North South Lake Loop, Catskills

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/6/2016	2.6 miles	1 hour 2 minutes	280'	2.7 mph	65.3

Trail Map
Parking: North Lake Road. Pass Gatehouse. At intersection keep right. Arrive at parking area right next to lake.
Catskill All Trails Challenge: Map 141

Directions:
Facing the lake head towards the right and pass through gate.
Step over guardrail on the left side of the road.
A sign marked "Trail" with a yellow blaze marks the start.
Follow the yellow blazed North South Lake trail counterclockwise around lake.
End at the parking area.

Notes:
We had time after our first hike to fit this hike in, so we stopped by to do this loop. We kept Trek on leash except for a brief period, and he whined and pulled us the whole way around the lake. I don't know if it was the lake that excited him (it was frozen, so no swimming), or he was just not happy about hiking on leash. He thought the hike was exciting anyways. It would be a great lake to swim him in, but based on the number of parking lots & campsites, I'm guessing it is pretty busy in the summer. We saw a few people ice fishing, and even a dog out on the lake. I was reading that the ice has to be at least 3" think for people to walk single file on the ice, but many people prefer it to be 4-5" thick.

Facing the lake at the parking area

Map showing the details of the trail around the lake

Easy to miss sign for the trail - behind the guard rail

We did encounter some ice on the trail in wet areas.

Sand beach

More ice, but easy just to walk around it.