Canoeing, Camping - Lake Lila

Lake Lila is the largest lake in New York's Forest Preserve that's completely surrounded by state land, in the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area. It's also conveniently located at the junction of 4 different topo sheets.



Lake Lila was at one time privately owned by William Seward Webb, a railroad baron in the late 19th century, and at one time he built a Great Camp here, since demolished. There are 24 campsites dotted around the lake, including one on each of 4 islands, nearly all only accessible by human-powered boat. Yesterday, Holly and I took her canoe to Lake Lila for an overnight camping outing.

The put-in is on a sandy beach at the northeast corner of the lake, about 0.3 miles from the parking lot. Once we loaded up and started paddling, it became obvious that there was a very strong wind from the southwest, directly against us, and it was slow going. We decided to grab the first available campsite and wait for calmer waters in the morning. As luck would have it, Snell Island's campsite was vacant and only about a half-mile out, so we went ashore and set up on our private island.



We decided to try exploring a little more of the lake, despite the winds, and set out along the southeast shore heading toward the peninsula and the bay beyond. But it was tough going, and we soon abandoned this attempt in favor of a swim on a very warm humid afternoon. Then we just explored the island and sat around on various rocks enjoying the views of the lake.



After an easy no-cook dinner of sub sandwiches, we read for awhile and waited for the sunset. There were very few bugs on this island because of the strong winds blowing all around us. The sunset was slow to arrive, but eventually became quite spectacular.



We slept fitfully on a warm night, and woke up to a calm glassy lake and no winds. After muffins and juice for breakfast, we set out southwest across the lake to the trailhead for Frederica Mountain, about 2 miles away. Not far from the start, the wind began to come up, again in our faces, making for a long tough paddle. Finding the trailhead on the shoreline, the climb to the summit was only about 1.5 miles, much of it along an old road. The views from the summit were somewhat obscured by haze and humidity, but provided a nice view of the entire lake. The island with our campsite is at the top center of the photo.



The paddle back to camp was on a lake full of whitecaps, as the wind had increased. Fortunately, it was now mostly at our backs. After a final swim off the island, we headed back to the put-in, also downwind, and carried everything back to the car, where sandwiches and cold soda awaited. Ice cream in Long Lake and the long drive home finished off a somewhat exhausting trip.