Horseshoe Lake is located on South Eastern Saint Lawrence County, on a dead end state highway, NY 421, a spur from NY 30 South of Tupper Lake. It offers 6 campsites scattered along the lake, with 6 others on nearby roads. It is also near the Bog River Flow Canoe/Kayak Area. Don’t expect to get a campsite on the lake in the afternoon, but the sites along the truck trail are rarely used.
Six Miles to Horseshoe Lake. This is the turn off for NY 421, one of the strangest state highways in the state. It is a dead ended highway, that leads to gravel roads around Horseshoe Lake and Bog River Flow. It is very twisty and narrow, and portions have not been resurfaced in over 50 years.
After The Pavement Runs Out. About a two miles from the paved end of NY 421, I camped. This is first thing in the morning, with the sun shining down from the wetlands near where I camped.
Campsite No 9. This is Campsite No 9 at Horseshoe Lake, on an Unnamed Adirondack Park Road, about two miles from the end of NY 421/Paved. I could not get site on the lake, arriving at 5 PM at night, but it’s still a nice campsite. This area of Saint Lawrence County is so remote, only 2 big pickup trucks, and logging truck passed by in the 12 or so hours I was there.
Not Fancy Campsite. By no means was Campsite No 9 on the Unnamed Road, particularly fancy. But it provided a place to camp, and was a three minute drive down to the lake. I could have gotten a spot on Horseshoe Lake most likely had I arrived in the morning, as it seemed like campsites tended to clear out in the morning.
Road Crosses Railroad Tracks. This is where the weird hair-pin turn appears on maps at the end of NY 421. I’m not sure why it follows this route, as the terrain is flat, but maybe at one time there was an inholding or private home located in here.
Horseshoe Lake in Morning. Heading swimming in a couple of minutes. The water was real nice.
Cowboy Hat, Swimming Trunks, Work Boots. Not that you could get the total picture from this image. But the cowboy hat and work boots came off before the dip. A real country boy thing.
Unnamed Dirt Road. This is the road that goes from Horseshoe Lake to Mount Arab / Piercefield.
Wetlands Along Horseshoe Lake. This is about a mile after the pavement runs out on NY 421, just after the Bog River Flow / Lower Lows Dam Road turn-off
Here is a map of where I camped, on the truck trail, west of Horseshoe Lake.
Pillsbury Mountain Firetower is located at the edge of the Jessup River Wild Forest and the West Canada Wilderness. To reach there, you have to drive North of Spectulator, and take about 6 miles of fairly smooth logging roads through International Paper’s Perkins Clearing Easement.
Hiking Bridge Across Miami River. Not that th Miami River really deserves to be called a river, but on the trail up the Pillsbury Mountain, its particularly small.
Taking the trail Up Pillsbury Mountain. It’s about two miles long, and not a difficult hike, although you do gain about 1200 in elevation.
About a 1/4 mile before reaching the tower, reach marshy and thick boreal forest that the trail passes through, with some re-routes to avoid the muck kicked up over the years.
Approaching Fire Tower.
People Die Here. I kid you not, that’s what the cabin says when you first get here. Combined with the creepy fire tower top, it’s kind of neat.
Tower Cabin. That sure looks scary, doesn’t it? Now I understand why people die up here, probably with a secret DEC Forest Ranger, who hides up there, shooting at people he or she doesn’t like. Or maybe not.
The tower is pretty conventional with normal looking landings, a rangers cabin, and a clearing for a helicopter to land in an emergency.
The views from the tower are quite great. Looking east thru the Jessup River Wild Forest.
Snowy Mountain to the North. If you look carefully, you can see the tower up top of it.
South towards Lake Pleasant and Spectulator.
Moose River Plans and West Canada Creek Wilderness from Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower.
North towards Cedar River Flow and Wakely Mountain. If you look carefully, you should be able to see the Wakely Mountain Firetower from here.
On the afternoon of Thursday July 22nd I hiked up to the Wakley Mountain Firetower. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was still quite popular, passing several hikers and families visting this tower. The views are pretty good, but probably not as good as Pillsbury Mountain or Snowy Mountain to the south. The nice thing is it’s a 5 minute drive from Cedar River Flow and pretty close from Moose River Plans too, and provides a great overview of the Plains.
You can print the above map, by clicking it, to be taken to a high resolution (500 DPI) that will print nicely on a laser or inkjet printer.
When you first start up the mountain, you pass a “Warning! Road Washed Out” sign. This sign is at the parking area for Wakely Mountain, to warn drivers that they won’t get very far on Wakely Mountain Road, since the DEC has basically abandoned it.
Washed Out Road to Wakely Mountain. I honestly don’t expect the DEC to fix this road, but instead will make people walk the entire 3 miles up the mountain, because that keeps the eco-facists happy.
The End of Wakely Road. That said, you’d be hard press to get a vehicle this far, due to the wash out at the earlier marsh.
As you climb, you pass this big boulder On side of Wakely.
The first two miles of the trail are pretty flat, a small incline that increases above 400 feet in elevation over two miles.
Marsh Along Wakely Mountain Trail. That’s Payne Mountain, not Wakely Mountain in the background.
The Final Mile. You might think the previous two miles of the Wakely Mountain trail where easy, rising maybe 300 feet, until you hit the last mile, as indicated by this sign. It’s another 1200 feet on up for that last mile.
The trail up Wakely Mountain is badly eroded due to heavy use and neglect by the DEC.
The last mile up Wakely Mountain is a long one, especially if you start late in the afternoon as I did. You are treated with some limited views while climbing Wakely Mountain, but all and all, there isn’t a lot to see except steep trail (but no open rock face!).
Once you almost reach the top of the mountain, you come to the Wakely Mountain Helipad. This is used by emergency responders, providing quick access to the top of mountain, to either access the tower for observation, or to help those injured on top of the mountain.
Next to helipad is a trash pile. I was wondering how this trash ended up top of the mountain, but after thinking about it a bit, it probably was trash from the ranger’s cabin, that was dumped here some time in the past, and was dug up in the re-construction of the helipad.
Eventually you reach the fire tower, about a 500 feet from the Helipad. The Wakely Fire Tower is an interesting Aeromotor LS 25 tower, that originally lacked a staircase, but was added in the form of an internal ladder, for the convience of hikers and the fire warden alike. Prior to the 1919 addition of the “stairs tower within the fire tower”, you had to climb a ladder on the side of the tower, to get all 60 feet to the top of the tower.
Here is the original ladder you had to climb. They removed the lower flights to discourage people from trying to use the ladder, although the stairs themselves also lack any safety fencing, so it’s a bit scary if your not used to climbing towers.
A close up over the tower within the tower.
The firetower presents one with spectular views of the upper Moose River Plains, from the marshy end of Cedar River Flow to the Lost Ponds area, to around Wakely Dam and Wakely Pond.
To the east is the Blue Ridge Wilderness and Blue Mountain.
Looking down towards Indian Lake from the Fire Tower. There are many beautiful peaks to the south east.
You can also see the High Peaks from Wakley Mountain.
And the Fulton Chain of Lakes.
Cellar Mountain somewhat blocks the views to the west, as you look down to the plains, towards the ridges that follow along the NY 28 Corridor.
The tower’s foundation sadly is in bad shape and needs work. The cabin of the tower is also only accessible via ladder, if your crazy enough to do that. It lacks safety fences on the various landings. Hopefully the state will find the funds and resources to restore this beautiful and popular tower, even though it’s likely to be expensive due to the need to use to Helicopter in supplies and possibly ironworkers to restore it.
