Every once in a while, I like to leave. The title of this post comes from Ryan Lewis' cover "Fake Empires" where he sings: "We're half awake in fake empires." It's easy to get caught in the empires of advertising and insincerity, so I escape. This time it was to the Southern Adirondack Region, where I spent the night in my hammock on the North shore of Piseco lake.

But first, I checked out Trenton Falls in (you guessed it!) Trenton, NY. It was on the way, and paddling it sounded like a good way to get arrested, so I figured I'd go check it out on one of the few weekends they allow you to hike in.

I'm not sure why these falls have such limited access, but we were only allowed to walk on a trail parallel to the the dam maintenance road and a few scenic overlooks. I asked one of the volunteers about access, and all he could say was how kind the power company was to let anyone come and view the falls at all. 

I disagree with restricting access the way they have. On days touring isn't allowed, the entire area is enclosed with a chainlink fence and barbed wire. Trenton Falls is an incredible natural attraction and a spectacular display of geology, and should be accessed much more frequently. I'd like to see something similar to the Agers Falls access. A few signs basically state that any activity there is at your own risk and that fast rising water will follow a siren. That should be enough. Rant Over.

After that, I drove down to Piseco Lake and took a hike up to Echo Cliffs. It was a quick trail to the top, with some good elevation gain, and an incredible view of Piseco Lake and the various lakes to the south. The parking lot was packed at the trailhead, and it seemed like everyone was out enjoying the heat of our Indian Summer.

I met a couple locals at the top and asked them about some of the hikes in the area. As I had expected, T-Lake was the popular vote, so I headed down in the hope of catching a good night's sleep before the 11 mile hike the next day.

When I found the unmarked trailhead, I parked my car and scoped out the closed campground across the road. With a lakeside view and plenty of downed wood for a fire, I strung up the 'mock and settled in with a book.

The full moon was sweet, and the campsite was great, even with the mysterious fishing creatures just out of sight. There would be a pitter patter of smallish feet, and then a loud splashing sound, like a fish was trapped in shallow water. I'm guessing raccoons.

In the morning, I packed up and walked across the road...and kept walking until I meet my little buddy Dora

And this is the start of what I didn't do this weekend.

T Lake Falls is a 660 foot waterfall located pretty much in the middle of nowhere that takes a 5.5 mile one way hike to get to. It's also off limits to the public as per D.E.C. mandate. So this is where I didn't go, and pictures of the falls that I didn't see...because that would be illegal, or something.

About a third of the way down, I followed a faint trail to the edge of the waterfall. Backtracking, I followed another faint trail to a steep, moist rock-face that joined up with the bedrock supporting the waterfall. It stuck out, kind of like a step, and it looked like the trail continued on the other side. I passed on this one, and backtracked to the top before descending on a wider switchbacked route. I ended up at the base of one of New York's most impressive waterfalls. 

Overall, this is an awesome hike not to do. It's not really long and pristine, and it's not an incredible waterfall that most people don't know exists. It's also not really dangerous, or against the law. You should just content yourself to hiking into T-Lake and maybe spending a night at the awful lean-to they have there. Really.

So now that I'm back in the fake empire, I'll leave you with a few lessons I've learned, and a few more I'm still working on.

Lessons I've learned that probably kept me from dying (or just having a really miserable time):

Lessons that I probably should know by now, but never actually pay attention to: