Along the Bear Pond outlet

The following is the second part of a report on the second day of a bushwhacking trip through the interior of the southern portion of the Pepperbox Wilderness. The majority of the trip follows along streams and beaver vlys with the exit from the area following a marked herd path from the wild interior of this wilderness area. Highlights along the trip included the Threemile Beaver Meadow, Bear Pond, Moshier Creek and Moshier Reservoir. The second part of the second day followed along the north-most pond of the Threemile Beaver Meadow and upstream along the Bear Pond outlet.

Date: September 1, 2010
Length: 1.0 mile (1.64 day cumulative)
Difficulty: Moderate

When I left the southern-most pond in the northern portion of Threemile Beaver Meadow I was already low on drinking water. The hot, humid and sunny conditions were not helping matters and I was soon down to only a small amount of water remaining. Luckily I was approaching the peninsula where a beaver dam crossed a large, flat rock right at water level, which would make a superb place to filter so much needed cool water.

After forcing my way through the dense shrubbery along the peninsula I finally made it to the beaver dam restricting the outflow from the pond. The dam was covered with dense vegetation so I had to take care while trying to get out to the broad, flat boulder where I was planning on doing my filtering. Several times my foot broke through the dam but fortunately I was able to retain my balance and extricate my leg before I got a soaked foot.

When I finally reached the flat, broad rock I found it almost completely submerged in water (point #18). Although only under a couple inches of water, it was impossible for me to lay out my stuff and rest comfortably here as I had planned. My drinking water was too low to push on so I made the best of the situation and remained standing for the vast majority of the water filtering process.

During the time it took for the water to work its way through my Sawyer inline water filter I tried to keep myself occupied as best I could. It was mostly quiet with few birds singing. As I scanned the opposite side of the pond I saw an unusual disturbance in the water moving right in my direction. As this shifting wave approached closer I realized it was a garter snake swimming over the water’s surface. It swam right into some submerged vegetation along the shore right near where I was standing. A nearby green frog was oblivious to his danger but the snake disappeared within the vegetation and never reappeared during the time I was there.

The filtering finished just before noon and I started moving around the western shore of the pond back on journey to circle the perimeter of Threemile Beaver Meadow to the north. A steep ridge running northeast was located very close to the water’s edge about mid-way up along the western shore of the pond. Since I was uncertain whether I could remain dry and squeeze between the ridge and the pond so I ascended the steep ridge by heading west where it was easier to ascend. Even here it was necessary to use my arms to pull myself up some of the steeper portions.

Upon reaching the top of the ridge I navigated between some slabs of bare rock covered in lichen and areas densely covered in tall ferns. I bushwhacked along the ridge to the northeast for some distance stopping often to check out the intermittent views of the beaver pond down below. The height of the ridge slowly gave way as I continued northeast toward the shore of the beaver pond. At the bottom of the ridge near the shore of the pond I found a nice, shady spot for lunch at a little past noon (point #19).

Northern Threemile Beaver Meadow

Lunch consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which I leisurely enjoyed along with a break from the heat. A horde of flies joined me for lunch; luckily none of them were of the biting variety. While I ate my lunch I was entertained by a single woodpecker pecking a tree trunk nearby, two common yellowthroats chasing each other around my head, several ducks which appeared out on the water and then disappeared after I found my Leica Ultravid binoculars and a turtle sunning itself near the opposite shore.

Soon after 1 PM I gathered my belonging and started bushwhacking north through the forest near the border with the beaver pond. As I continued north the pond gave way to a meandering stream surrounded by open meadow. The meadow was too wet to navigate through and keep my feet dry so I trekked north within the drier forest bordering the meadow.

After a short distance north I found myself approaching the border of the meadow. Apparently I had bushwhacked out onto a peninsula with the main meadow to the east and a swampy stream and small beaver pond to the southwest. The swampy stream was easily crossed via a series of steps between dry patches, with the last step being an extra long one.

Forest along Threemile Beaver Meadow

The forest on the far side of the swampy stream was quite dense and therefore a struggle to get through. A very large eastern chipmunk scurried along a log and through an old stump so as to retreat from any possible encounter with me. I thought it odd to see a chipmunk here in the conifers where red squirrels were more common.

Once I cleared north of the Threemile Beaver Meadow (point #20A), I set my Sliva Ranger compass to dead east so I would intersect the outlet stream from Bear Pond. As soon as I left the meadow behind the forest took on a hardwood character with little understory to impede my progress.

After trekking through a hardwood forest for a while, I dropped down into an old beaver vly (point #20B). The vly contained numerous snags scattered throughout and the ground was densely covered with grasses and sedges. Fortunately, the vly was dry enough for me to cross and on the opposite side of the vly I located the Bear Pond outlet stream.

Soon after returning to the forest and following the Bear Pond outlet stream I arrived at a beaver pond (point #21). The pond had a long meandering dam that showed no sign of being maintained and no beavers were sighted in the area. After making my way around the beaver pond to the west I continued following the outlet stream.

Beaver vly

Beaver dam

Since no beaver pond was illustrated on my map, I consulted my Garmin eTrex Legend GPS to get a better idea of where I was currently located. The GPS indicated that Bear Pond was not too far ahead….