Hiking in Shelving Rock Area
Hiking in Shelving Rock • Lake George, NY • March 28, 2017
When we hiked to Sleeping Beauty mountain in January, we had wanted to explore some trails further down the road but opted to leave them for another day. Our short weekend between Curtis’ swing and night schedules gave us the perfect opportunity to explore. While we didn’t hike any of the peaks, we were rewarded with a very full and snowy waterfall and picture-perfect calm and foggy lake views. We have done many hikes around Lake George, and we’ve loved every one of them; this one was no different.
We’ve done a few hikes since this day, and it’s funny to me to look through the pictures and notice how much trail conditions have changed in a matter of weeks. On this particular day, the temperatures were in the upper 30’s and there was a light drizzle. We stayed relatively dry thanks to being underneath the trees for most of the hike. The ground was still almost completely covered in soft, slushy snow, with patches of ice here and there. We went without our snowshoes and were just fine — besides having very wet boots by the end of the hike!
We started out our walk by following clues to a letterbox. Along the way we found the foundation from a homestead that once stood here. We heard a waterfall off to the side as we walked, so we decided we needed to go back and explore after logging in to the box. There was a short trail that jogged down the side of the hill to take you to the base of the falls, but the trail conditions here were not optimal: the ground was very slick as the unofficial trail switchbacked twice down a steep slope. At first I attempted to sit and slide down the slope, but even that felt unsafe to me. I opted to stay at the top while Curtis took my camera down to get a better view of the falls. Of course, Charlotte knows no fear, and was already at the base of the falls before we had decided whether or not to go ourselves. After she dashed back up the hill, I noticed she was much more wet than she should be from just walking through light snow…I suspect she took a little swim before Curtis arrived at the falls. Silly dog. Her method for drying off was to roll in the snow. My dog is a genius.
After visiting the falls, we stayed on the main trail which took us down along the side of the lake. It was so beautiful, with the mountains around us peeking out from behind the clouds. We chose to spend the rest of our time hiking the trail that ran along the lake, stopping and taking advantage of every window between trees. At the end, we had to walk along the road a ways to make it back to our car, but it was worth it… Even when Charlotte ended up super dirty from the muddy road, and decided she needed to sit on my lap for the drive home, it was still worth it. 😉 We can just imagine how busy this area gets in the summer between vehicles, cars, and boats, and agreed that today was the perfect day to enjoy the area. If you’re looking for a peaceful, quiet hike, a still lake on a foggy day is definitely the way to go.
Read about our other hikes around Lake George: Black Mountain / Prospect Mountain / History of Lake George / Berry Pond Preserve / Sleeping Beauty
