Hague—Wevertown—Speculator—Utica; 127.4 m. State 8.
Two-lane macadam with stretches of concrete.
Good accommodations May to Oct.; in winter only in larger communities.
Rising up from the shore of Lake George and crossing the upper Hudson, State 8 enters a vast wasteland of stump—all that was left after the lumberjacks had passed over the once magnificent forests; now it is slowly being reclothed by second growth pine and hardwood, planted mainly by the State Conservation Department. In the 1880’s came the summer boardinghouse as a source of livelihood. From lumber center to resort center: that is the short story of the mountain town. The area is one of the best hunting and fishing regions in the State.
West of HAGUE, 0 m. (330 alt., 550 pop.), on Lake George at the junction with State 9N (see Tour 23), the route crosses a second growth of hardwood and weaves through a deep, shady ravine noisy with cascading water.
At 5.7 m. is the beginning of a foot trail.
Left on this foot trail 0.6 m. to SWEDE MOUNTAIN OBSERVATION TOWER (1,930 alt.). The view extends to the broad-backed Green Mountains, hazy in the east; in the foreground, slopes rise from Lake George to the peak of Black Mountain; to the north, smoke from Ticonderoga’s industries blurs the narrow thread of Lake Champlain.
Squeezed between mountain ranges, BRANT LAKE (R), 11 m., with its placid bays and sandy beaches, is surrounded by hotels, cottages, and private camps. In the fall, the hunters pre-empt the valley. In the winter the ice surface of the lake is dotted with small huts, heated with kerosene stoves, in which men wrapped in thick layers of clothes sit fishing through holes in the ice.
At CHESTERTOWN, 20 m. (854 alt., 700 pop.), is the junction with US 9 (see Tour 21), with which State 8 runs in common for 3.9 miles.
On the shallow, stony Hudson River, RIPARIUS (Riverside), 26 m. (883 alt., 150 pop.), is the Delaware & Hudson railroad station for this recreational area.
WEVERTOWN, 29.3 m. (1,040 alt., 225 pop.), is at the junction with State 28 (see Tour 15). The road cuts across a high ridge along rocky and wind-swept peaks, barren and jagged against the sky, to JOHNSBURG, 31 m. (1,295 alt., 275 pop.), a cluster of plain frame houses deposited and forsaken by the lumber industry. From this height is a sweeping view of Adirondack beauty: on the north, Oven Mountain (2,169 alt.) billows above an irregular mountain bulk; and the steep, broad range of Huckleberry Mountain (2,441 alt.) is the foreground for Crane Mountain (3,254 alt.) in the south.
The vanishing timber line left BAKER’S MILLS, 35.3 m. (1,580 alt., 75 pop.), once a prosperous lumbering town, a wasteland in the shadow of Eleventh Mountain (3,303 alt.). Stumps rot in surrounding clearings; houses are run down; farm families barely subsist on the thin soil.
Into this cheerless wasteland came Samuel M. Coplon, self-appointed Santa Claus of the Adirondacks, who in 25 years distributed more than 20,000 gifts to poor mountain children. In 1904, Coplon, a toy salesman, went to North Creek to recover from illness resulting from service in the Spanish-American War. For a time he ran a country store in the backwoods settlement, coming to know at first hand the struggling, lonely life of the children to whom Santa was at best a story-book character. Back in Brooklyn, a well man again, Coplon collected sacks of toys and utility gifts and at Christmas took them to his mountain friends. Heartened by the joy they spread, Coplon related his adventure to manufacturers and jobbers with whom he did business, and they filled his packs; but he continued to buy gifts and paid the entire shipping cost. His task became so large as the years went on that he enlisted the help of churches, schools, and community organizations spread over seven mountain counties. In 1936 Coplon moved his Santa headquarters from North Creek to Baker’s Mills, making his last personal appearance as Santa in 1937.
The route follows the East Branch of the Sacandaga River, a stony stream fed by numerous short tributaries reaching into the mountains. At 53.5 m. is the junction with State 30 (see Tour 24). SPECULATOR, 63.2 m., (1,768 alt., 261 pop.), is a summer and winter resort on the northeastern tip of Lake Pleasant. Large, rambling white hotels, boardinghouses, and summer cottages string along the sandy shore line. On near-by OAK HILL (2,455 alt.) nine ski trails spring to life on winter week-ends. Heavyweight prizefighters, including Gene Tunney, Max Baer, and Max Schmeling, trained for heavyweight championship fights at Speculator. Isolated roads and trails through the hills offer ideal cross-country exercise, and vacationists swell the ‘take’ during the training period.
At 64.8 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right here 1.3 m. to MOFFITS BEACH STATE CAMPSITE (open free, May 27-Oct. 15), built by the CCC in 1936.
On a hill overlooking Sacandaga Lake is LAKE PLEASANT, 66.9 m. (1,791 alt., 200 pop.), a resort with large, lake-front homes radiating from the expansive hillside hotel. Spruce-covered Indian Head Mountain (2,443 alt.) towers above the settlement. Here ‘Scout’ Dunning, who served under Sir William Johnson, hunted and trapped, and here his son Alvah Dunning (see Tour 15) was born.
At 72.2 m. is the western junction with State 10.
Left on State 10 along the shore of Piseco Lake to SPY LAKE (L), 3 m., and a popular hunting and fishing territory along the West Branch of the Sacandaga River.
In PISECO, 74.2 m. (1,680 alt., 20 pop.), a general store and gas station on the northern tip of Piseco Lake, is the start of a foot trail.
Left on this foot trail by easy stages up the shoulder of T Lake Mountain to T LAKE, 4.5 m., with an open lean-to shelter, and T LAKE FALLS, 5.5 m., a series of cascades on a tributary of West Canada Creek dropping 200 feet in a rocky gorge.
POPLAR POINT STATE CAMPSITE (fishing, bathing, boating), 76.9 m. (open free, May 27–Oct. 15), occupies a narrow, sandy, wind-swept strip on the shore of Piseco Lake. Boats and supplies are available at Piseco.
At 77.8 m. is the start of a foot trail.
Left on this foot trail 1.2 m. to PANTHER MOUNTAIN (2,713 alt.), a half-hour climb to a panoramic view of Adirondack peaks in the distance and Piseco Lake spread out below.
In a hardwood grove, overlooking a long, sandy beach on Piseco Lake, is POINT COMFORT STATE CAMPSITE, 79.8 m, (open free, May 30–Oct. 1; tent sites).
West of this lake region, State 8 twists through less rugged Adirondack ranges, passing an occasional sawmill, remnant of the once extensive lumbering operations, and penetrating a sparsely settled, thin-soiled farm area on the shoulder of West Canada Creek Valley.
At 94.9 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road 12 m., through a hunting and fishing country, to HONNENDAGA LAKE, which is part of a 275-square-mile tract reserved as a private hunting and fishing preserve for members of the Adirondack League Club.
The highway skirts HERKIMER NO.1 REFORESTATION AREA, 102.1 m., a 10-acre State-owned tract of land blanketed with a healthy stand of red and jack pine.
At 125.6 m. is the junction with State 12 (see Tour 25).
UTICA, 127.4 m. (500 alt., 100,063 pop.) (see Utica), is at the junction with State 5 (see Tour 11) and State 5S (see Tour 12).