Chaffee Falls, Silver Lake

May 25, 2011

(L-R)  Joe, Deb, Kathi, Andrea

It's no secret that I started a day hiking group on Facebook. I started it after a hike when a friend of a friend of a friend got together and trekked it. Networking. Good way to meet people with like interests. In just a mere 10 months, the group has acquired over 110 members and approximately 22% have gone on scheduled hikes. Kathi, one of the groups most active members, has helped tremendously by getting people to join but not just that...the new folks that have joined via Kathi have boosted the stats. They hike....

On a recent scheduled day hike to the Pittsford Ice Caves, Kathi introduced me to two new  members, Deb and Andrea. After our hike, I was asked if I do any mid week hikes.... well of course I do. Now on to the actual blog of this trip

I received a text the night before this hike from Deb asking about a trek that was short in time because she had to be back in town by a certain time so I thought Hitchcock Trails or Chaffee Falls would be a great place to check out. The trail is short, has a wonderful brook that it follows with a nice small set of falls. She arranged it with Kathi and Andrea as well. We hit the trail a little past noon, the weather was sunny and warm. The trail loops around a nice evergreen forest which soon brings you to Furnace Brook. After a very short trek to the falls we stopped, took our shoes off and enjoyed this beautiful waterway. We sat around for about 20 minutes and talked some. Andrea, a transient in Vt, had heard of The Falls of Lana and asked if we could plan a day there. Deb made some arrangements to cancel her time schedule and asked if we wanted to go then to the Falls. We were all in agreement. We headed back to the car and drove north to Lake Dunmore.

When we arrived at the parking lot, swarms of black flies & mosquitoes attacked us...well most of us. Deb had a drier sheet which seemed to work some for the black flies. We headed over to the base of the falls and followed the pipeline up to Silver Lake access road and continued it up to the lake stopping along the way to get different views of the falls. We hung out on the beach for some time when I went to grab a snack and found my DEET which I thought was in a different pack. After a good break we decided to head back down the mountain with intentions of stopping a a beautiful overlook of Lake Dunmore, the Adirodacks, the Taconics and a few of the local mountains like Farr Peak and Bloodroot Mountain. We did take a wrong turn and ended up following the pipeline to a water tower. Because we were off the correct path we then bushwhacked it to the overlook. After a nice rest taking in the views and the sun we headed back down to the trailhead....

Another great day in Vermont....