,6&+ 482 $3 2 7( ,5 5 $ % ' TRAILMARKER 8 ,5 / 2 & 1 ' $,1 Adirondack Mountain Club Iroquois Chapter Est 1972 $&. 817 02 March 2016 Hadley Mt. caretakers cabin with the Fire Tower in the background. photo by Ed Kobos Our chapter, like many of our adk sister chapters is involves planning for a program for eight chapter meetings, in a state of flux. People come and go per the demands of generally by contacting individuals who are willing to give family, employment or personal setback. Nonetheless, vol- a presentation. For each position, the qualifications are min- unteers are the backbone to the organization as a whole. By imal - have a willingness to extend yourself and some of and large, the Adirondack Mountain Club functions quite your time. smoothly given the sum total of individual efforts. That be- As a heads up the April meeting will be our annual ing said, the Iroquois Chapter is in need of some help. Cer- Open House where we have members and/or guests set up a tainly trip leaders and participants are always needed and display of their choosing. Greg Smith, our education chair, welcomed. Two positions are now currently available: con- organizes this event. Should you be willing to have a display servation chair and program chair. please contact Greg or me. The conservation position involves attending three Finally, despite the fluid winter conditions from below meetings per year, March, May and November at the Albany zero temperatures to pouring rain, I hope you are finding Pine Bush Center. Meetings are from 10 AM to 3 PM. In ad- some opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities. Hopefully I dition there is a telephone conference in late August or ear- will see you on a trip or at the next meeting. ly September. The ADK Conservation committee acts as an Paul Sirtoli advisory group to the Board of Directors, which establishes club policy. Our chapter will pay for the mileage incurred (Please note: Paul Sirtoli has a new email address: to and from committee meetings. [email protected]) The other position which has gone begging for a vol- unteer for over two years is the program chair position. It TRAILMARKER Iroquois Chapter Iroquois Chapter Officers Needed! The following positions are vacant and need to be filled. Please step up and do your part to make our chapter a vital part of ADK! Chairman Paul Sirtoli Conservation Shall advocate environmental quality and undertake 9435 Chapman Rd. New Hartford, NY 13413 conservation activities associated with the Club. This person 737-8353 [email protected] shall keep the Chapter informed and up to date on environmental and conservation issues. The issues could be local or statewide. Vice Chair Doug Tinkler 4 Clintonville Rd., New Hartford, NY 13413 271-4759 [email protected] Programs This person shall get speakers or develop programs to be presented at Chapter meetings. Co-Secretaries Charlene Zebley 942-5176 [email protected] Treasurer David White Membership Carol White Up Coming Events 28 Mulberry St., Clinton, NY 13323 853-1070 [email protected] Tuesday, March 2, 2016 Chapter meeting at 7:30 PM, Director Roger Felske PO Box 239, New Hartford, NY 13413 New Hartford Presbyterian Church Program speaker Steven Heerkens from the DEC will speak about moose. (508)612-1266 [email protected] Education Greg Smith Tuesday, April 5, 2016 6000 Lower Lawerence St. Rome, NY 13440 Chapter Open House at 7:00-9:00 PM, 796-0906 [email protected] New Hartford Presbyterian Church. Setup starts at 6. Stewardship (Lean-tos) Norm Landis Saturday, April 30, 2016 708 Healy Ave., Rome, NY 13440 Iroquois Chapter Trail Work Day 336-3798 [email protected] At the DEC’s request we’ll work on the Middle Settlement Lake Trail (#73) from the east end of Middle Settlement Lake, past Cedar Pond up to Stewardship (Trails) the junction of the Middle Branch Lake Trail (#72). We’ll meet at the First and Newsletter Carl Anderson 7930 Toad Hollow Rd., Barneveld, NY 13304 Niagara bank in Mapledale at 8:00 AM or at the Scussa lot near Singing 749-3188 [email protected] Waters at 8:30-45. If you have your own lopers or saws bring them. We also have 6 pair of Stihl lopers and assorted others. If you’re interested Adopt-a-Highway Tom Blackstone contact Carl Anderson at his contact info to the left. We’ll reschedule to 1256 Rte. 365, Remsen, NY 13438 Sunday, May 1st due to pouring rain. 826-7870 [email protected] Hospitality Wendy Sanders 7 Bolton Rd., New Hartford, NY 13413 797-6962 Conservation Open Trips Bill Lupino Iroquois Chapter New Members We would like to welcome the following new members: 360-0359 [email protected] Programs OPEN Daniel Kemp Andrew Koshar Glenn Larish B ACKTRACKS ... Finch Mt. in the Silver Lake Wilderness hills surrounding it. On the way out we dropped to a small pond south of the mountain where we picked up the aban- Monday, January 4, 2016 doned end of Blackbridge Rd. We were just about back to the Thank goodness for sunshine and calm winds. It was car when Paul spotted a much defined path heading south. ten degrees when we hit the woods and the same when we It was too much of a temptation. We had to check that out. returned to the car but the sun and lack of wind made it a We stayed with it until we reached our turn around time. We great day to be hiking. The trail conditions were very good know we’ll be back to do more exploring along that path. and very bad. On the level or gentle inclines it was ideal, With all the snooping and wandering we added up 8.6 miles light layer of fluffy snow on a hard crust, but that crust was and a total ascent of 1500 feet. icy and that made the descent off the mountain a bit chal- submitted by Kathy Miles lenging even with microspikes. We parked near the end of Blackbridge Rd. and to avoid the highly posted land and Hadley Mt. and Spruce Mt. Fire Towers cabin at the end of the road we headed off the north side of the road. Right away we climbed a steep hill and then set a January 8, 2016 course for the summit. There was a huge amount of blow- Paul Sirtoli and Jim Lomonaco invited me to climb down and up rooted trees at the base of the steep climb. We both Hadley and Spruce Mountains (to pick up two more wandered around as we approached the top to seek views Fire Towers for Jim and one for Paul). I needed both. We in all directions. The best view was below the true summit decided on Hadley first, then we moved on to Spruce. We looking down on the West Branch of the Sacandaga and the arrived at the Hadley Mt. Trail Head and found the trail to be very icy. We needed our micro-spikes for the entire climb. There were a lot of switchbacks with the corners very icy where the drainage from the mountain was fro- zen. About 1.4 miles into the climb we hit a nice lookout on the southern side of the trail with great views of the Great Sacandaga Lake/Reservoir. At the summit we could see a ski area to the NW. The cab was locked, but the views from the highest platform were great. We stopped at the caretakers cabin on the way down and found it to be all boarded up and locked. We thought we would eat our lunch on the porch but decided to go back to the Lookout and eat there. The descent was tricky, in spots, where the ice forced us off the trail. The drive from Hadley Mt. to Spruce Mt. took us about 35 minutes for the 19 mile trip. We arrived at the Trail Head and decided we would need ABOVE: Kathy Miles and Paul Sirtoli on Finch Mt. view point. our micro-spikes here too. The rerouted trail was just re- Photo credi: Kathy MIles cently opened and added a few more tenths to the round trip mileage. The trail climbed steadily until reaching the BELOW FROM LEFT: Ed Kobos, Paul Sirtoli, and Jim Lomonaco on summit of Spruce Mt. summit. There were no views from the wooded summit. Photo credit: Ed Kobos The fire tower cab was also just recently renovated and opened. I counted 97 stairs to the top (approximately 63 feet). There was a communications tower a few hundred yards away. The views from the tower of the pretty flat surrounding area were good. Pretty good for an eleven hour day. submitted by Ed Kobos Cattle Mt. January 15, 2016 The lengthy period of lake effect snow eventually ceased, and on a partially cloudy, windless day between storm systems Paul Sirtoli and Kathy Miles climbed to several open ledges on the Cattle Mt. massive in the Wil- cox Lake Wilderness region. Our trek began at the end of Pumpkin Hollow Road several miles south of Wells, where we walked the snow covered seasonal road to the Wilcox Lake parking area. The trail to Wilcox Lake is a marked snowmobile trail, and with only several inch- es of snow layered over hard packed crust. Snowmobile activity was absent. However, micro spikes were neces- sary despite being somewhat ineffective in the powder. Roughly 1.5 miles from the summer parking area near the Doig Creek Bridge, we commenced our bushwhack to the southeast shoulder of Cattle Mt., where the terrain is less steep.