The normal route is a pleasant 3.4-mile walk in the woods to a lean-to beside the lake on a well-maintained trail, but in the words of the poet Robert Frost, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Middle Settlement Lake is in the 26,528-acre Ha-de-ron-dah Wilderness, the westernmost wilderness area in the park. Ha-de-ron-dah is another version of the native word “bark eater,” from which the name Adirondack is derived.
The Ha-de-ron-dah is part of the
