Today we headed to Silvermine Lake to do a lollipop hike I put together that visits the Bailey family cememtery on the unblazed Baileytown Road. Nearly half of today's hike
was on unblazed trails or woods roads. The rest was on ground we covered in June of last year. The snow was still
on the trails of Harriman this morning which allowed us to see the longest extent of bear prints we have ever seen. On Baileytown road we saw at least a half-mile of bear tracks
going in both directions. Luckily all we saw were the prints. The other highlight was the Bailey Cemetery, a sweet little family burial ground of no more
than 4 or 5 gravestones from the Lewis and Bailey families, who lived on opposite ends of Nawahunta Road (a good part of which is now blazed as the Menomine trail).
From the Silvermine Lake parking area, take the Menomine trail west. The blazed trail crosses Seven Lakes Drive and then continues on the aforementioned Nawahunta Road until the blazed trail ends at the Long Path. Going left leads to Hippo Rock while going right leads to the Stockbridge Shelter. We visited both places last year. So this time we went straight. It wasn't blazed but the path was very easy to follow. It ends at Baileytown Road, also unblazed, but also easy to follow. We first turned left and headed to the park boundary at a gate for the Harriman estate. On the other side of the gate the road continues to a network of roads which lead to the famous Arden House. Alas, it's all private property beyond the gate so we turned back and headed NE on Baileytown Road, visiting the cemetery on the way. After the first building for Camp Lanowa we found the trace of another unmarked trail heading SE. We took this uphill to the Stockbridge Cave Shelter, a wonderful, warm little alcove carved into the side of a huge boulder. We then continued SE on the unblazed trail (this part was a bit trickier to follow) and eventually reached the Menomine trail. We turned left here taking the lollipop stick back to the car. Total distance hiked today was 5.3 miles, in 3.25 hours.
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Abandoned Silvermine ski slopes |
An icy parking lot |
Picnic area west of lot |
Heading west on Menomine |
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Abandoned ski slope parking lot |
Lovely pine needle blanket |
Abandoned parking lot through trees |
Lewis gravestone |
Ice on Menomine trail |
Lake Nawahunta |
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Lewis family home cellar hole ... |
... overlooking Lake Nawahunta |
Beautiful pines line the bank |
Crossing an outlet stream [photo by Laura] |
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Pines on northern bank |
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Ascending Stockbridge Mtn |
Creek crossing |
Snowy trail |
Cairn at LP intersection |
View of Hippo Rock on LP to the west |
Continuing on Nawahunta Road |
Bear tracks on Baileytown Road |
Loads of them! |
[Photo by Laura] |
Gate to Harriman property |
Laura's foot near bear print |
Nawahunta & Baileytown intersection |
View south from Baileytown Road |
Baileytwon Cemetery |
Stone of George W. Bailey |
Headstone separated from base |
Deyo Montonyo |
View east |
Baileytown Road from cemetery |
Heading NE on Baileytown Road |
View east to Stockbridge Shelter |
Berrys on Baileytown |
Approaching Camp Lanowa |
Camp Lanowa building |
Entrance road |
Vague trail heading east |
Climbing unmarked trail |
Look at that ice! |
Blazes painted over |
Ice in stream |
Woodpecker hotel |
View from inside Stockbridge Cave shelter |
Sitting on trunk chairs |
Inside the cave shelter |
Fireplace in back |
View from inside |
Wider view |
Fireplace chimney |
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Icicles! |
A few cairns marked the descent |
Green on Menomine |
Laura at the end |
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Back to Lake Nawahunta |
Creek crossing |
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Crossing Seven Lakes Drive |
Icy parking lot |
Silvermine Lake & Black Mountain |
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