Five Ponds Wilderness 10/8 – 10/11/10 (Adirondacks)

[DSettahr]

Pictures Here

For years, ever since purchasing the Adirondack Mountain Clubs hiking guide to the Northern Region, I've been eying the Five Ponds Wilderness and planning countless trips into this remote area of the Adirondacks. Last fall, I got more than a taste of the area when I did both the High Falls loop and the Cranberry Lake 50 within a few weeks of each other, but still, I had never visited those particular ponds from which the wilderness area southwest of Cranberry Lake takes it's name.

The attraction is obvious, I think, for myself and many who post on these forums. The remoteness of the area is plain for anyone to see when viewing a hiking map. Additionally, a warning on the ADK's map to call the DEC prior to attempting a hike into this area only serves the pique the interest of any hiker who dreams of exploring territory that is, at least to themselves, uncharted.

The Five Ponds have probably been at the top of my “to visit” list for a while now, and this past weekend, I finally got a chance to cross that item off of my hiking agenda. Along with my friends Anna, Danie, and Meg, and a malamute named Inga, we completed the 34 mile hike from Wanakena to Star Lake over the course of the holiday weekend.

Friday afternoon, we rendezvoused in Tupper Lake, and after a quick stop at Stewart's so that I could satiate my appetite for a milkshake and a bowl of chili, we headed west along route 3. After a quick stop in Wanakena to drop our packs, we continued to the Young's Road trailhead in Star Lake to spot a car before returning to Wanakena to being our hike. Both the trailhead in Wanakena as well as the trailhead east of Cranberry Lake were packed with cars, presumably for people hiking the Cranberry Lake 50.

By the time we actually hit the trail, darkness had settled ubiquitously across the terrain. Janack's Land was our first camp destination for the weekend, and the trail in follows an old railroad grade most of the way. With the exception of a few wet spots (and a porcupine that took Inga some persuasion from us to leave alone), it was quick hiking, and before long we had reached the north shore of Dead Creek Flow. Across the bay, we could see headlamps and the light of a fire at the lean-to, and so, rather than continuing all the way around to Janack's Landing, we made camp in a designated campsite we found right on the north shore of the flow.

The camp site was small but nice, and with the multitudes of dead and dry firewood we found uphill across the trail, we were able to get a nice fire going. After a quick meal and some time spent around the fire, we were soon beaded down beneath our tarps for the evening.

Morning arrived with cooler temperatures and a chilling wind that whipped right off the lake and through the campsite. Breaking down camp was a bit of a challenge in the wind, due to it quickly chilling our exposed fingers. We persevered, however, and soon were packed up and continuing south on the trail.

As the trail continues around the Flow, it soon leaves the railroad grade behind, and takes on a rugged characteristic more common among Adirondack hiking trails. After crossing Dead Creek itself, the trail approaches a wet area flooded by beavers just before the junction with the Side Trail to Janack's Landing. Here, the trail is submerged beneath several feet of water, but we were able to find dry passage by crossing the beaver dam to the east.

We signed the register and continued on to the junction with the Cranberry Lake 50 (the trails to Cowhorn Pond and High Falls). As we desired to climb Cat Mountain, we dropped our packs here and grabbed water bottles, and took to the eastern trail. It was at this junction that we started to see the first signs of the damage from the microburst. The absence of large standing trees, as well as large rotten trunks on the ground served as reminders of the natural weather phenomenon that changed the landscape 15 years ago.

Before long, we had reached Glasby Pond, a pretty little pond on the western slopes of Cat Mountain. There is a nice campsite here as well, and it doesn't seem to get very much use despite being on a well traveled trail. Perhaps most who pass by are intent on making it to the lean-tos Cowhorn Pond or Olmstead Pond for the evening. Beyond the campsite, we passed a group of 8 who were headed west towards Wanakena. We chated with them for a bit before moving on.

The trail up Cat Mountain is a pretty steady uphill grade. It's a bit eroded in some spots, but overall it is not in bad shape nor is it a difficult climb. During our ascent, we passed another group of 8 headed down, this one a backpacking class from SUNY Potsdam. They indicated that they were hiking the Cranberry Lake 50 counter-clockwise, and were most likely going to stay at Cowhorn Pond that night.

Cat Mountain offers some amazing views of the Five Ponds Wilderness Area, and anyone passing by should absolutely not pass up the opportunity to climb to one of the few lookouts in the area. There is an emergency radio repeater on the summit, presumably used by DEC personnel who are working in the Five Ponds back country for communication. We spent some time snacking and rehydrating, soaking up the warm sunshine, and taking in the view on the summit before turning and descending back down the mountain.

While continuing back along the shoreline of Glasby Pond, we made an interesting discover... a small tree with gigantic leaves. The leaves looked exactly like those of a quaking aspen, and had all the same characteristics of a popple such as the flattened petiole, yet were about 20 to 30 times the size of an aspen leaf. Perhaps some characteristic of the soil, or an accidental genetic modification of some type contributed to the change. Whichever way, it was an interesting discovery.

When we returned to the trail junction west of Glasby Pond where we had left out packs, we elected to break for lunch prior to continuing on to High Falls. While consuming our various food choices, a day hiker headed up Cat Mountain passed by and stopped to chat for a few minutes. He seemed to know a lot about the area, and gave us some information about what to expect that proved helpful later on. He also mentioned something about a herd path that connects Sand Lake with the end of Watson's East Main Haul Road. He indicated that the herd path goes north of the lake, around the shores of Rock Lake, and is difficult to follow between Rock Lake and Sand Lake. Does anyone have any other information about this alternate approach to the area?

With lunch consumed, we continued south towards High Falls. The old trail to High Falls from Janack's Landing used to continue straight through the wet and boggy area known as “The Plains,” but the modern trail skirts these bogs by sticking to higher and drier ground to the south. Again, as we continued, we could see extensive evidence of the microburst, but the trail was quite clear and mostly in good shape, and we were soon at the junction with the High Falls truck trail.

Continued...

 

[DSettahr]

Here, we again dropped our packs, and made our way quickly down to High Falls. When I was previously at the falls, in November of 2009, the water was low enough that we could hop across the river at the top of the falls, and check out the lean-to on the far side. Recent rains earlier in the week, however, made this quite impossible during my return visit, and the water was flowing pretty well. Passage across the river, without a boat, was obviously quite impossible.

There were a number of people camped at the falls, all apparently staying in the lean-to. We talked with a few of them, while Inga vacuumed up the remains from their lunch off the ground. They told us that they were spending the entire weekend there. There was also another older gentlemen at the falls who was bear hunting.

By this point, it was getting late in the day, and we still had at least 4 miles to go before getting to Big Shallow Pond, our chosen destination for the evening. We quickly retraced our steps to the junction, donned our packs again, and continued north on the truck trail to the junction with the Five Ponds trail.

The only possible adjective one can use to describe the mile of the truck trail between the junction with the trail to the Dead Creek Flow and the junction with the trail to the Five Ponds is wet. Beavers had flooded some pretty extensive portions of this trail, and we found ourselves fighting a losing battle in maintaining the dryness of our feet. As I recall, however, this is not even the worst of the flooding on the truck trail, which lies further to the north.

Despite the flooded sections, we soon reached the junction with the Five Ponds trail, and here we turned to the southwest. We noticed several campsites on and near the Oswegatchie River at the bridge crossing. The ADK Guidebook says that this bridge will not be replaced once it deteriorates beyond use. Does anyone know if this is still the case? It will certainly limit access to the area west of the river quite a bit if true.

It quickly became pretty clear once we were past the river crossing that we had made the correct choice in choosing our destination, and that we were leaving the crowds behind. The trail between the river and the Five Ponds quite obviously received very little use. It was in excellent shape, and quite free of blowdown, but in many spots was little more than a faint path through the woods. After following the south shore of Wolf Pond Outlet for a bit, the trail turned south and followed the outlet of Big Shallow Pond up through an idealistic hollow that was very picturesque.

We reached the lean-to on the east shore of Big Shallow about an hour before sunset. This lean-to is located so as to give a very nice view of the pond, and allowed us some nice perspectives of the setting sun. The rays of the sun were also much appreciated as they were quite warm to stand or sit in. Beneath the lean-to, we also found a pair of snowshoes that had been jerry-rigged using duct tape and sticks... perhaps someone had gotten trapped back there during an unexpected snowstorm in late fall, and tried to build a pair of snowshoes to enable their quick escape.

After another enjoyable evening full of warmth from the fire, jiffypop popcorn, and cool temperatures for enjoyable sleeping, we were up again and preparing to continue farther west. Before setting out, I took some time to explore the area, in particular the esker to the north of the lean-to. The damage from the microburst is not as evident here as it was back towards High Falls, but is still obvious. Numerous large trunks lay on the ground, rotting and already having been stripped of their branches for firewood. From the top of the esker, I could see down onto Big Five, but the the vegetation was too thick to allow for any good views.

The hike from Big Shallow to the next lean-to, at Little Shallow, was a quick one. Along the way we got some limited views of Washbowl Pond, although most of the pond was screened by thick new growth. The lean-to on Little Shallow is more secluded and set back farther from the water than the one on Big Shallow, which would certainly be nice on windier days. Judging from the amount of herbaceous growth in front of the lean-to, it certainly doesn't seem to get very much use.

As with the trail to Big Shallow the previous day, the trail between Little Shallow and Wolf Pond was truly an attractive one. We saw lots of fall colors and open glades in the woods. A continued decline in the worn tread of the trail told us that we were still headed farther and farther away from civilization.

The distance between the Five Ponds and Wolf Pond is not great, and we were able to hold of on eating lunch until we reached Wolf Pond, which was also to be our camp site for the evening. The lean-to here is located high on a hill up away from the water, which was still readily visible through the pine trees that line the shore of the lake. It was a very nice lean-to, and we were pleasantly surprised to open the log book and find that the entries in it go back all the way to 1998! This was yet another welcome reminder that we were in a very remote section of the Adirondacks that sees very few visitors. While consuming lunch, a group of five hikers from Toronto passed by, having come in from the Youngs Road trialhead to the north. Despite my descriptions of how nice the lean-to at Big Shallow was and the number of people we'd seen camped at High Falls, it seemed that some of them were determined that they should head all the way to the falls before stopping for the evening.

With lunch out of the way, and a whole afternoon to enjoy, we decided to backtrack to the junction with the trail to Sand Lake, and follow it to the lake and back. If I had thought that the trails couldn't possibly get any harder to follow than what we had already encountered, I was soon corrected in my mistaken assumption. This trail looked like it hadn't seen a single hiker in months. Again, as with all the other trails in the area, it was quite clear of blowdown, yet the worn tread was virtually absent. In places, ferns and even some small saplings had sprouted up through the center of the trail. There were certainly sections that would've been impossible to follow if it weren't for the trail markers.

Sand Lake itself is perhaps one of the most beautiful backcountry destinations I've ever seen. The east shore of the lake, where the lean-to is located, has a nice sandy beach that looks perfect for an afternoon swim in the summer. It reminded me a lot of South Lake, another backcountry destination in the West Canada Lakes Wilderness Area that is also well worth the difficult hike in. Camped at the lean-to were two gentlemen who had paddled up the Outlet from Bryant Pond. They said that due to low water levels, the paddle had been pretty rough and hard going, as they kept having to get out of the canoe and pull it along.

That evening at Wolf Pond was our last evening of the trip, and so it was of course filled with good food (we all ate all the dinner food we had left), more jiffypop, and storytelling and reminiscing about past adventures in the woods, as well as plans for future expeditions, such as a 5 day trip in the Western High Peaks, where many of us have visited but never fully explored. So many places to visit, so little time...

Continued...

 

[DSettahr]

The next morning saw an early departure out of camp, as we were eager to get some real restaurant food, and had a long hike ahead of us. The trail between Wolf Pond and Cage Lake had some wet spots, and finding a dry route was a bit tricky, but not impossible. Cage Lake itself had some strong winds coming off the water, but the lean-to was situated in such a way so as to block most of those winds, which made it a nice destination for lunch. It took some close inspection to find any of the damage that the lean-to suffered at the hands of the idiots a year ago, and when I finally did find it it certainly wasn't the “mutilation” I was expecting. There were a few bullet holes here and there in the roof, all of which seemed to have been expertly patched. Perhaps the damage had been worse, and whoever repaired it did such a good job, I was unable to find any evidence of it.

North of Cage Lake, the junction with the old Cage Lake Springhole trail was marked with a handwritten sign. Even though it looked like someone had been doing regular blowdown removal and maintenance on the trail, the sign did warn that it was an unmaintained trail. I was a bit surprised to see how little use the trail north out of Cage Lake got, expecting that the impact would increase again now that we were headed back to civilization. I was soon to see why so few people come in via the Youngs Road-Cage Lake trail, however, when we reached the junction with the ATV trail that provides access to the private inholding at Buck Pond.

I am all for the rights of private property owners, and certainly, if you have an inholding that is surrounded by state land, you should definitely have the right to access that land via an appropriate means, but what I saw seemed to go far beyond access rights. The first few miles of the ATV trail north out of Buck Pond are a horrid mess, alternating back and forth between rutted mud puddles several feet deep at times, and large rocks jutting out of the ground that have been exposed due to erosion. I'm not sure what legal rights exactly those accessing the Buck Pond inholding have, but there was also obvious use of ATV use on the trail towards Cage Lake, as well as numerous examples of ATVs circumventing the main trail because it was damaged beyond even ATV use, creating two or three parallel paths of mud and erosion through the woods. Additionally, there were ATV trails circumventing a DEC gate several miles north of Buck Pond. I'm not sure if this is because the ATV operators aren't allowed past the gate, or if they are allowed all the way into Buck Pond and are simply too lazy to stop, unlock the gate, drive through, and lock the gate behind them.

The damage that I saw concerned me greatly for several reasons. First, those who use the inholding have access to an incredibly resource most of the rest of us can only dream about- the ability to legally drive 8 miles into a wilderness area to their own private camp. It's obvious that they aren't respecting the uniqueness of what they are able to do, and if something isn't done about the ATV trail, it could very well one day degrade beyond the point where even ATVs can use it.

Secondly, there is a definite conflict of uses by allowing both foot traffic and ATV use on the same trail. Hiking down the ATV trail was slippery going, and it is only a matter of time before a hiker twists their ankle pretty badly on this trail. I think that hiker access and ATV access to a private inholding can coincide in this area, but not on the same path. I think that both groups would benefit from rerouting the foot trail off of the atv trail, at least where the worst of the damage is on the trail north of Buck Pond.

After the DEC gate, the trail soon joins an old logging road, and the conditions improve considerably. The soils are sandier, the grade is flatter, and in general, there is much less damage due to ATV use and the trail is much easier walking. We did encounter several sections flooded by beavers, however, and it was the worst flooding we'd seen all weekend... we eventually gave up trying to keep our feet dry and waded right through it, getting soaking wet up to our thighs.

Little Otter Pond was a small but nice pond about 2 miles from the trailhead, and so we stopped here for a quick snack before continuing on. Before long, I knew we were getting close to the trailhead as I was starting to smell smoke from wood stoves in houses on Youngs Road. The ATV trail left the old logging trail, and briefly became a muddy mess again before the foot path finally turned off the ATV trail for good. The last half mile of the trail went through some nice hemlock stands and bogs before finally bringing us out the trailhead after a long, tiring, and in places somewhat demoralizing walk about of Wolf Pond.

The weekend was concluded with beers, wine, and dinner in a restaurant in Tupper Lake. I am certainly glad to have finally been able to visit the Five Ponds and check out one of the most remote areas in the Adirondacks. I'll definitely return (I still need to stay in the lean-tos at Cage Lake, Sand Lake, and Little Shallow Pond!), although I don't think I'll ever hike the Youngs Road-Cage Lake trail again. Hopefully this trip right up doesn't send hoards of visitors back into the Five Ponds area (although this late in the season I doubt it will have that effect). If you're looking for a chance to feel remote and get away from the crowds, though, this may be the perfect destination you're looking for.