Brook Trout Lake, Falls Pond; West Canada Lakes Wilderness

Brook Trout Lake is an off-the-beaten path destination in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness. If you are looking for solitude, this is a place where you will find it.

The trail to Brook Trout Lake covers 5.5 miles; not a terrible long way. But, adding significantly to the remoteness, is the drive of nearly thirteen miles on gravel roads to reach the trail-head. The road is generally passable for passenger cars, but it's slow going.

A half mile long side trail off of the Brook Trout Lake Trail leads to Falls Pond. This attractive pond was filled to the brim on the day of my visit with a sturdy beaver dam blocking the outlet stream. The day was heavily overcast, but the sun was just able to poke through; setting up this photo of our friendly star reflecting off the water. 

The lean-to at Brook Trout Lake is located at the eastern end of the lake. From there it's less than a mile to West Lake, and an addition 1.5 miles around the lake will get you to an intersection with the Northville Lake Placid Trail. Total distance from the trail-head to the NLPT is nearly eight miles. This is the shortest route into the remote heart of the West Canada Lakes Wilderness.

Cotton Grass fills an old beaver meadow along the trail.

Brook Trout Lake from near the Lean-to.

For the first three miles the trail follows an old road bed, and signs of logging are readily visible. That logging probably took place 50 to 60 years ago. That fits with the mix of trees present in this section of forest today. The forest canopy is composed primarily of the fast growers --Poplar and Aspen-- with some softwoods and larger hardwoods mixed in. The fast-growing pioneer trees are nearing maturity (and full height) but they will soon start to be replaced in the canopy by slower growing, shade-tolerant, species.

Brook Trout Lake looking east to west. The trail parallels the shoreline on the right. The trail stays well up on the hillside which is strew with large erratic boulders. This section of trail is rough and requires care to follow in places.

At about 3.5 miles the trail crosses the Deep Lake outlet stream. From there to Brook Trout Lake the composition of the forest changes. Spruce and Fir become the predominate species and much larger trees start to mix in. Large White Pine and Spruce are present along with old growth hardwoods.

Falls Pond with the sun just peaking through the heavy cloud cover.

Directions:
From Route 28 just north of Inlet, follow Limekiln Road approximately two miles to the Limekiln entrance to the Moose River Recreation Area. From the entrance it's eight miles to the intersection with Otter Brook Road. Follow Otter Brook Road for 3 miles until you reach a substantial bridge over Otter Brook. Just past the bridge, bear right. It is then one mile to the large parking area on the left. The entire route is passable for normal passenger cars but the final mile is rougher, so extra care is required.