Now that Bow-tie Beaver Meadow, the Four Ponds, and Big Bad Leroy Bog (and their respective bird species) are in the Birdathon record book for this year, it is time to move on to Sunshine and Deer Ponds, before finally stopping for my lunch break at Hunters’ Vly. The route to these waterbodies can be
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: The Great Red Horse Creek Fording
Sun penetrates the canopy, glistening off the droplets hanging from the surrounding foliage, leftovers from overnight rains. Birds joyously sing from the tree tops, apparently greeting the dawn of a sunnier and drier day. The Red Horse Creek continues roaring, refreshed from a day of off and on rain. Such is the beginning of my
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Rain Delay at Trout Pond Lean-to
Rain delay days in the Adirondack backcountry can sometimes be a drag. This is especially true when caught within a small shelter where you must stay in a prone position most of the time. Fortunately, this is not the case in the Trout Pond lean-to, where I spend my rain delay day after exploring some
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Return to the Red Horse Trail
Now with the western end of Little Rock Pond in sight, it is time to start thinking about returning to the Red Horse Trail for a few days. The trail remains just due west, so bushwhacking there should not require any fancy navigating, as long as I avoid a slim wetland in between the trail
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Bushwhacking Along Little Rock Pond
My sixth day in the southern Five Ponds Wilderness Area of the Adirondack Park starts out sunny with largely clear skies at an old camp site in the southwest corner of Beaverdam Pond. This is a welcome change from the previous two mornings that started out wet and unseasonably cool at both Negro Lake and
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Searching for Remains of Beaverdam Pond’s Old Camp
It feels good standing along Beaverdam Pond’s eastern shore in the southern Five Ponds Wilderness of the northwestern Adirondack Park. The wet and nearly uninterrupted forest portion of my bushwhack is now behind me, my focus now turning to find an acceptable campsite along the pond’s southern shore. The farther west the site, the better,
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: A Wet Bushwhack to Beaverdam Pond
My fifth day bushwhacking to the waterbodies east of the Red Horse Trail in the Five Ponds Wilderness of the northwestern Adirondack Park starts out just like the previous one: good and wet. The previous day’s soaking, supplemented by near continuous rain overnight (at least every time I woke), makes for a third soggy day
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Glimpses of Elbow and Lost Island Ponds
From the Red Horse Trail just north of Witchhopple Lake, my route takes me northeast back into the untrammeled forest of the southern Five Ponds Wilderness Area and toward Negro Lake. After the brief trail hiking earlier, it feels good to be bushwhacking again, especially when the forest is this easy going. The lack of
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Hiking a Small Section of the Red Horse Trail
For the first time in years, the Red Horse Trail is once again under my feet. And it feels fine. All it took me to get to this secluded trail was about two days of solid bushwhacking through the southern Five Ponds Wilderness. That, and a good deal of moxie. Typically, any sane person would
Ponds East of Red Horse Trail 2015: Bushwhacking to Unnamed Slim Pond
Sunny skies greet me on my first morning in the backcountry on my nine-day trip within the southern Five Ponds Wilderness of the northwestern Adirondack Park. After some light rain in the evening yesterday, the sun on the tree tops surrounding Diana Pond are a welcome sign, hopefully a harbinger of things to come for
