Tom Rankin
Well-known member
The day after the wedding, we saw off our guests, chatted with some friends, and then decided to do a short little walk to burn off the Prime Rib and wedding cake! 
We drove down to Rt. 2, passed Elk Lake and came to Cheney Pond. We decided to walk down the dirt road to see the pond. It was quite nice. A few brave drivers had made it all the way to the end of the road and were camped. We met a guy from the boards (sorry, I can't remember your name or handle! ) who said he edits the ADK Central Guide Book. As expected, he had a wealth of information about the area. We thanked him and walked around the shore line for a while, enjoying the view. The bug quota was very low, adding to the enjoyment.
After walking back to the car, we headed past Upper Works Road, and kept going! It felt strange not to turn there!
After turning down 28N, we eventually came to the trailhead for Rankin Pond. There is really no parking on the West side of the road, but you can get your car off far enough, or park just down the road on the other side. An old dirt road starts off from here and peters out quickly, but it is NOT the trail. Starting out, we followed the well-marked and well-maintained trail down a gentle slope. The trail does not get a lot of use, and is soft under foot. It seemed strange to start off going down. After a few ups and downs and easy stream crossings, we dropped down to the pond. The trail is less than a half mile long, so it was pretty easy to do in sneakers, sandals, jeans and T-shirt, without a water bottle, headlamp or even compass! The 'pond' was at least 300 yards across, and had a large swamp at the southern end. The shore line was dotted with flowers, many of which Laurie knew, and some of which she photographed for later identification . (They turned out to be A Northern Pitcher Plant and an Arum). There were quite a few birds singing here too.
We followed some herd paths around the lake for a while, but they quickly faded to nothing.
The trip back was uphill, but we managed the 200 or so feet of elevation gain without too much trouble! As we neared the road, we saw a white-tailed deer running off. A very nice little walk in the woods!
We drove down to Rt. 2, passed Elk Lake and came to Cheney Pond. We decided to walk down the dirt road to see the pond. It was quite nice. A few brave drivers had made it all the way to the end of the road and were camped. We met a guy from the boards (sorry, I can't remember your name or handle!
) who said he edits the ADK Central Guide Book. As expected, he had a wealth of information about the area. We thanked him and walked around the shore line for a while, enjoying the view. The bug quota was very low, adding to the enjoyment.After walking back to the car, we headed past Upper Works Road, and kept going! It felt strange not to turn there!
After turning down 28N, we eventually came to the trailhead for Rankin Pond. There is really no parking on the West side of the road, but you can get your car off far enough, or park just down the road on the other side. An old dirt road starts off from here and peters out quickly, but it is NOT the trail. Starting out, we followed the well-marked and well-maintained trail down a gentle slope. The trail does not get a lot of use, and is soft under foot. It seemed strange to start off going down. After a few ups and downs and easy stream crossings, we dropped down to the pond. The trail is less than a half mile long, so it was pretty easy to do in sneakers, sandals, jeans and T-shirt, without a water bottle, headlamp or even compass!
The 'pond' was at least 300 yards across, and had a large swamp at the southern end. The shore line was dotted with flowers, many of which Laurie knew, and some of which she photographed for later identification . (They turned out to be A Northern Pitcher Plant and an Arum). There were quite a few birds singing here too.We followed some herd paths around the lake for a while, but they quickly faded to nothing.
The trip back was uphill, but we managed the 200 or so feet of elevation gain without too much trouble!
As we neared the road, we saw a white-tailed deer running off. A very nice little walk in the woods!
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