bushes with
only occasional view of the lake. The
fall foliage, while well past peak, was nevertheless very beautiful. A flock of about twenty
Buffleheads paddled by, following the far shore. I struggled though the Mountain Laurel and Highbush Blueberry for about half a mile, to a wide rock
ledge that afforded a nice view of the northern end of the lake. I then retraced by path, crossed the spillway
and walked the dam to the southern end of the lake. An informal trail runs along that end,
between the lake and Pine Meadow Mountain, to its south. I passed a very pretty Scarlet Oak tree, with
its leaves a deep red.
I
bushwhacked up onto the summit of Pine Meadow Mountain, which is really just a
small hill with a bare rock ledges exposed on its summit. It affords a nice view of Lake Wanoksink. The
ledges, which are surrounded by Blueberry, Sweet Fern and the occasional Pitch Pine are very beautiful in their own right, too. I then descended back to lake level and took
an informal trail over to Pine Meadow Lake, the lake immediately to the south
of Lake Wanoksink.
The northern
shore of Pine Meadow Lake consists of an irregular scarp built of jagged and
very large boulders. I believe it to be
a relic of the Ice Age, one of the many south-facing scarps in the park created
when glaciers tore away hillsides. This
scarp is unusual for being right on a lakeshore and is really quite
spectacular. Today it was very well lit
by the sun. The normal tan rocks had taken on a ruddy hue, for the sun was
getting close to setting. I walked as
far as the dam, which affords a nice, open view of the lake and its rock
formations. I then took Pine Meadow Road back towards the Seven Hills Trail.
I took one
detour, to visit the wetland through which the Lake Wanoksink
outlet stream flows. Today, I approached
it by bushwhacking through the narrow strip of woods between the road and the
wetland, rather than a disused woods road that is farther to the north, as I
usually do. I encountered a small
boulder cave whose existence I had hitherto fore
overlooked, among the rock ledges near the edge of the wetland. I will investigate it further, someday.
The daylight
was getting pretty dim. I hurried back
up along the Seven Hills Trail and reached Lake Sebago and my car just as the
sun was setting.
About 2:45.