Camping at Lake Skenonto

Camping at Lake Skenonto

On Labor Day weekend, I hiked to Lake Skenonto in Harriman State Park. Specifically, I went out on Sunday, Sept. 1, after my 2 parish Masses and came home on Monday afternoon. I asked my longtime camping partner Fr. Jim about coming, but he’s still having a bad time with one ankle and regretted he couldn't come.

View of the lake from my campsite

There are 2 routes to Lake Skenonto; we usually use the shorter one, the Victory Trail southward from Kanawauke Rd. (Rte 106). That’s 2.15 miles, then another ¼ mile to where I wanted to camp at the south end of the lake. Desiring a little more hiking/exercise, I opted for the longer one from Johnsontown Rd. in Sloatsburg.  That follows the White Bar Trail 1.75 miles past the Dutch Doctor Shelter to the Triangle Trail trailhead, where it makes a sharp left turn and goes about .1 mile to an unmarked short cut directly to the lake (about .7 mile), on which you cross from Rockland into Orange County.  Otherwise one would pick up the longer Triangle Trail (1.15 miles) past Lake Sebago with some ascents and descents besides more trail.  My route was 3 miles and took 2 hours with a gain in elevation from 535' at the parking lot to 912' at the lake.

There were a lot of cars in the parking lot; some of the hikers might have been going elsewhere, e.g., to Almost Perpendicular on the Blue Disc Trail.  I hiked a short distance apart from a family of 4 who must have stopped at Dutch Doctor.  There were people already at the shelter.  One woman was solo camping a little before the shelter, where the Tuxedo-Mt. Ivy Trail crosses the White Bar.  After early afternoon rain, the sky gradually cleared to make a fine evening.

At the lake, the only people I saw were camped on the eastern shore.  

In the center, campers on the eastern shore

At the south end, there’s a little, secluded spot close by a creek flowing into the lake--thus, a water supply.  I got there at 5 o’clock, set up camp, fetched some water, and went down the lake till I found a spot from which I could get into the lake for a short swim.  Then back to camp for supper, Evening Prayer, hanging my bear bag, making a fire, swatting at mosquitoes (I used plenty of repellant and a head net), and relaxing till about 9:30.  Supper was freeze-dried spaghetti and meat sauce, trail mix, and dried apricots, with Crystal Lite. I was missing steaks off the grill at home, which would have been better, of course.

The evening dew was quite heavy, compelling me to put the rainfly onto my tent.  It was good I did, because the nite got pretty chilly.  I felt the chill because I’d brought only a bag liner to sleep in, not a regular sleeping bag (figuring it would be a warmish nite--but it wasn’t).  As usual, I tossed and turned a lot.  When Mother Nature got me up at 3 o’clock, the stars were impressive.

I got up for real shortly after dawn broke, got my bear bag, and made breakfast:  oatmeal, coffee, a granola bar, some mixed nuts.  After breviary and some reading, I offered Mass on a small, flat rock.  More reading, then down the length of the lake for another swim.  Meanwhile, a lot of day hikers had wandered by my camp without discerning it thru the underbrush.  On the trail up the lake, I met a young couple departing from their camp, heading home to Brooklyn.  Maybe theirs was one of those cars at Johnsontown Rd.  There was a party of 5 day hikers and a dog at the lake access at the north end; the dog was enjoying some swims, chasing a stick thrown in for her.

The lake from its north end

It's not easy to see, but there's a beaver lodge
in the middle of the photo.

Back to camp for lunch (tuna sandwich, Crystal Lite, another granola bar), then packing up.  Packing’s always a harder chore than setting up, and it usually takes me a good hour to do it in orderly fashion (more or less), and to double-check the area lest anything be forgotten.  

A visitor at my camp--a blue-tailed skink.

I left camp around 1:30 and got back to the car just before 3:00.  Google Maps told me the way home via I-287 was mostly clear, and home I was at 4:20.  Then I got a leftover steak as part of my supper.

Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/fDiRfbwFAMb