Two Trips to the Mountains

Back in October I had a chance to visit an area of old growth forest in the northern Adirondacks in the Five Ponds Wilderness Area.  It's reputed to be the largest track of old growth in the northeast, and takes a pretty good effort to get there.  I parked in Wanakena then followed a trail in an area that was clear cut by the Rich Lumber Company over 100 years ago and has grown back in some areas and covered with wetlands and beaver ponds in others.  My destination was the ponds shown with an esker running down the middle of them.  In all it would be about 25 miles of hiking in two days, more hurried than I would have liked, but I was glad to get the chance to get there.

Two Trips to the Mountains

The hike mainly sticks to a route that was originally a rail line to log the area north of the Five Ponds, it was later turned into a truck road to provide access to the river and a hotel.  Now it's a very flat footpath with many, many beaver dams.  Due to the unseasonably (in the past anyway) warm temperatures, I was hiking in sandals and just took them off to wade through water that sometimes reached my knees.  Other times a scored log provided a nice flat bridge to scoot across.

Two Trips to the Mountains

I got to the lean-to on Big Shallow Pond just as the sun was setting.  Not surprisingly I had the place to myself as it was about 13 miles from the trail head.

Two Trips to the Mountains

Sunrise lit up the esker above Big Shallow Pond and brought out the golden hue of the larch on the far end.  From the top of the esker one can view three of the five ponds, and find some impressive hemlocks.

Two Trips to the Mountains

The whole purpose of going to this area was to see the big trees, and I saw several.  Many areas with old growth feature just one species that was left during a logging operation, but here nothing was cut.  The white pines are cause for a stiff neck, the trunks on the yellow birch dwarfed my full-sized pack, and even what was blown down in the Micro Burst of 1995 give a unique perspective of their majesty.  I paced off the one on the ground, my feet sinking several inches into the soft wood, and determined it stood over 130'.  Now it's an incubator for countless species of bacteria and fungi.

Two Trips to the Mountains

The trail is not only a remnant of the Rich Lumber Co. work, but a resort hotel that was located near High Falls.  Being a warm day in late October with plenty of sunshine I couldn't resist a swim after lunch here.  And that piece of machinery is a reminder of the logging days.

Two Trips to the Mountains

Towards the end of the loop I took a spur trail to the top of Cat Mountain.  That trail passes Glasby Pond which is in both of these pictures, and that's Cat Mtn. reflected in it.  From here it was a quick walk on a flat trail past Cranberry Lake and back to my rental car with the dead battery.  One must be careful with those push-button ignitions.  And it's pretty remarkable that an area as serene as Five Ponds adjoins Cranberry Lake as that body of water is anything but peaceful.  If you go there, expect crowds.  I had a dog come after me as I walked past a lean-to, the owners couldn't be bothered to get it away from me, and some guys had set up several "tents" complete with propane-fired grills blocking the marked trail along the lake shore.