This morning it was bitterly cold, so we got a late start. We didn't get to the upper Colgate Lake parking lot until 11 AM. There was already someone else there, but we never saw them. We had the entire trail to ourselves. It was sunny when we arrived and stayed that way all day. As the day went on, it got warmer and more pleasant.
As we hiked up the trail there were a few foot prints, but after about 1/2 mile they all disappeared. We had hard-packed snow under us with about 5" of new powder. Perfect conditions for this hike.
Part way down the trail we saw Fisher tracks that led to a tree. After looking at the hollow in the tree I could see a Fisher. I didn't bother to get closer. These guys may less then a domestic cat, but they are quite aggressive. So, we moved on. When we encountered a nice conifer forest with a large flock of Warblers. They have a tendency to sit still when something on the ground approaches them. You never even know they are up in the tree. But, after a small while, they relax and start flying around and chirping. During our hike we encountered numerous flocks of Warblers.
It didn't take long before we encountered our first problem. The bridge was out. We could see the bridge about 75' down stream. We tried to cross the first stream. I fell through in one spot, but didn't get wet. We continued on. At the second bridge. That one too was washed out. This bridge was about 10' below the crossing. We were able to cross this stream without a problem. We then hit the third bridge. That one was out too. This time, we couldn't cross the ice. The ice was too weak, and the water was deep. So we decided to bushwhack around it. This involved bushwhacking thru dense Balsam Fir forest and crossing marshes. We then had to hike inland to finally get across the water. We then had to bushwhack through the woods. In some places the forest was thick. This one was next to the Apple orchard. We finally got around it, and back tracked to the Apple Orchard. We then hit a new marsh. During our bushwhack, we heard a Barred owl. Not surprising. They love to day roost on the Eastern Escarpment.
Once at the apple orchard, we stopped for lunch. We decided to skip our trip to Dutcher's Notch. We spent so much time getting around the washed out bridges, we ran out of time.
On the way back we found a much faster way back. We enjoyed our trip back. It had warmed up a bit, and was more pleasant. Overall, we hiked about 7.1 miles. Overall, we spent about 4 hours in the woods.
Beginning of the hike
Second washed out bridge
Balsam Fir forest by the large marsh
Large Marsh
Large Marsh
Large Marsh
Washed out bridge #3
Washed out bridge #1
Apple Orchard