STONY POND & vicinity, skiing, hiking, camping near Minerva NY.

Vanderwhacker Wild Forest, Adirondack Park. 

Jan 27, 2022 - STONY POND from Hewitt Pond ski.  Temp 1*F to 20*F, the sun shined thru high clouds.  15" of snow, a hint of crust halfway down - very good skiing.  The Hewitt Lake Club has several camps on the west third of Hewitt Pond - the rest of the pond's shoreline is state land.  The trailhead parking was well-plowed & there is a thunderbox near the register kiosk.  The trail soon pulls away from the pond going steeply uphill - not very well marked & some blowdown did not help - then a steep drop & soon arrived pondside where there is a view to the camps & Hewitt Pond Mtn.  The next mile is much better & Barnes Pond is a cute pond but trail markers became scarce & it took a while to find the trail.  The trail then climbs steeply gaining close to 400' in half a mile.  Height of land at over 2,200' then an easy drop to a boggy pond that is easier to ski than taking the trail.  Soon arrived at Stony Pond & skied across to the lean-to for lunch.  The logbook at the lean-to dated back to 2015 & I was able find my entries from June 2017 & Feb 2019.  Heading back the same way there was a little wetness in our tracks on the pond.  The downhill was nice but there was occasional blowdown to watch out for.  8.2 miles, 5.5 hours.

   

Feb 13, 2019 - STONY & BARNES PONDS ski from Rt.28N (2,050') in Minerva. Forecast for 12"-18" but got 4"-8" (on top of 20" base) - fine with me, trail-breaking was easy, skiing was perfect, skis climbed & glided great. 2 miles to E-facing lean-to on Stony Pond (intermediate), view across the pond to Green Mtn (2,796'). Snowmobile trail that gets very little use from snowmobiles but those wide new snowmobile bridges are welcome. Picnic table built Oct 2018 was an Eagle Scout project; thunderbox (no outhouse). Cross the pond to the NE arm, Saw a beaver pulling a branch into hole in the ice. Picked up the red trail but paralleled it on beaver pond before rejoining red trail. Topped out at 2,270' then dropped 400' in the next half mile (intermediate+) to remote BP - lots of fun! Back almost the same way. 8.6 miles.

Jun 23, 2017 - STONY POND hike/paddle, from Rt.28N. Vanderwhacker Mountain WF. 2.1 mile walk to the pond, fairly dry at first but last mile has some muddy sections. Have skied in a few times but never visited in summer. 3 new snowmobile bridges + 1 new footbridge over a wet area - this trail does not get much snomo use, more popular with skiers & snowshoers. The lean-to that used to be in the clearing at pond-side has been moved back in the woods, near where the outhouse used to be; there is a thunderbox further back in the woods. Saw a 6" leach on 1st look into the water so abandoned any ideas for swimming. Canoed the shoreline of this large C-shaped pond. S part is outlet of Clear Pond; went up over a 4' beaver dam which creates a large pond with boggy shores; sheep laurel & pitcher plants flowering, some bullhead lilies. Spotted a loon on nest, observed with monocular from afar - another loon approached, the loon on the nest slipped off & into the water & the other loon climbed up to sit on the nest. Light mosquito & black fly activity on the trail; deerflies by the water landed annoyingly on my exposed limbs but did not bite. 2.9 mile paddle; 7.2 miles total.

Feb 2, 2014 - Feb 2 - STONY POND thru ski, Rt.28N to Irishtown. 6-10" dense wettish powder on some icy base - very good skiing, did see some rocks but generally easy to miss, some icy spots near the end. Center Pond Outlet -thin ice near beaver dams, turned around before reaching Center Pond. From high point between Stony & Sherman Ponds we dropped 1,000' to Irishtown - wheeee! Falls Brook Yurts. No sign of recent snowmobile use. 7.7 miles, 3.7 hours.

Mar 15, 2010 - STONY POND. Minerva area. 15" avg heavy wet snow, some thin & wet spots, will have lots of stream crossings by end of the week. Temp in mid-40s. Water on top of snow & ice on the pond - altho ice is thick I wouldn't want to ski on this. Old rowboat near the leanto. Made a fire at the leanto, ate lunch, had a nap, enjoyed the peacefulness. I usually ski across the pond but this time explored the up & down trail to the E past cliffs. 4.5 miles, 4 hours.

Jan 27, 2008 - STONY & CENTER PONDS thru trip ending in Irishtown. Good base with up to 8" powder - packed by snowmobile from Rt.28N to half mile S of Sherman Pond. From SE end of Stony went up Center Pond's outlet (trailless) - mostly open with 2 spots where one has to bushwhack 100-200 yds. thru woods - easier than taking the trail. Lunched at island on remote Center Pond. Back to Stony, steep up & down to Sherman Ponds, 900' drop in the last 2 miles down to Irishtown (after 1st drop the snowmobile tracks turned R thru a private inholding, bear L to stay on trail) - exhilarating. Interesting bench made of old downhill skis before last stretch run to road; rentable yurts not far from trail; icy spot after bridge over Falls Brook. 8 miles, 5.5 hrs.

Mar 14 & 15, 2004 - STONY POND ski/camping near Minerva. Vanderwhacker Mtn Wild Forest. Last weekend of winter - spring skiing starts next weekend. Stony, Center, Sherman Ponds at 2,000' elevation: 1'-2' solid base with 1"-5" powder on top; Irishtown at 1,200': less than 1' snowmobile packed base with 1" powder. Ice on ponds still very good. Spotted a shuttle car on Long Hill Rd in Irishtown (2.3 miles from Rt.28N) then drove to Stony Pond trailhead on Rt.28N. 2 miles on a scenic (pond, thru trees views, large beaverdam, streams, vlies, mostly hardwoods) rolling snowmobile trail to the leanto on Stony Pond (easy intermediate). Leanto looks out over the large pond (small lake) toward Green Mtn. Snowmobile tracks from yesterday but none seen today - just some other skiers & snowshoers. Unloaded overnight gear. Explored a bit then skied to S of pond & picked up the trail to Little Sherman Pond which climbs a short distance then drops steeply (a couple of exposed rocks halfway down; may want to side-step or go off-trail) to LSP. Little & Big Sherman Ponds are now one. Pick up the snowmobile trail again E of the outlet. A gentle climb soon leads to height of land (after some thru-the-woods playing around). The trail follows an old tote road used over 100 years ago to transport iron from area mines. From here to Irishtown is an exhilarating downhill cruise with some moderately steep sections but the trail is wide & there are no sharp turns (intermediate in good snow conditions) - 850' drop in 2 miles. Before the end, state land ends - a curious bench made of downhill skis makes for a good photo op. Falls Brook (check out the waterfalls) was running a bit but we didn't have to remove skis to cross (could use the bridge, duh). The thru trip is about 6 miles if you don't do any exploring. Drove back to Rt.28N & skied back to Stony Pond. Not too hard finding dead & down wood for campfire. The day had been mostly sunny, windy with temps in the 30s. Evening brought snow - got about 1.5" new. Middle of the night the stars were out. Some sun warmed us up in the morning (mid-high 20s at wake-up time) but also had flurry activity. The wind blew mini snow tornadoes on the pond. Skied to NE arm of the pond & picked up the Hewitt Pond trail which had no sign of recent use - breaking trail was easy in few inches of powder on good deep base. Snow a bit sticky. Entered a spruce grove with vly on the L. Soon reached a trail junction. Took yellow trail R to Center Pond which goes up over a ridge - actually switchbacked thru the open woods most of the way - staying to the very steep trail would make for tough going (expert, suicidal?). Skied back down 3 times, enjoyed making turns thru the trees. Center Pond is an isolated gem in winter - skied around an island then around the pond. Demonstrated to Golite how to do a kick turn - when he tried it he fell over, glasses flew off & both lenses fell out - we found one quickly but it took 20 min. to find the 2nd. Relaxed on an old aluminum rowboat at pond's edge. Back over the ridge then climbed gently toward Hewitt Pond - some blowdown & going is abit rough. From height of land, trail drops fairly steeply (~350' in 0.6 mi.) to Barnes Pond. I dropped over 200' (sometimes thru the open hardwoods off to sides of trail). The thought of having to climb back up kept me from going all the way down. This section is at least intermediate+ in deep powder conditions - some blowdown & undergrowth in trail - not as smooth a run as the one to Irishtown but could be a blast in the right conditions. Returned to Stony Pond, took a break at the leanto then headed out. Fischer Outtabounds skis with Garmont Excursion plastic boots . Used Swix Universal yellow (warm snow) glide wax on ends of skis then Maxiglide on full ski.

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