The West Canada Lake

Wilderness Area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

is an

Adirondack Park The Adirondack Park is a part of Forest Preserve (New York), New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York (state), New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasur ...

Forest Preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

management unit in the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The area contains 168 bodies of water covering , of foot trails, and 11

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

s. The Northville-Placid Trail traverses it.

Location

The area is located in the town of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Herkimer County Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named af ...

and the towns of Morehouse, Arietta, Lake Pleasant and Indian Lake in Hamilton County. It is bounded on the north by the Moose River Plains area and private lands in the vicinity of Little Moose Lake, Squaw Brook, Snowy Mountain and Squaw Mountain; on the east by NY 30, lands of

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

and the Spruce Lake-Piseco Lake trail; on the south by private lands north of

NY 8 New York State Route 8 (NY 8) is a north-south state highway in the central part of New York in the United States. It runs in a southwest-to-northeast direction from the Southern Tier to the northern part of Lake George. The souther ...

, the South Branch of West Canada Creek and an access road to private lands; on the west by West Canada Creek and private lands east of Honnedaga Lake.

Geography

The terrain ranges from swamp flats and rolling hills to steep mountains such as Snowy Mountain. Water drains from the area into three basins: the Hudson, the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

and the

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

Forest

The

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

consists chiefly of mixed hardwood-softwood types with large diameter trees of both types on the more fertile soils. There is also considerable area in spruce-balsam swamp and beaver meadows. Among the spots that attract hikers and campers in addition to the previously mentioned lakes are

T Lake Falls T Lake Falls is the tallest waterfall in New York State and in the Adirondacks, at minimum doubling the height of Niagara Falls in Niagara Falls, NY. It is located in Hamilton County, New York in the West Canada Lake Wilderness Area. T Lake Falls ...

and

T Lake Mountain T Lake Mountain is a mountain in the Adirondack Mountains region of New York. It is located north-northwest of Witherbee in Hamilton County. In 1916, the Conservation Commission built a Aermotor LL25 tower on the mountain. The T Lake Mountain ...

West Canada Creek The West Canada Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in upstate New York, United States. West Canada Creek is an important water way in Hamilt ...

, Panther Mountain, Snowy Mountain and Cedar River.

Water

Among the area's chief attributes are its numerous ponds, lakes and streams, most of which support a brook trout population.

References

* Adirondack Park Agency
"Adirondack State Land Master Plan"
Updated 2014. {{Hudson River Wilderness areas in Adirondack Park Protected areas of Hamilton County, New York Protected areas of Herkimer County, New York

Location

Geography

Forest

Water

See also

References