When people go hiking in the mountains, there are two things they look for — scenic views and high waterfalls.
People flock by the millions to see the power and beauty of Niagara Falls, but few have ever seen the highest waterfalls in the Adirondacks.
I heard many years ago that T-Lake Falls, which is deep in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness, was magnificent. It was in a remote region of the forest and required a 10-mile hike in and out to see it. Some time in the late 1970s, a student of mine led me into the forest to view the falls from the top.
We left Poplar Point Campsite on Piseco Lake early one morning on a steep but fairly good trail. The hike went well until we reached the lean-to. To our surprise, the state had closed the trail due to the danger of the slippery rock summit. At that time four people had died trying to see the falls.
The water from T-Lake flows over a rounded, dome-shaped rock, making it impossible to see the falls from above. When hikers worked their way out trying to see what’s below, they slipped and reached the rocks at the bottom in about 4.3 seconds. There was a trail to the left, but that was too steep to attempt, as well.
We decided to turn around and hike in from the bottom another time. Well, that didn’t happen for another 30 years. At that time another friend and I hiked in on the Mountain Home Road just before the hamlet of Hoffmeister on Route 8, several miles from Poland.
After covering several miles and following an old logging road, we reached the fall. The view from the bottom was spectacular. Above us was 250 feet of rock and cascading water.
A few years ago, the state purchased several thousands of acres of forest from the Finch and Pruyn Paper Company. Quickly, the word was out. New York’s highest waterfall was available to the public. Well, I wasn’t going to pass that up. OK Slip Falls was available to the general public after being closed for more than 150 years.
So, one day a couple of years ago, I headed north. The trail to the falls is great. There are no steep climbs, just a wonderful three-mile hike to the falls. I could hear the roar of the water over the falls for better than a half-mile away, but when I saw it, I was mesmerized by the view. From a spectacular overlook above the falls I saw the source of the thunder. In front of me was a 260-foot rush of cascading water.
OK Slip Falls gets its name from an old logging term. Remember, lakes were formed from dammed up rivers. The timber was cut and the logs were floated down the rivers when the dams were broken. Just before the dam was blown, the log drivers yelled, “OK slip!” to warn the workers below that the logs were on their way. Huge rafts of logs raced down the rivers on the fast water to the mills many miles downstream.
To get to the trailhead, go 7 1/2 miles southeast from the village of Indian Lake on State Route 28. The parking area is on the right side of the road and the trailhead as diagonally down the highway. After reaching the falls, adventurous hikers continue down the trail to see the Hudson River Gorge. Trust me — it’s worth the hike.
So enjoy and be careful.
Recently on Facebook, there were pictures and an article about a giant brook trout that was caught in the Adirondacks on July 5. It was 22 inches long and beat the previous six-pound record by three ounces.
Now, before you ask, where it was caught, let me tell you. You’re wasting your breath. Guys who fish for record book trout will never reveal the name of the pond they were fishing. Look at it this way. If they told you where it was caught, you would tell a friend who would tell his friends and the next time the fisherman went back to that particular pond, there would be two dozen others fishing that water.
When I moved to the Adirondacks back in 1969, I asked an old timer and guide who lived across the road from me where I could catch big brookies.
“Oh, there’s plenty of places to go if you don’t mind hiking a few miles in, but right out there about three miles is a good place to start,” he said, as he raised his hand and pointed. The trouble was, he cut his index finger halfway through on a chain saw, and it pointed at a 45 degree angle from the second joint, So was he pointing straight with his hand or off to the left with that crooked finger. Well, it took me about three years to find that particular pond, and by then it was pretty well fished out.
So, Benjamin Ferguson and his buddy will never tell anyone where they were fishing. Heck, there are easily a couple thousand back-country ponds in the Adirondacks. Sixteen of them are named Mud Pond or Mud Lake.
They fish where no man in his right mind will go. Using 20-pound Hornbeck carbon fiber one-man canoes, they hike in eight to 10 miles. Sometimes they fish all day and never get a bite. That happened the day Ben caught the record fish. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that the monster hit his bait. Being too late to hike out to have the fish weighed on a certified scale, they filled the canoe with water and floated it out in the lake so nothing would eat the fish.
Now, most guys who catch big brook trout use a lure that was made right here in Gilbertsville by Art Freer. He was the postmaster there for many years. The lure was called the Lake Clear Wobbler. It is a shiny silver spoon, pointed on each end, that attracts the fish to a nightcrawler on a hook that is trailed a foot or so behind the lure. It is the go-to lure for most brook trout fishermen. It’s trolled slowly behind their canoes. I caught most of my brook trout over the years on that same lure while slowly trolling in the cold, clear mountain water.
The previous record brook trout was supposedly caught in Silver Lake, north of Benson along the Northville–Placid Trail about 12 years ago. I doubt it though. Fishermen lie. I fished that pond years ago and never caught a thing.
There was a time when you couldn’t find a brook trout. Acid rain killed the lakes and most of the fish. The coal-powered power plants of the midwest polluted much of the water, but ways of producing electricity have changed. Today the lakes and ponds are alive with fish. But as you can see, it takes a bit of effort to find them.