Leader: Paul Sirtoli

Co-leader: Dave Rockwood

Write-up: Paul Sirtoli

Photo Credit: Dave Rockwood

Located in the Black River Wild Forest, outside Nobleboro, Burp Lake is a high-altitude body of water, at 2,117 feet.  Needless to say, our group of four – Paul, Dave, Carolyn, Lisa – hiked nearly 1,500 feet of elevation gain on and off trail to get there and back from Haskel’s Lane.

Irregular in shape, the shoreline is entirely surrounded by marsh meadows, shrubs, and bushes.  I suspect that if the outlet was not dammed by beaver, it could best be described as a large bog.  Indeed, after 3.5-plus hours of trudging through the woods, we eventually ate our lunch on an old, deserted beaver lodge just off the shore.

First time tramp participant, Lisa, from the Syracuse region, exuded delight to have the opportunity to try bushwhacking through a wilderness. She was not disappointed, especially when finding bear claw marks on a tree. What I thought would be an “old road, easy to follow” to the vicinity of the lake, turned out to be less than a herd path.  Numerous knee/shoulder height cut saplings, bungee sticks if you will, sort of guided us on the woodsy lane.  In essence, it was bushwhacking through an essentially and thankfully open forest.

Following our 10.6-mile hike, nearly 8 hours later, Lisa surprised us all with wonderful cookies.  Thank You Lisa; join us on every hike!

In case the reader noted a discrepancy between the advertised mileage (12 miles) vs. 10.6, lies with the fact that the DEC improved Haskel Lane, allowing Dave to drive his truck to the start of the snowmobile trail, shaving off distance and time.