Tom Rankin
Well-known member
There are several lost ponds in the ADKs, maybe that is why some of them are still lost! 
But we managed to find one of them Friday. After the New Year's Eve celebrations on Mt. Jo, we slept in late, but we still wanted to do some hiking. So we headed up to Crowe Clearing, and parked just above the first turn around. The road had a little snow on it, but Laurie's car made it just fine. As we were getting ready to leave, a ranger came skiing down the trail. It turned out to be Charlie Platt, whom Laurie knows well from his years in the Catskills. We had a nice chat, and then set off around 10:45 AM. We had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the actual clearing. There is a circle there, it's too bad the plow can't go all the way up there!
We picked the direction of Lost Pond, thinking maybe we would do the whole loop. The first section was well packed down, with a lot of skiers and hikers making a good trail to the first lean to. We stopped here to chat with a couple that had started on the other side and camped out for New Years. Then we turned left and began the search. This section of trail had seen less use, and it was now ascending at a pretty good clip. After a while, we saw a stream. Was this the outflow from the pond? It turned out not to be, so we went a little further, and there is was! We had found it! I'll make sure we send Charlie a note, with a detailed track log on how to find the pond.
We continued around the pond on the trail. I was tempted to walk across, but I didn't want to get lost, figuring maybe this was why the pond got its name. At the other end of the Pond, there is another lean-to with 2 plaques inside and a little metal sign put up a LONG time ago by the ADK. Actually that's the ADKC in this case.
We figured we would press on and try to at least get to Weston. There was an old sign just past the lean-to warning that the trail was not marked or maintained. What this really means is that there are still a few old, faded trail markers, but don't expect us to put up any new ones. The path might have been a little tricky to follow if there were no markers and no one had broken it out, but there was an old snowshoe track, sometimes blown in, and the occasional disk to keep us on track.
There are 2 very steep pitches just before the summit of Weston. We got to the top and were rewarded with decent views thru the clouds. We could see Nun-da-go ridge, part of Hurricane, and a few others bumps. Little did we realize then that Peaked is not far away (but apparently an unbroken whack), so we did not head there. Looking at the distance remaining on the loop, we chose to turn around and head back.
Back at the Pond, I decided to risk crossing the ice, while Laurie went around. The ice was hard enough, and only covered with a few inches of powder, but getting to the actual pond meant crossing a marshy area about 100 yards wide. This turned out to be a mistake. It was about 2 feet of powder, just waiting to swallow me up every step I took. I was also afraid I was going to find the water, but fortunately I did not become one of the Lost Pond's lost!
Back at the other side, we saw lots of people on skis and a very friendly dog. We returned to the car, got cleaned up, and joined Snickers and Bryan for dinner at LPPB, apparently narrowly missing Peggy M.
The next day, Laurie said her knee was bothering her, so we headed home, with a brief visit to my son and his wife in Troy.
But we managed to find one of them Friday. After the New Year's Eve celebrations on Mt. Jo, we slept in late, but we still wanted to do some hiking. So we headed up to Crowe Clearing, and parked just above the first turn around. The road had a little snow on it, but Laurie's car made it just fine. As we were getting ready to leave, a ranger came skiing down the trail. It turned out to be Charlie Platt, whom Laurie knows well from his years in the Catskills. We had a nice chat, and then set off around 10:45 AM. We had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the actual clearing. There is a circle there, it's too bad the plow can't go all the way up there!
We picked the direction of Lost Pond, thinking maybe we would do the whole loop. The first section was well packed down, with a lot of skiers and hikers making a good trail to the first lean to. We stopped here to chat with a couple that had started on the other side and camped out for New Years. Then we turned left and began the search. This section of trail had seen less use, and it was now ascending at a pretty good clip. After a while, we saw a stream. Was this the outflow from the pond? It turned out not to be, so we went a little further, and there is was! We had found it!
I'll make sure we send Charlie a note, with a detailed track log on how to find the pond. We continued around the pond on the trail. I was tempted to walk across, but I didn't want to get lost, figuring maybe this was why the pond got its name. At the other end of the Pond, there is another lean-to with 2 plaques inside and a little metal sign put up a LONG time ago by the ADK. Actually that's the ADKC in this case.
We figured we would press on and try to at least get to Weston. There was an old sign just past the lean-to warning that the trail was not marked or maintained. What this really means is that there are still a few old, faded trail markers, but don't expect us to put up any new ones. The path might have been a little tricky to follow if there were no markers and no one had broken it out, but there was an old snowshoe track, sometimes blown in, and the occasional disk to keep us on track.
There are 2 very steep pitches just before the summit of Weston. We got to the top and were rewarded with decent views thru the clouds. We could see Nun-da-go ridge, part of Hurricane, and a few others bumps. Little did we realize then that Peaked is not far away (but apparently an unbroken whack), so we did not head there. Looking at the distance remaining on the loop, we chose to turn around and head back.
Back at the Pond, I decided to risk crossing the ice, while Laurie went around. The ice was hard enough, and only covered with a few inches of powder, but getting to the actual pond meant crossing a marshy area about 100 yards wide. This turned out to be a mistake. It was about 2 feet of powder, just waiting to swallow me up every step I took. I was also afraid I was going to find the water, but fortunately I did not become one of the Lost Pond's lost!
Back at the other side, we saw lots of people on skis and a very friendly dog. We returned to the car, got cleaned up, and joined Snickers and Bryan for dinner at LPPB, apparently narrowly missing Peggy M.
The next day, Laurie said her knee was bothering her, so we headed home, with a brief visit to my son and his wife in Troy.
