Hiking the Cranberry 5̶0̶ 40

I hadn't been on a long hike in a while and really wanted to go with my dog Luna. Up until this point we had only done one, one-night overnight hike together (though she has camped dozens of times, including with the canoe and bus). I thought about hiking a section of the Northville Placid Trail but didn't want to deal with a car shuttle, so decided to go for the Cranberry Lake 50, a loop around Cranberry Lake (though not really on the lake as I learned). I could leave my car and hike back to it in 4 days with my best girl.

So I headed up to Wanakena on July 1st, planning for 3 nights to hike the 50 miles.

Day 1: Left home around 7am for the almost 4 hour drive. Got to Wanakena and parked my car. Checked ou the famous Otto's Abode, and then hiked 16-17 miles to campsite 8 on Cranberry Lake. Passed the Ranger School in Wanakena, then into the woods, then out onto the road through Cranberry Lake and then back into the woods. I didn’t see a single other backpacker and only saw one family hiking. Had a decent pace with a few miles of road. Last stretch included a flood section where I had to get my feet soaked. The site was lovely - right on the lake. Made a fire and had some dinner, then bed.

Day 2: I had a slow morning, enjoying time in camp and didn’t start hiking until 10am. I had planned to hike 17 miles but ended up doing 13 and camping at Site 17 on Cranberry Lake. Passed some pretty ponds. The campsite at Dog Pond had a bunch of trash sadly. My site on the lake was lovely and had a picnic table. I took a nice dip in the lake after I set up camp. Started a fire and had some backpacker lasagna. I didn’t see a single hiker all day until a fellow backpacker showed up to the campsite later. It was his first solo backpacking trip and he had done 20 miles that day.

The trail is very nice compared to most other ADK trails that I’m used to. It’s a lot like the Finger Lakes Trail. Definitely some mud and unavoidable water to walk through and beaver dams, but many times I would say to my dog how beautiful the trail was. Pretty much flat the whole time with some smaller hills.

Day 3: Woke up feeling pretty good but Luna was acting weird- didn’t want to leave the camp and kept lying down. For a moment I thought something was really wrong with her. I thought I might need to hitch a ride on a boat back to my car. She eventually started going and I decided we didn’t need to push it for another 14 miles through the pretty through slightly uneventful woods. We got to Cowhorn Lean to at lunch time with its own sandy beach and it was so lovely I decided to just stay, read a book, relax, swim, and enjoy the beautiful scene. Luna slept most of the afternoon. I thought about how for me the best part of backpacking is camping and hanging out, not just rushing through the woods for 8 straight hours. Bugs started getting bad at night so I had to set up the tent next to the lean to quickly, and then it rained a little bit overnight.

Day 4: I had not seen another person since I bid farewell to my fellow backpacker the morning before. Decided to take shortcut back to car - about 6.5 miles. Cut off the High Falls and High Rock portion of the trail but I have been to both places via boat so didn’t feel like I was missing much. Luna was fine and back to her normal self. I didn’t finish the official CL50 loop- no patch for me!- but I think I made the right choice. Still had a nice time in the woods with my dog.