A Great Day Adventure For Everyone: Newcomb’s Great Camp Santanoni

IMG_5744.jpeg

By Anthony and Annette Batson

It’s hard to find  an outdoor Adirondack adventure in which every member of your party can participate – but we’ve found one: a summer’s day out to Great Camp Santanoni in Newcomb.

From Grandparents to toddlers, hikers, bikers and canoeists and swimmers, this is for you.

Your day will include a tour by one of several young interns who hope to make a career in conservation and history, a walk through a Japanese inspired main lodge set among several buildings, the use of kayaks and canoes (for free) to tour the 2 mile by 2 mile Newcombe Lake, a swim and a picnic lunch, you’ll have packed for yourself.

To reach the camp, in what’s known as the Santanoni Preserve, it’s 5 mile trek. And this is where your adventure begins. There are several ways to get there: take a horse and wagon ride with Larry Newcombe, hike in, or pedal in on a mountain bike. If you don’t have your own set of wheels, the helpful folks at Cloud Splitter Outfitters. will meet you at the trail head parking lot and drop off and pick up bikes for you. We opted for hiking in, and took Larry’s wagon ride back. ($25 per person for a round trip or one way).

IMG_5737.jpeg

The hike in along a gravel road is easy and picturesque, under a shady tree canopy. About a mile in you’ll see the buildings which once housed the camp’s farming and dairy operation. There’s a diorama which lays out the milking sheds, ice house, piggery, chicken house and stables. You’ll cross several bridges. Try and identify the remnants of the old corduroy road – once a dirt path “paved” with wood slats -- as you make your way along a mostly flat path.

IMG_2008.jpeg

 When you reach the camp you approach it from the back – nothing too impressive – this is actually by design as we learned from our guide as the layout of the camp was inspired by Japanese culture. As you enter the main lodge and take in the filtered view of the lake, you’ll be transported back in time  to the late 1890s when Robert Pruyn, a banker from Albany, started building a private sporting preserve and family retreat on nearly 13,000 acres of land.

The family hired architect Robert Robertson to design and build their getaway and Robert Pruyn would have a large say in what he wanted. As a youngster, he had lived with his father in Japan. His dad was the America’s first foreign ambassador there.

IMG_5755.jpeg

Our guide, Wilkes Jordan, told us that during Pruyn's time in Japan, he grew to admire Japanese design and culture. Pruyn wanted a camp that existed in harmony with its natural surrounding --  instead of just a series of log structures,  That’s why the shape of the Main Lodge resembles that of a phoenix in flight. There are many other comparisons to Japanese architecture which you can read about in Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp an Adirondack Architectural Heritage Book.

IMG_5766.jpeg

The pandemic has restricted access to many of the buildings. We were able to see the main lodge, it’s grand fire place and birch covered walls. On display was the Pruyn family’s original dining room set and a sideboard.

IMG_5763.jpeg

 We learned the the room was built so it would be dark in the morning because Pruyn wanted to get the family and their guests outside.  But in the afternoon the large room would light up as the sun shone in and reflected off those white walls. Behind the great room lies the large kitchen where you can see the original walk-in ice room and ice boxes, smoke room and pantries. The ice which kept provisions cool all summer was harvested on the property from their lake and ponds.

All of the timber and stone used during construction of this great camp was sourced on the property.

IMG_5779.jpeg

After the short tour we hiked along the lake shore, met a family who had spent three days camping and we chose a spot on a small sandy beach near a set of change rooms for a picnic lunch. Then we walked past the artist’s studio to the boathouse to find canoes, life vests and paddles.

We ventured out on the crystal clear lake for a real wilderness paddle. The last part of our adventure was the horse and wagon ride back to the trailhead and parking lot.

IMG_5748.jpeg

If you get the chance, ride up front and you will learn a ton of trivia about the camp from Larry Newcombe, the driver, who has been hiking and camping in the reserve for some 30 years.

Some tidbits we picked up:

The last owners, the Melvins from Syracuse, purchased the property – all 12,900 acres with the lodge and many outbuildings - in 1953 for $79,000.  After the disappearance of their grandson, Douglas Legg, they put the whole estate up for auction in the mid 1970s. It was purchased by the state of New York for around $1 million dollars. (There’s a tragic back story about Douglas, which you can Google).

On the road to the lodge – a town road that used to access the Tahawus mines – you can see chisel marks in a huge boulder.  This is probably where the massive stone fireplace mantle in the lodge came from.

In a large clearing on the right, which used to be the family vegetable garden, there are still asparagus and horseradish plants and an apple tree that continue to grow.

Back in the woods on the way to Moose Pond are the ruins of the Sugar House. Many maple trees in the area were tapped to produce maple syrup.

Pryne’s  “gentleman’s farm” was a hobby allowing him to experiment with the latest farming techniques, such as separating dairy cows from the rest of the herd.

Pryne was a serious guy. Larry says legend has it he was kinder to his staff than to his own children.

 Pro Tips.

If you take the horse and wagon ride round trip, you won’t have as much time at the Great Camp if you were to hike or bike. Do pack a picnic lunch and snacks and your bathing suit.

There is free camping at eight designated spots along the shore line.

For more information about visiting Camp Santanoni call AARCH at (518) 834-9328, Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm.  You may also call the Santanoni staff directly at (518) 582-5472.

For information on the horse-drawn wagons (May through October), or to book a ride, contact:  Larry & Pam Newcombe at Newcombe Farm – (518) 639-5534 or newcombefarmwagonrides@gmail.com

For the definitive history pick up a copy of Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp, by clicking here.

For more information about visiting Camp Santanoni call AARCH at (518) 834-9328, Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 4:00pm.  You may also call the Santanoni staff directly at (518) 582-5472.

For information on the horse-drawn wagons (May through October), or to book a ride, contact:  Larry & Pam Newcombe at Newcombe Farm – (518) 639-5534 or newcombefarmwagonrides@gmail.com

IMG_5832.jpeg

 Cloud Splitter Outfitters. https://www.cloudsplitteroutfitters.com/





Schroon's Big Pond

Screen Shot 2019-08-17 at 10.55.27 AM.png

Enjoy this easy hike to Big Pond.

From The DEC:

This trail maintains an easy grade with very little change in elevation. It's mainly on a wide course through the forest but will get slightly narrower in spots.

Leaving the trailhead, the path soon drops slightly to a bridge near the outlet of a narrow pond. This narrow pond does not have a name, but it could be considered South Big Pond. The trail climbs gently from here. Big Pond is slightly off the main trail, but it can easily be seen through the trees to the left. A path will lead the 100 feet downhill to the shore, where there are outstanding vistas. The trail continues straight and connects to the Hoffman Notch Trail. 

Screen Shot 2019-08-17 at 10.38.53 AM.png

Trailhead: From the intersection of Hoffman Road (county Route 24) and Route 9, follow Hoffman Road. Continue for 2.5 miles or so to the trailhead parking on the right. The trailhead has parking for several cars. The trail is on the left of the parking lot.  

Elevation: 1,281 feet

Ascent: 75 feet

Distance: 1.5 miles to the pondMore Information

Hoffman Rd, Schroon Lake, NY, 12870

The DEC: (518) 532-7675

ADK Releases 5th Edition of Eastern Trails

The Adirondack Mountain Club has released the fifth edition of its popular trail guide, Eastern Trails, which is part of a substantial reconfiguration and revision of the Forest Preserve Series of their books.

Eastern Trails highlights some of the most popular and widely used trails in the region and provides the most updated information about entirely new trails, particularly on new Lake George Land Conservancy preserves. Eastern Trails was last issued in a new edition in 2012.

Adirondack Mountain Club Eastern Trails is 304 pages, 5″ x 7″, and includes trail descriptions and detailed directions, as well as distances to shelters, other trails and points of interest. It is organized into nine geographical sections including Northern Lake George and Southern Lake Champlain, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness and Schroon Lake, and Southwestern Lake George and Warrensburg, among others.

It is available in softcover for $19.95 ($15.96 members) and $26.95 for the book-and-map pack ($21.56 members) at book and outdoor supply stores, at ADK stores in Lake George and Lake Placid, through mail order by calling (800) 395-8080, and online at ADK.org.

Eastern Trails is edited by David Thomas-Train of Keene Valley, New York. A lifelong educator and avid hiker, Thomas-Train has led canoeing, hiking and skiing excursions in the Adirondacks for numerous organizations including ADK, Champlain Nature Trails, Adirondack Nature Conservancy and others. He has served as chair and coordinator of the Keene Valley Chapter of ADK for more than twenty years and he has volunteered for numerous Adirondack scientific and advocacy groups.

Like others in ADK’s Forest Preserve Series, this guide includes grid coordinates that correspond to a National Geographic trail map. Trails Illustrated Map 743: Lake George/Great Sacandaga, a large-format, two-sided, waterproof map created in partnership with the Adirondack Mountain Club, shows each trail described in the guide. Thomas-Train has also given descriptions of potential winter uses of trails for skiing and snow-shoeing where appropriate.

“Eastern Trails comprises a unique mix of trails on Wilderness, Wild Forest, preserve, and municipal lands,” says Neil Woodworth, ADK Executive Director and an experienced hiker. “Many are that much more appealing owing to proximity to water bodies such as Lakes George and Champlain, as well as many smaller gems.”
The Forest Preserve series covers hiking opportunities in the approximately 2.6 million acres of public land within the Adirondack Park and nearly 300,000 acres in the Catskill Park.

The Eastern Trails region of the Adirondack Park is distinguished by the singular bodies of water that serve as borders in all directions. To the east are the vistas of Vermont’s Blue Mountains, standing majestically over Lake Champlain. Also east is Lake George, and to the north and south, respectively, are Schroon Lake and the Great Sacandaga Reservoir.

The region is characterized by rolling hills, scenic vistas and isolated locations with hidden ponds and rugged terrain. The guide serves as a means to access some of the lesser known and less frequently traversed trails, offering the twofold benefit of guiding hikers away from overused trails and affording them the opportunity to experience some of the most isolated, wild and beautiful terrain as any found in the Adirondacks.

The public lands that make up the Forest Preserve are unique among all other nature preserves in the United States because of their constitutionally protected status. Unlike many other public lands, some of which are currently being reduced in size by changes to laws governing them, the Forest Preserve cannot be sold or developed.

The Beginners Guide to Pharaoh Lake Wilderness

 By Shaun Kittle 

Senior Content Developer, ROOST

Pharaoh_headercampfire.jpg

 

The Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area is a gorgeous, 46,283-acre region that’s chock full of trails, lakes, mountains, and wildlife. It can be accessed from 11 parking areas, so there are lots of options available. That’s great for people who like to explore, but it can make it difficult for first-time visitors to decide where to go. Read on for three of our favorite Pharaoh Lake adventures!

This is a relatively easy 1.7-mile hike to a lovely pond, and there’s plenty to see along the way. The first part of the path is actually a dirt road, and while some people do try to drive it this is not recommended because the road is not maintained. That’s OK though, because the views of the ravine and waterfalls on Alder Creek are worth walking for.

The first 1.2 miles rises about 160 feet. Shortly after that it levels off and skirts Alder Pond. Take a right at the three-way intersection and Crane Pond will appear in a few minutes. If you’re the camping type, explore the shore to find several designated campsites.

RS53310_Pharaoh_Lake1-lprshaun1.jpg

Crane Pond parking area: Follow Route 9 north from downtown Schroon Lake and turn right on Alder Meadow Road. After about 2 miles continue straight onto Crane Pond Road and follow that for 1.4 miles to the end.

There are two pharaohs in this wilderness area — Pharaoh Lake and Pharaoh Mountain. We’ll get to the lake in a minute, but first let’s talk about the mountain. At 2,556 feet in elevation Pharaoh is certainly not the biggest or the hardest hike in the Adirondacks, but the view from its mostly open summit is phenomenal.

Like any destination in this area, there are several directions this peak can be approached from. A favorite is to set up camp at Crane Pond, then ascend 1,405 feet over 2.6 miles from there. Alternately, the mountain can be approached from the south via the Pharaoh Lake trail. It’s more than 4 miles to the Pharaoh Mountain trail, and from there it’s a 1,355 foot elevation gain in 1.2 miles to the top, but there are lots of campsites around the lake to choose from so you don't have to worry about rushing back to beat the setting sun.

Crane Pond Parking Area: See directions above.

Pharaoh Lake Road parking area: From downtown Schroon Lake, follow Route 9 north, turn right on Alder Meadow Road, then take another right on Adirondack Road. Follow that for about 8.5 miles and turn left on Johnson Road, which is also County Route 15. Follow that for a little over 2 miles, then take a slight left on Beaver Pond Road and follow that for about 3 miles to Pharaoh Road. Turn left and follow that for about a half mile to the parking area.

Not only is this 441-acre water body an excellent place to camp, it’s also the centerpiece of a fantastic 6-mile loop. Follow the Pharaoh Lake trail for 3.3 miles to the outlet for the lake, then pick a direction and have fun exploring the shore. There are 14 designated campsites, some of which are on little peninsulas, that make great way points for the journey. Go on a clear night — there’s nothing like seeing the Milky Way over the water.

See directions for the Pharaoh Lake Road parking area above.