Desolation Pond

[dr_wu002]

Look at the attachment below. Google Earth shows something called "Desolation Pond" somewhere off the slopes of Franklin in Oakes Gulf. I wish I saw this before I hiked Crawford Path on Sunday. Oh Well, I'll just have to go back again sooner than I thought to look for it

Anyway, any info on this? I have never seen it on any of the maps that I have.

-Dr. Wu

 

[sapblatt]

topozone also shows it:

Desolation Pond

Looks like it could be whacked from the Moune Eisenhower Trail...too steep from the ridge from what I recall (and the map).

 

[dr_wu002]

topozone also shows it:

Desolation Pond

Looks like it could be whacked from the Moune Eisenhower Trail...too steep from the ridge from what I recall (and the map).

That's odd... not my topozone.

It should be noted that I have not confused this with Red Pond.

-Dr. Wu

 

[sapblatt]

I lifted that off the web from Mohamed's website.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Haven't seen the pond, but these images came from NASA's Worldwind site.
Satellite and topo image

It may require an expedition (or a hike) to verify whether or not the pond is there.

 

[el-bagr]

I looked for Desolation Pond in 1999 and did not find any pond, though I did find a flat area that could (?) have been where a pond once was.

I've just reconstructed my previous research -- basically I'd guess the pond used to be there but has disappeared. It appears on this 1950 15' quad and the 1946 one, but not this 1896 quad. (Admittedly, the 1896 map gets some of the ridge topography wrong too.)

Currently, it does appear on the 7/1/98 1:100K topo on topozone, but not on the 7/1/87 1:24K quad. This 5/11/94 terraserver image does show the stream channel, but not anything I see as a pond. (With snowcover, a "pond" would probably show up white, eh?)

All I encountered on my bushwhack was fairly resilient krumholtz. We're talking about an elevation of 3800' +/-. I didn't search exhaustively, but I'd be curious to hear what others have found.

 

[John S]

My older version of Topo! shows the pond at the middle level (1:63,360) but the more detailed levels (1:24,000 and 1:12,000) only show a branch of Dry River heading up to that spot.

I was looking into that area on Saturday from Crawford Path below Eisenhower and don’t recall seeing a pond.

 

[dr_wu002]

I was looking into that area on Saturday from Crawford Path below Eisenhower and don’t recall seeing a pond.

We're you looking for it though? I suspect that it's fairly hard to see if it even exists anymore. When I posted pictures of Redrock Pond from West Bond, people commented that they had no idea that there was a pond there! I wish I would have checked Google Earth before my hike as I would have been keeping an eye out. We even went around Eisenhower (on the way out) on Crawford Path... there's some nice view points that I could have possible spied it from.

Keep the info coming!

-Dr. Wu

 

[John S]

We're you looking for it though?

Not specifically. At the time I didn’t know there was supposed to be a pond there. Given the size of the pond shown on the map, about half the size of Saco Lake, it seems like it would be visible if it actually exists.

 

[arghman]

Argh! don't post this stuff, it's an evil temptation, I've noticed it too on the maps & that @#%@Q#%@# curiosity kicked in. (Luckily my bushwhack-avoidance sense won out. )

edit: I suppose it could have been a temporary pond at one time when the area was surveyed, either through natural causes or from a beaver pond (do they get up that high elevation???)... may have turned into a bog that filled in, though I am not sure how fast that stuff can happen.

 

[blacklab2020]

we were in the upper reaches of Dry River on Saturday and were following moose tracks all the way up. It was a little intimidating to follow moose tracks that high, right up to the steep section below lakes of the clouds.

It appeared (to the left and to the right) that there were a couple areas the could easily be ponds. In retrospect the moose was probably on its way to one of those areas.

~J

 

[Waumbek]

Dr Wu, I'm looking at my favorite map, which is practically in tatters now even tho' it's plastic: Phillip Preston's Washington and Lafayette Trail Maps (Waumbek Books, no relation, 1982). It shows (and labels as such) Desolation Pond very clearly a bit below the 4000' topo line. The intermediary topo lines have faded out but it looks up around 3800 or 3900'. It is south to ssw of the Franklin summit. It also clearly shows a feeder stream that starts above Desolation Pond at about 4200', runs south a short ditsance, pools into the Desolation Pond, then the stream runs down to the south east until it joins with another small stream and together both feed into the Dry River in a 1/10th mile or so at about 3400'. That pooling into the pond suggests beaver. Do beaver work that high up? I do not see desolation Pond on subsequent maps although I haven't checked them all.

 

[el-bagr]

Beaver certainly can use subalpine habitat, though they prefer fresh water that has stable volume, not an intermittent or seasonal pond. I'm not sure where the highest altitude beaver activity in New England would be...

 

[evilhanz]

Desolation Pond is hardly more than a boggy spot now. It is gradually being reabsorbed into the surrounding terrain. It has a brief, wetter life after the snow melt. For whatever reason, the name remains attached to each new map of the area. Cartographers probably just like the sound of it.

 

[Davehiker]

I realy like the Washburn map, which was based on a new survey rather than using older recycled USGS data. It doesn't show a pond here, but the flat spot that el-bagr mentions at about 3800' is evident.

 

[Waumbek]

Louis Cutter, long-time cartographer for AMC Guides, especially liked Desolation Pond. He shows the configuration I described above in Preston's map (1982) starting in 1916 and continued it up until what seems to be his last map, 1966. He labeled the pond by name although the guides don't index a "Desolation Pond." In 1969, Harriman and Lennox revised Cutter's 1966 map and excluded the pond. H&L show the Y-branching feeder streams as does Garland's more recent AMC Guide map, but no pond (or bog).

 

[forestgnome]

Desolation Pond is hardly more than a boggy spot now. It is gradually being reabsorbed into the surrounding terrain. It has a brief, wetter life after the snow melt. For whatever reason, the name remains attached to each new map of the area. Cartographers probably just like the sound of it.

My guess is a vernal pool. Maybe long ago a cartographer saw a pond there in early spring, but it wasn't corrected until many years later.

I've hiked the area many, many times and I've never seen a pond on Mt Franklin. I've viewd it from Crawford Path, above Oakes Gulf, Davis Path, Mt Isolation and Mt Davis.

A very cool thread, I love such forest mysteries.

 

[Waumbek]

My guess is a vernal pool. Maybe long ago a cartographer saw a pond there in early spring, but it wasn't corrected until many years later.

Vernal pool, an interesting thought, forestnome. Do vernal pools stay fairly stable (constant) over time, that is, appearing every spring, as opposed to beaver ponds? If so, it might explain why some map-makers include(d) it and some don't.

 

[spencer]

This is the stuff I like to read about! Good work, Doc...

and I love it when Evilhanz pops up for something really worthwhile...

vernal pools do tend to form in the same place each year.

spencer

 

[dr_wu002]

This is the stuff I like to read about! Good work, Doc...

I just asked a dopey question. The responses were the good work!

Looks like I may have to take my swiss bobsled up to Eisenhower this winter for a quick trip down to Oakes Gulf to look for the remnants of that pond. I can get up to 30mph on that puppy, I think, anyone interested in a trip!?

Thanks for all the responses. I'm heading back to Crawford Path soon so I may have a look...

-Dr. Wu