"I don't think this is the way," I said to my daughter Karalyn as I looked around through the hardwood saplings for a trail marker.



We were toward the end of what was to be an easy hike on one of the very new Champlain Area Trails (CATS) called Beaver Flow that goes from the Cook Road in the Town of Essex south 1 mile or so to the Walker Road near Whallonsburg. It was a morning hike, in and out the same way, with our goal to see a large, many-tiered beaver dam at the halfway point.



"Let me see the map," I asked.



"I left it in the car," she replied, and after a pause said, "Let's backtrack to the nearest trail sign, then go from there."



Trail signs, some partially hidden in the foliage, were erratically spaced along this section of the trail, in some places very easy to miss, or missing completely from spots where they are needed.



Karalyn and I had been in such situations before.



A couple of years ago we lost the trail on a hike to the headwaters of the Connecticut River in far northern New Hampshire where moose paths outnumbered trail markers. In Quebec in the '90s, when she was a preteen, Karalyn and I also managed to get turned around a couple of times on obscure wilderness trails, so there was no panic this time.



We had come 1.4 miles, as measured by my Tech O watch, a gadget that supposedly uses sensors similar to those in car airbags, not by satellite signals like a GPS. I have compared both methods and found them close when it comes to measurement.



It was now time to get oriented. I knew our vehicle was generally due south, and we could get to the Cook Road if we followed a compass course in that direction; but, just in case we missed something, I thought we should go back and try to locate markers, and in the midst of more hardwood saplings, found the trail again.



"We must have missed the beaver dam; it is probably off an unmarked side trail," I deduced. "Let's go back to the brook we crossed a half-mile ago. I thought I saw an opening where there was a wetland down below the trail."



Back we went, eventually finding the dam, and except for only drifting off the trail once again as it descended toward the brook that was the outlet to the old beaver pond. After that, we had no difficulty getting back, as the trail was easy to follow. A problem is that the white-on-green markers blend in with the green foliage.



A few days later, I spoke with Sheri Amsel, board chair of CATS. She helped lay out the trail, and admitted that, because the trail is so new and there is little or no beaten path showing, it is a work in progress, but once the wrinkles are worked out, it will be, like the other CATS trails, a great option for those who want to experience hiking in the Champlain Valley.



Although our experience was not totally as scripted and some of the trail needs more markers and some clearing, the overall concept of a network of trails in this portion of Essex County is, to me, a great one, offering the hiker a variety of habitats to explore and destinations to reach. In the case of Karalyn and I, they were a bit off the beaten track.



The Champlain Area Trails (CATS)
Currently, there are three hiking paths maintained by CATS, mostly on land owned by the Eddy foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization. The 3-mile Boquet Mountain Trail to the north of our trek follows old logging roads, according to a CATS release, across that saddle-backed mountain.



From this trail, CATS David Reuther says, "There are great views from the cliffs." The third, the Bobcat Trail to the south, is a mile hike from the Walker Road to Ferris Road.



This summer, Reuther says, "CATS expects to open new trails connecting the Bobcat Trail with the Town of Westport and then north to Split Rock and the hamlet of Essex, a 25-mile loop.



"We also want to go south to Port Henry, eventually connecting us to the 4,200-mile North Country National Scenic Trail New York to North Dakota and also New York's Long Path between New York City and the Canadian border."



CATS relies on volunteers and trail work is needed. For more information or to volunteer, call 963-8222; for maps and directions to the trailheads, check out their Web site at www.champlainareatrails.com.