Ritzhikes

Where: Pharaoh Lake When: 8/4/00-8/6/00 With: Bill & Tom It had been a while since the last Ritz Brothers hike so we began to make plans. Bill suggested Pharaoh Lake, near Lake George and in the same general area as another hike we'd done. We considered going in from the area we'd been at before, but were unsure of the condition of the access road so we decided to take a different route. The plan was for a two-night trip, Friday & Saturday, so I took a half vacation day and drove directly to Bill's from work. I arrived around 2PM and found no one there, but Tom showed up shortly, followed by Bill & Dad. Bill's car was in the shop and Dad had been giving him a ride. We discussed cars and agreed to take Bill's Caravan for the size. The gear was loaded in and we were on our way, but the van started bucking immediately and it was evident that it wouldn't be going anywhere soon. Fortunately Bill spotted Deb heading in the other direction so we did a...

Where: Lake Lila, Adirondacks When: 7/26-7/28, 1997 With: Bill, Tom Bill just bought a canoe of his own and we were all in need of some Ritz Brother camping, so we started to make arrangements. We settled on a date and Bill came up with some ideas for destinations. I suggested we try communal dinners for a change. Tom agreed to come along. To get an early start, I packed up the car the night before with my gear and my kayak and left it out in the driveway. Saturday morning at 5:15, I slipped out the back door and headed to Delmar, arriving around 7:45. Bill drove up a few minutes later and we discussed food and destinations. For the food, we each described what we'd brought and found we had more than enough provisions for the weekend ahead. For a destination, we considered and rejected Bill's original proposal, a ten-mile upstream paddle on the Bog River and a campsite on Grass Pond. It sounded like an interesting trip, but a bit ambitious. We figured we'd be spending...

Where: Lake Lila, Adirondacks When: 8/25/95-8/27/95 With: Bill, Tom Back in the spring, Tom twisted his ankle while fishing, so when we started discussing plans for our annual Ritz Brothers camping trip, I suggested a canoe trip, to minimize the amount of hiking. I volunteered my Old Town 158 canoe and left it to Bill to choose a destination. He quickly came up with two possibilities. One was a trip he and Tom had done before, involving a paddle across one lake and then a 1/2-mile portage to another lake. The other was a new destination, Lake Lila. A short (0.3-mile) portage directly to the lake, but there were reports of extensive damage resulting from a severe windstorm in July. One person had been killed and trees were apparently down throughout the area, so it wasn't clear if we'd been able to either get in or find a spot to camp. Bill planned to contact the ranger for the area to get home details. While Bill was gathering info on the area, I was thinking about the eq...

Where: Pillsbury Lake, Adirondacks When: 4/29/94-5/1/94 With: Bill, Tom This was to be an "ice-out" trip. The intention was to fish a remote pond just after the winter's ice had cleared, when the fish would be especially ravenous for some fresh food. I was up at 5, on the road at 5:30 and at Bill's at 8 after a rainy drive across Massachusetts. We picked up Tom in Delmar (he had just learned of the trip), headed west on the Thruway, then north on 30. The whole time, we passed through occasional rain showers that turned to a downpour just when we decided to stop at rest area, but we managed to avoid being caught outside in the rain. This was significant because Ritz Brothers trips traditionally involve a good soaking. We hoped our luck would change this trip. As we continued north, we started to see patches of snow. Finally, we passed through Speculator and started to look for the access roads. We passed the first because it was too small and rough for my littl...

Where: Siamese Ponds, Adirondacks When: 8/14/93-8/15/93 With: Bill, Tom Another Ritz Brothers hike. I was up at 5:30, on the road at 6:00, at Bill's at 8:20, in Delmar to pick up Tom at 9:00, and on the road at 9:30 heading north. We hit the trailhead at 11:00 and found a lot of vehicles parked there. That was a bit of a concern, but it didn't change our mind about the hike. We all did a bit of load lightening, removing stuff from our packs, and then started the hike. The trailhead sign said 5.8 miles to the pond, which seemed reasonable. There was a short uphill to start, then downhill a bit, then a level walk next to river. A recent rain brought out a nice variety of fungi - lobster mushrooms, white coral-like fungus, and others. We also spotted a woodcock along the way. It was a warm, partly cloudy day and the walking was pleasant. Despite all the cars at the trailhead, we didn't run into too many other people on the trail. There was a dayhiker with dog, but th...

Where: Oxbow Pond, Pharaoh Lake area, Adirondacks When: July, 1992 With: Bill, Tom Jane and I were living in a rental house, having sold the house in Holliston and being unable to move into the new place in Hopkinton just yet. Despite plans to the contrary, I hadn't been camping all season. Jane was pregnant, we sold a house and bought a house...things happened. I'd managed a day trip up Mt. Washington but that was it. So I was talking with Bill and he mentioned he and Tom had found a neat place to go camping. I said, "Let's go!" A week later, I was on my way to Albany. We met up at Bill's place, piled all the gear into Tom's truck, and headed north. I seem to remember some problem with Tom's truck along the way, but eventually we arrived at the area. There was a long dirt access road to be dealt with first, and a stream crossing but after a bit we found ourselves in a somewhat crowded parking lot. I think there was good access to a lake there, s...

Where: Prospect Rock When: Summer, 1990 With: Bill, Tom The first (?) Ritz Brothers hike. I drove out to Albany Saturday morning and met up with Tom and Deb at Bill's house. Bill was out running a last minute errand, so Tom and I compared notes and waited for him. When he returned, we pulled out map books and started discussing places to go. I finally suggested Bourn Pond and Prospect Rock. The others confirmed, and we were off. We took my car and drove over to Vermont on route 7. Along the way, we stopped at a grocery store. Bill and Tom had come all supplied, but I needed a food stop. We continued on through Bennington before finally arriving in Manchester. I was jealous...the total trip, including the food stop, took only an hour and a half or so. My closest trailhead is 2.5-3.0 hours away. We stopped at a ranger station first and picked up some maps, then parked at the head of the Lye Brook trail. I remembered the time I'd gone on this route with Chip. It had seemed l...