After reading Adirondack French Louie: Early Life in the North Woods by Harvey Dunham, I had wanted to see for myself where ol’ Louie resided.

So off we went to travel into the heart of the West Canada Lake wilderness to visit the home of the lovable Adirondack hermit French Louis Seymour. He lived a charismatic life as a carnie, logger, hunter, trapper, fisherman and guide and was known for his twice a year visits to town approaching with hoots and hollers before drowning his thirst at the hotel in Speculator.

Along the way we caught brooktrout and ate a lunch at his remote cave shelter of fish and venison. We left behind some balsam browse for his bed and a two prong wood carved fork at his hearth.

It was a fun challenge to get to it with boats and boots and practice some route finding on old trails through mud, overgrown with thick vegetation and crisscrossed with deadfalls.

Louie was said to be “tough as spruce and hard as granite” and no doubt he was, living out there through the seasons until his death in 1915.

David Alexander is author of the Buzz Into Action & Hop Into Action Science Curricula.  He enjoys making nature more accessible to people and wildlife.  You can follow him at www.natureintoaction.com