The good weather earlier in the week made for a nice day of social distancing at Streeter Lake in Aldrich (Fine NY). Though Streeter Lake is a common destination for me, this was my first trek there via the Tamarack Creek Trail. The trailhead starts from the Youngs Road in Star Lake NY.

The trail is a multi-use trail marked in red for snowmobiles and horses. With a trip to the lean-to and the lake, I had hiked about 8.5 miles for the day. The trail is pretty easy to follow and is in good shape (other than a few spring season muddy spots). The trail crosses Tamarack Creek several times, as well as the Streeter Lake outlet on wooden bridges.

The forests vary quite a bit along the trail. You can see the damage from the July 15, 1995 microburst storm in places. It’s interesting to compare the damage with the natural regrowth. It is a literal jungle in places.

There are junction posts for the buried telephone line that served the Schuler family during their days on the lake. There is a section closer to the lake that has telephone poles. These show the scars of being mauled by bears throughout the years. For whatever reason, I have seen numerous abandoned utility poles that have been scratched & chewed by bears, some nearly in two.

The trail comes to end at a T, bearing left takes you to the lean-to and the lake. Right at that junction is Schuler’s potato patch, which is grown over with a thick cushion of moss. This was used to grow new varieties of seed potatoes for the Schuler Potato Chip factory.

For more on Streeter Lake and the Schuler estate- follow this link: https://hikingthetrailtoyesterday.wordpress.com/…/streeter…/