Pillsbury Mt. Trailhead

[gerundify]

Dear the Internet,


I would like to camp in the Pillsbury Mt/Lake area this winter, but my map says that access is by a road "closed" from dec 1. Does anybody have an experience whether this road is closed entirely, or just unmaintained?


Thanks

[Bill I.]

I would like to camp in the Pillsbury Mt/Lake area this winter, but my map says that access is by a road "closed" from dec 1. Does anybody have an experience whether this road is closed entirely, or just unmaintained?

It may not be closed immediately at December 1st. Last year, with the light snowfall, we were able to drive most of the way in to Pillsbury in early December (with an AWD vehicle).

But otherwise, yes, the road is closed in its entirety to cars for most of the winter and early spring. The closure begins right at Route 30 so that the roads can be groomed for snowmobiles.

I've heard of people using a dogsled to get to Pillsbury Lake.

[Buckshot]

call the DEC office in the area. You will get a solid answer. I have hiked to the pillsbury trailhead when the access road is closed around this time of year. It is a long hike so be prepared--remember you have to hike out too. Good luck.

P.S. The road is used as a snowmobile trail. You will hear them coming, but be careful.

[gerundify]

Thanks all for the info.

On another note - my older ADK Map has a mark for Camp No. 22 just to the northeast of Pillsbury Lake - but it's absent on my Nat Geo map. Does anybody have any information on what this is/was?

[BigRange]

Twenty Five years ago there was a big field where Camp 22 used to be, it's right on the Cedar Lake trail after you cross Stony Brook. I haven't been in there since then but a lot of what used to be fields back in there are now all grown up. I think you'd be hard pressed to find much of anything that looks like a camp once existed. According to the guy I worked with back then there were horse barns and everything on that site. I still have a very large chain we pulled off a tree from that area. The links are about an inch in diameter and six inches long. Weighs well over 200 lbs and it's only about 10 feet long.

[DSettahr]

Twenty Five years ago there was a big field where Camp 22 used to be, it's right on the Cedar Lake trail after you cross Stony Brook. I haven't been in there since then but a lot of what used to be fields back in there are now all grown up. I think you'd be hard pressed to find much of anything that looks like a camp once existed. According to the guy I worked with back then there were horse barns and everything on that site. I still have a very large chain we pulled off a tree from that area. The links are about an inch in diameter and six inches long. Weighs well over 200 lbs and it's only about 10 feet long.

I'm not sure that was Camp 22. I believe Camp 22 was off away from the Cedar Lakes trail, higher up on Blue Ridge. I've never been there, but I've heard that if you're good with navigation, you can still follow the old road up there.

The whole West Canada Lakes area is riddled with old camps. A lot of them were permit hunting camps from when the land was International Paper Land, and the roads were still open to camp owners. There also used to be a state lean-to on the Miami River, at the Jessup River Road crossing, back when it was state land (before the land swap).

[Bill I.]

The numbered camps in that region were old International Paper logging camps. They were listed on the old 1950s USGS quads, which ADK used for the basis of their trail maps.

Additionally, there were lease camps in more visible locations closer to Pillsbury and Whitney lakes. IP and the state completed a land swap in 1983, and at the time the practice was to burn the buildings and leave behind the metal hardware.

As for Camp 22, I've never been there either but the road to it can still be found. If you hike from from the Pillsbury Mtn Trailhead, maybe 100 feet before the junction, you can see it leading right. No one maintains it but it can still be followed.

[gerundify]

Excellent! It might be a worthwhile adventure to check it out. The information is greatly appreciated.

[DSettahr]

Excellent! It might be a worthwhile adventure to check it out. The information is greatly appreciated.

The neatest thing in that area by far, IMO, is French Louie's Cave. A bit difficult to find (unless you cheat and use GPS).

If and when you do find it, please be respectful of what's there (this isn't directed at gerundify specifically, but to all who read this post). I'm pretty sure that most of what is there does not date back to French Louie's use of the cave, but some of the planks on the bed are hand split, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd made them- that's a skill that not many people possess in modern times.

[PA Ridgerunner]

FYI...Yesterday I drove by the entrance road off of Rt. 30, just north of Mason Lake, and the gate is still open.