The WHOLE time, it was just Kevin, Katie, a couple ravens, a few chickadees and me.

Ever since I hiked to Oxshoe Pond last winter, I've wanted to go back to the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness and tackle its namesake mountain.

We decided to take advantage of a sunny day last weekend. And though there are not-quite-winter conditions yet, cold but no real snow accumulation, I thought we might see SOMEone on the trail.

So, on Sunday morning, my husband and I packed up our snacks, extra warm gear, microspikes, headlamps and our dog Katie and headed to Schroon Lake.

There are a number of interconnected ways via different trailheads to get to the Pharaoh Mountain trail, but we decided to try the shortest possibility; which is about 8 miles round trip.

Depending on the conditions and your vehicle, it's possible to drive to the trailhead at Crane Pond via Crane Pond Road. We were in our minivan (yes, I know; and we don't even have any kids), and the road is dirt, with quite a lot of bumps and icy spots, so we didn't quite make it all the way to the pond. We stopped at a pull off and hiked about a half mile the rest of the way up the road to the pond itself. When we got there, there were two big SUV's, so we knew there were other parties on the trails somewhere.

I had been at this junction when I hiked from the Short Swing Trail to Oxshoe previously, so I recognized the walkway to the beginning of the trail. A few yards after we passed Crane Pond, we spotted the trail register and signed in. It appeared that there were two parties, both camping overnight since the day before; one at Oxshoe Pond, the other at Pharoah - not specifically at the lake or the mountain. We anticipated running into them for the next 4 hours.

This area seems nothing like most of the High Peaks trails. Sure, there's trees and DEC trail signs, but the forest FEELS different. The trees are a mix of old growth giant pines left from the last timber harvest, and newer growth. And it's an easier outing; the terrain is moderate - not "High Peak" vertical. This is a walk in the Park.

Or so I thought.

We passed the junction of the trail to Oxshoe Pond pretty quickly (the sign said .7 miles from Crane Pond), and headed toward Pharaoh Mountain - another 2.3 miles. (The sign also said that the ascent was 1,457, I saw on our way back.)

I love hiking in the Adirondacks this time of year; with no snow on the trail, the greens of the conifers and abundant mossy coverings seemed brilliant. It was oddly quiet - with only the sound of chickadees here and there. We followed the well-defined trail, which was fairly easy walking until the last half mile or so. That's where the 1,500' ascent began.

The trail at this point could be called "moderate" in difficulty. And luckily, we had brought along our microspikes just in case there were icy conditions on the trail near the summit. They are the "equalizers", making a challenging, slippery, hands-on-the-deck traverse into a comfortable climb. Hiking trails often become the path of least resistance for any flowing water, so it's likely to run into icy sections this time of year. We donned our equalizers after realizing the section was longer than a few steps. Katie brought her built-in spikes, and was able to navigate around the ice better than we were.

We soon reached the summit, which afforded spectacular views of Crane Pond and Schroon Lake and beyond. Kevin, being an avid rock climber, knew that there was a much sought-after ice climb on the opposite side of the mountain, so he went exploring a bit while I ate some more snacks and took pictures. I could see and hear a few ravens in the direction he headed - the only other sound we had heard aside from the chickadees. There was virtually no wind - a good thing - but I was cooling down from inactivity and added layers (always bring extra layers and wind protection!), prepping for the descent.

Kevin wasn't able to find the cliff from this location; it is typically accessed from a bushwacking trail from the town of Adirondack on the opposite side of Schroon Lake. We packed up and headed back down. The trip back down any trail always seems shorter; and it did go a bit faster than the ascent.

When we passed the Oxshoe Pond Trail sign again, I wondered where the other hikers were. One of the two SUV's was gone when we reached Crane Pond. We hadn't seen a soul the entire day! We ambled back down to the minivan, about 5 hours after we had left it.

I then mentioned that I wished I had a cheeseburger. That suggestion was all it took. We drove straight down Schroon Lake's classic resort Main Street and stopped in front of Pitkin's Restaurant. A couple was exiting the front door just as we entered, and we saw that we were, again, the only people around in this classic diner-style eatery.

A friendly voice from the back said - "sit wherever you like!" We chose a booth, and were immediately provided with menus, on which I spied the bacon cheeseburger right away.

We ordered our comfort food and waited approximately 3 seconds and our plates were in front of us. I didn't actually time it, but I believe it was about 2 minutes later that we had stuffed all the homemade goodness in, and, satisfied without adding dessert, swiftly got our check.

I knew that the restaurant had been there for a while, so I asked the waitress (the only other person we'd seen all day) if there was any printed information about the place that I could read. She said, no, but they were celebrating 105 years of consecutive business this year, and the current owners have been running Pitkins for about 60 of those years!

We couldn't have planned it better. This deserted weekend hike adventure is an anomaly - but we were psyched to have the entire Pharaoh Lake Wilderness to ourselves for the day!