Tramp & Trail

Gull Lake is one of our favorite hikes.  Given the time of year we worried about black flies, and they were out and biting, but not as bad as we sometimes have experienced.

The weather was almost perfect, but a little warm if you were wearing a full bug shirt.  Most of the spring flowers have ceased blooming but we did see a number of painted trilliums.

The hike proceeds in a clockwise direction beginning at the Bear Creek parking lot and extending for a short distance along a truck road before bearing left onto the lower foot trail.  There are still a few blowdowns on this trail although they are not nearly as bad as in past years.  The puddles, however were extensive, wide, deep and muddy and required quite a few detours.  The trail turns right after a little over a mile and begins a steep ascent.  This part of the trail is deeply eroded making footing a bit difficult, and we encounterd even more water as we neared the top and the lake came into view.  Turning left we took the trail to the lean-to.  The sign said 0.4 miles but the many ups and downs made the distance seem much longer.   Soon we saw the lake on both sides of the trail, indicating that we were on the point where the lean-to is situated.  This is an ideal spot because a fresh breeze eliminated any black flies.  We quickly kindled a fire and began the roasting of hot dogs.  As usual, two loons and a pair of seagulls occupied the lake and we rejoiced in the music of the loons.  Several people waded in the shallow water off the point while others just relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the place.  Deb Robert’s little grandaughter, Chloe, was overjoyed to find that someone had suspended a rope and log from a tree and spent most of her time swinging back and forth.  Reluctantly we extinguished the fire and turned homeward.

We backtracked until we reached the trail to the Chub Pond intersection.  This trail follows an old tote road for most of the way narrowing to a foot path only a short distance from the intersection.  Here there were even more puddles to circumvent but fortunately the water at the first crossing of Gull Lake Outlet had receded and we were able to cross on a bridge that had been submerged when we made the trip in 2009.  The remains of the crude bridge we had constructed and crossed on were still there.

The Chub Pond trail had a few wide puddles near the intersection but then became an easy, mostly downhill jaunt to the parking lot where ice cold watermelon awaited hikers who were hot and thirsty after an 8 mile hike.

By:  Harold Pier