Leader: Paul Sirtoli

Co-leader: Jeremy Alexander

Photos: Jeremy Alexander

The Canachagala Mountain range (north to North Lake) is roughly one-mile long and consists of six knobs, all within 50 feet elevation to each other. Near the center of the range lies the summit knob, at 2,606 feet.

I classified this combination of gravel road, bushwhack, and herd path walk as a “destination hike.” There are no scenic vista’s to entice folks to even go there.

Years ago this region was heavily logged, so I anticipated dense forest and blowdown while bushwhacking to the summits. Our group (Paul, Jeremy, Doug, Nancy, Jim, Peter, Bob, Scott, Dave) was pleasantly surprised to encounter a forest relatively open, which encouraged us to explore beyond the advertised mandate.

From the sixth knob, we descended to an old logging road that borders the Canachagala Lake feeder canal. This man-made channel and the stone lock was constructed in 1881, and was designed to supply water to North Lake and eventually the Erie Canal.

Our exit was essentially an unmarked herd path, as many parts of the old road had grown in with vegetative shrubbery. The road eventually led us to the gravel road, where we had begun our bushwhack. The planned

five- mile hike morphed into an almost 8-mile excursion for a wonderful 6-hour day.