Tim Seaver
Well-known member
This is a fun 20 mile trail run over Pharaoh Mountain (in the Schroon Lake region of the ADK, Eastern Region) from Crane Pond, with a circuitous return passing many of the beautiful ponds in the area.
There isn't much elevation gain or loss, and a good deal of the loop is very nice running terrain where the footway isn't too rough (or you aren't doing an impression of Indiana Jones sans machete through the overgrowth) - I'd say a good 40% of the route, similar in many ways to the Northville-Placid trail. I had hoped to get two trips around the circuit in, but it started raining pretty heavily as I completed the first loop, so I called it a day.
The road past the "civilized" parking area on Crane Pond Road is passable all the way to Crane Pond if you drive carefully, and also helps avoid getting wet feet, as there is a flooded section of the road shortly before Crane Pond that sports calf-high water for about 200 feet.
Highlights of the run were the blueberries on top of Pharaoh and yodeling loons close up at Grizzly Ocean. At the other end of the "enjoyability spectrum" were bugs. Lots of bugs. Deerflies, mosquitos, a few straggler black flies, no-see-ums - all were out , and were great incentive to keep the pedal to the metal. Even so, the deerflies were still able to land a few good hits , biting through my shirt at the shoulders. The trails were in pretty good shape, with not much to report as far as mudholes and blowdowns go. At the junction near Wintergreen Point, the signage for what the ADK Eastern Region Guide calls the "Grizzle Ocean Trail" still refers to the trail as the "Wolf Swamp Trail", if I remember right.
The lighting wasn't all that great for landscapes, but here are a handful of pix taken between flyswats. I really look forward to exploring this area some more!
