[Journal entry for July 5, 2013; Sterling Lake, Sterling Forest State Park, NY]. I hiked around Sterling Lake in the afternoon. I first parked by the Blue Lake lot, off of Long Meadow Road in Eagle Valley NY, to view the wetland on the east side of the road. Getting down to the water proved difficult, for the brush besides the causeway was thick and, in most places, impassible. I persevered and found a way down, but lost a lens cap and exposed myself to rather too much poison ivy in the process. The wetland is very pretty and surrounded by picturesque hills. It is full of water lilies, grass hummocks and bushes, and has abundant signs of beaver. One of their lodges stands in the south end of the wetland. I then drove to Sterling Lake and parked at the visitor’s lot, near the Highlands Environmental Research Institute. I walked down to the lake shore, passing the Frank R. Lautenberg Visitor Center, a large building overlooking the lake. I took the South Point Trail (blazed in orange) to a little rocky peninsula. The view of the lake is very nice. I was able to familiarize myself with its geography. The long axis of this rectangular lake measures about a mile.

I then walked part of the Lakeville Ironworks Trail (blazed in yellow). I first visited a waterfall, coming off the spillway of the dam at the south end of the lake. The old Sterling Furnace is just below the falls. Built in 1751, it is still in good condition, especially compared to the Long Lake furnaces, a few miles away at Monksville Reservoir, which are falling into ruin. The site has a commemorative bronze plaque, placed in 1906 by the Daughters of the Revolution, which cites its role in the Revolutionary war. Iron from the furnace was used for the Hudson River Chain, which blocked British warships from using that river. Finally, I passed a small house, dating from the now-defunct Lakeville mining community.

I then walked the Sterling Lake Loop (blazed in blue), taking it clockwise around the lake. I crossed a footbridge over the spillway and then walked a road that followed the lakeshore. I took a detour onto another section of the Ironworks Trail in order to view the Lake Mine, started in 1843 and one of the last active iron mines in the area, operating until 1923. The mine, itself, consisted of an extensive system of galleries in the rock deep beneath the lake. I viewed the entrance, a now-flooded circular pit. Ruins of several mining-related buildings stand near the mine entrance, including the tower of an ore crusher and dryer and a more rectangular magnetic separation mill. The iron ores mined included magnetite and hematite, both iron oxides. I found a fist-sized piece of the former near the mine entrance.

I then continued my hike around the lake. The trail on the east side of the lake follows a woods road. It is level and easy and provides nice view of the lake. I passed several anglers and several fellow hikers. At the north end of the lake, the road crosses two wetlands via gravel causeways. The easternmost is the larger and more beautiful, with some open water among meadows of lilies. A beaver lodge sits near its eastern edge. The land between the two wetlands includes both rock peninsulas and a small beach with reddish-brown sand. I encountered many baby toads hopping across this section of the trail.

The trail then heads back south, ascending to the top of a high ridge above the east shore of the ridge. The way becomes somewhat more challenging, owing to the slope, and also to a muddy stretch where the trail passes another wetland. It also passes several stands of Eastern Hemlock. I marvel that any still stand, for the infestation of wolly adelgid scale insects have killed off most of the hemlock in northeastern US. Sadly, several of these trees seemed to be infected and ailing. The final section of the trail is along is along another raised causeway – an old road, perhaps – through rather swampy woods. I was soon back at the Visitor Center.

I then drove to the intersection of Old Forge Road and Long Meadow Road, where I parked for a few minutes in order to view the Laurel Meadow Ponds. These ponds are the northern continuation of the wetlands that I had viewed at the start of my trip. They are picturesque, but finding a vantage where they can be adequately viewed is difficult, for their edges are overgrown with tall Phragmites grass and poison ivy. I spotted a beaver lodge near the pond’s western shore.

I washed myself very thoroughly when I returned home, in order to avoid getting a rash from the poison ivy. About three hours.