Saturday July 31st -Allen Lake State Forest - Near Belfast NY - Road walk - 5 miles almost no elevation gain

The appeal of this hike was the description in the 50 Hikes in Western NY book. The author explains how this seems like a very unlikely location for a hike since it is basically at the highest point with the land dropping away (gently) on all sides.  The reason there is a lake here despite no obvious watershed to fill it is that while it is the highest point right where it is there are substantially higher hills nearby and that makes the area where the lake is below the water table.  

In spite of this cool back story, the lake itself is not particularly grand or interesting and the entirety of the walk described consists of a short connector road from the lake out to the grid of gravel roads that make basically a square around the lake.  Even less exciting, you can't see the lake at all (at least in summer with the trees all leafed out) once you walk 500 feet from the parking spot.

So I'd summarize this hike as a bore. The drive down to and from Allegheny county was relaxing and enjoyable.  The lake is in a fairly remote (by NY standards) area with a good 9 miles of gravel road needed to get to it.  Also, the weather was delightful with highs in the mid 70's and fairly low humidity.  Very pleasant mild weather for a late July day in upstate NY.








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