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Ever since I first stepped onto the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) I felt strangely drawn to it. I had been hiking some of the High Peaks previously on day hikes and hadn’t been backpacking in a long time. I was a member of the Genesee Valley Chapter of ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club) and participated in a section hike of the NPT from Upper Benson to Piseco over Memorial Day weekend in 2004.
That trip was supposed to be over four days with us driving up from Rochester, NY to Piseco to meet up with two other people and leave two vehicles at the northern end of our section hike for the return trip to Upper Benson to pick up our other vehicles. We were then headed to Upper Benson trailhead where we would park two vehicles and then head into Silver Lake lean-to, a distance of 7.5 miles. Unfortunately signals got crossed and we got a very late start on the trail, after having been sitting in our vehicles for a very long extended time. My legs started cramping after 5 miles with the weight of a 45 lb pack which I wasn’t used to. The last 2 ½ miles were difficult but I made it. My legs continued to cramp all night long resulting in my not getting much sleep. The next day’s hike to Mud Lake lean-to, however, went just fine although this is a very tough section of the NPT to hike. I was ready to set up my tent and do some exploring around Mud Lake when the leader announced that we were hiking on another 5 ½ miles to Hamilton Lake Stream lean-to and then hiking out on Sunday rather than Monday and thus cutting our outing short by a day. That didn’t set well with me or a couple of others. We struggled with trying to hike a total of 11 ½ miles in one day. The next day’s 3 ½ mile hike-out seemed like an eternity, but we all made it.
In spite of a very disappointing experience on this my first hike of the NPT, I none-the-less was hooked. I returned with my son, Mike, to complete this section again (over four days, thank you) and later from Piseco to Wakely Dam. I then returned September 21 - October 8, 2005 to do my thru-hike of the NPT. What a dream come true - what an adventure.
I decided to move to Lake Placid in November, 2005 and I now reside there. This gave me the opportunity to join the ADK Trails Committee and to become more involved with the NPT specifically. I asked the Trails Committee to set up a separate committee devoted to the NPT. I ended up, of course, chairing that committee. Check out the links to the left for more information about the NPT and the NPT Committee. Thank you for your interest, Tom Wemett
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