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.