Pillsbury Lean-to & Sampson Lean-to
Pillsbury (3/4 view) and Sampson lean-tos (Straight on).... 3.3 miles uphill into Pillsbury from parking lot at foot of Pillsbury Mountain trail, another 3 (each way) in a day trip to Sampson. Sampson was a bit of a surprise, (why my friend is holding the book) heads under canoes, and trusting we didn't need to refer to maps on such well worn trails... we missed the turnoff to Whitney which is almost an invisible turn off unless you are looking for it, and continued on the highway, figuring the trail to Whitney and it's lean-to would be pronounced. We discovered the lean-to we were at when we looked at the log book. ROFL ! Two things, apparently there is no longer a lean-to on Whitney, and the trail is not well traveled, and the climb down into Sampson is a bear and about twice as far as Whitney would have been! We were a long way and a mountain from out car while fishing on Sampson!
I slept well after this trip, we carried & dragged the boats much farther then we paddled them. While the lakes are very pretty, and loons quite tame (one pair spent a good deal of time 6 feet from our boat... they are VERY LOUD at that distance!) it was the busiest place I have ever canoe camped ...obviously because it being a side hitch on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail. Our full-sized boats raised a few eyebrows and scratched a few heads! We are not used to company dropping directly into our camp and foot traffic at all hours! But they were friendly enough and we scooted over and shared our fire!
Pillsbury (3/4 view) and Sampson lean-tos (Straight on).... 3.3 miles uphill into Pillsbury from parking lot at foot of Pillsbury Mountain trail, another 3 (each way) in a day trip to Sampson. Sampson was a bit of a surprise, (why my friend is holding the book) heads under canoes, and trusting we didn't need to refer to maps on such well worn trails... we missed the turnoff to Whitney which is almost an invisible turn off unless you are looking for it, and continued on the highway, figuring the trail to Whitney and it's lean-to would be pronounced. We discovered the lean-to we were at when we looked at the log book. ROFL ! Two things, apparently there is no longer a lean-to on Whitney, and the trail is not well traveled, and the climb down into Sampson is a bear and about twice as far as Whitney would have been! We were a long way and a mountain from out car while fishing on Sampson!
I slept well after this trip, we carried & dragged the boats much farther then we paddled them. While the lakes are very pretty, and loons quite tame (one pair spent a good deal of time 6 feet from our boat... they are VERY LOUD at that distance!) it was the busiest place I have ever canoe camped ...obviously because it being a side hitch on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail. Our full-sized boats raised a few eyebrows and scratched a few heads! We are not used to company dropping directly into our camp and foot traffic at all hours! But they were friendly enough and we scooted over and shared our fire!
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