Allegheny Pilgrimage: Day 1, North Country Trail from New York to Handsome Lake

The intention was to take a "pilgrimage" to clear my head and heart, to gain a new sense of clarity. This word "pilgrimage" has made a comeback in recent years.  It used to be a journey to a sacred site, usually in order to entreat some miracle or to give thanks for one.  Nowadays a pilgrimage can be any journey with sacred intention.  I wanted to return to the Allegheny National Forest and cross it from north to south on the North Country Trail--a 98-mile trip that should have take ten days.

Time constraints and practical considerations caused me to set my sights a little lower--which is practically my motto in life: "Never Fail; Aim Low."  The point of a pilgrimage is not to meet a list of goals but to travel with holy intent.  And so, I parked my car at the North Country trailhead near Willow Bay in the Allegheny National Forest, then I hiked 1.1 mile in the wrong direction into New York State.  Here's a lonely border among the trees where New York and Pennsylvania meet.  From there I turned back around and marched south on my 30-mile trek toward the town of Kane--where I spent 3.5 of the best years of my life.

I did indeed carry 40 lbs. on my back--since food for a long trek is heavy, and I unknowingly packed about twice as much food as I needed.  But my newish Alps Mountaineering 90-litre backpack made the load feel like a pile of chicken feathers.  

Oh, the joy of being back in those northern forests in May!  The air was fragrant with the scent of wildflowers, and ferns, and the rich, dark earth.  Although I didn't get started until noon, I wanted to put in eight miles before the end of the day, so that I could camp at the little-known campground called Handsome Lake.

Handsome Lake was a Seneca shaman who revitalized that tribe's traditional religion--sort of a Native American revivalist.  He was also the half-brother to Chief Cornplanter.  And Handsome Lake Campground can only be reached by foot or by boat, so it's usually not very busy.  But it is pretty in its lakeside isolation and silence.

The North Country Trail runs alongside the lake up here in its northern stretches, and it's a warming feeling to see the silvery water as it shimmers through the young leaves.

I met a few other hikers on the trail, which surprised me, since it was only the Tuesday before Memorial Day.  One was a large, middle-aged lady with a Polish-sounding accent who seemed happy to have someone to talk to.  She also ended up staying at Handsome Lake, but women backpacking alone must always be wary of creepy men in the woods, so I mostly just smiled a lot and tried to seem unthreatening.

The other was a cool guy traveling at about 5 MPH.  (I was doing about 2.)  "Coming up behind you!  Excuse me."  Then he was gone.  I hate to say it, but he made me feel a little sad--slow, and old, and weak--which is not the way I wanted to feel at the start of my ANF pilgrimage.

Here's the view from one of the campsites at Handsome Lake.  Isn't it beautiful?  It costs $7 a night, "honor system."  I actually did not end up staying inside the campground.  Instead, I camped out on that little point of land that you see here in the distance.

I fell asleep to the sound of water lapping the shore and all the nocturnal music of the forest.