BOG MEADOW & SECOND POND BROOK & DIAMOND BROOK cross country skiing.

 

Siamese Ponds Wilderness.

Jan 22, 2024 - DIAMOND BROOK ski from Edwards Hill Rd in Bakers Mills. Siamese Ponds Wilderness. From the end of plowing (1945' el), we climbed 200' on an unplowed dirt road into state land, then L on an unmarked path. Rolling terrain to an old wagon road, then a R. Just past the high point (2235') there is a new marker memorializing a hunter who died nearby. At a Y, the trail bearing R leads to Bog Meadow - we bore L. This old wagon route was detectable for a short distance but we soon were bushwhacking downhill keeping DB on our R. Although I had 4 helpers I was having so much fun route-finding in semi-open woods that I did most of the trail-breaking. Skiing out onto a vly with a view of Eleventh Mountain 1300' above was special. Went across another smaller vly. Continued on & turned around at a spot where a beaver dam created an opening (1830') - 400' loss in 2.3 miles. We had been breaking trail in ~20" of snow all the way - now there was the climb back up but at least we could do it in our tracks. After the high point, we continued on the old wagon road described in guidebooks. The old road disappeared for a while, but there was a flagged route before returning to the old road. Some camps were passed & the road (Sugarhill Rd) was lightly plowed & then more plowed before hitting EH Rd 0.1 miles S of the cars (1900') - a nice loss of 330' in 1 mile. Very good skiing - a few inches of powder on a base with a light sometimes breakable crust. Temp rising thru the 20s. 6.8 miles, 5 hours.

Mar 29, 2023 - BOG MEADOW & SECOND POND BROOK ski. A hint of iciness as we started out from the end of Edwards Hill Rd (1,950') at 11 am, but with much sun & temp 40-45F the surface soon softened. Climbed up to the top of the unplowed section of the road. There were some old ski tracks still visible. Then L on an unmarked connector path which has some ups & downs & a couple of stream crossings with good snow bridges. R on an unmarked old wagon road to the height of land (2,300'). Dropped down a bit then took a R on the route to BM (did not see that yellow arrow seen on previous trips - a small tree has an axe blaze on it), and soon crossed Diamond Brook. Mostly gentle uphill for a while before mostly gentle downhill to BM at 2.5 miles. Lunch break. Headed W then NW but could not locate the old road for a while - went too high but it was great fun skiing back down thru the open hardwoods (big grin). Picked up the old road which had some relatively new orange flagging marking the way. Short drop down off-trail to the huge meadow around SPB passing by some fresh moose tracks (also saw some tree scrapings) - skied 0.5 miles to the N end of the meadow (2,020'), then headed back. Very good to excellent skiing on lots of firm snow. The route has no official markers but is shown on maps. 8.2 miles, 4.7 hours.

   

Mar 30, 2019 - BOG MEADOW & SECOND POND BROOK ski, from the end of plowing on Edwards Hill Rd in Bakers Mills. Continued uphill on the unplowed portion of EH Rd passing Mateskared cabin (Howard Zahniser & The Wilderness Act: https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/.../johnsburg-where... ). At the top, took a L on an unmarked path then R on an old wagon road from the 1800s. Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Just past the height of land, took a R (there is a faded yellow arrow low on a tree) & continued on this unmarked route to BM & the larger meadow at SPB - lost the trail a couple of times but did better on the return. On return, we noticed fresh moose tracks next to BM. Snow in spots 4' deep but probably 2' in most places - good skiing with temp in the 40s. 8.1 miles, 5 hours. Elevations 1,950'-2,300'.

Apr 1, 2015 - BOG MEADOW in Bakers Mills. Stomping ground of Paul Schaefer & Howard Zahniser. Parked at the end of plowing on Edwards Hill Rd (1,950'), skied uphill to the end of the road (look S for a good view of Crane Mtn) then L on a path & into the Siamese Ponds Wilderness. R on an unmarked old road then R at fork*. Some blowdown. No moose sign at BM like we saw last winter. Checked out the campsite to the N then headed up Round Pond Brook then NNW up Mud Pond outlet - nice skiing in the stream beds. View of Gore Mtn as we entered the pond (2,400'), lunch stop with a view of Height of Land Mtn. Bushwhacked SE & reached Round Pond Brook at a vly. Followed the brook upstream to a beaver pond, then a fairly short steep uphill to remote Round Pond. Whacked SE to the inlet of Chatiemac Lake, found a dirt road. Continued SW up the inlet then S back to the unmarked old road just SE of fork*. 13th Lake quad was very helpful, did not use a compass with blue skies & sun for directions. Well over a foot of firm snow, a little icy at first but softening up nicely as temp rose thru the 30s - good to excellent skiing. 8.5 miles, 5.4 hours. My 60th day of skiing this season.

Mar 24, 2014 - BOG MEADOW & SECOND POND BROOK from the end of plowing on Edwards Hill Rd in Bakers Mills. Same start as 5 days ago - an additional 2-3" of snow in our tracks. About a mile in took a R on fairly obvious old road, a tree on the L has a faded yellow arrow on it pointing the way. After a gentle climb, the unmarked trail slowly drops to Bog Meadow. Just a small meadow on Round Pond Brook but my what big footprints all around - lots of fresh moose tracks & scat. The old road is less obvious past here but the woods are very open. Stayed well to the S of the brook heading NW. Dropped down to a large meadow on Second Pond Brook & found a spot for lunch under blue skies & a few clouds. Returned in our tracks. Very nice skiing on a few inches of powder on top of deep base which had some give to it. 4.6 hours. Mar 19, 2014 - DIAMOND BROOK from the end of plowing on Edwards Hill Rd in Bakers Mills (1,950' elev), a little over a mile from where we started 2 days ago (Second Pond trail). Continued uphill on the unplowed road (breakable icy crust, S facing) for a while, at its end we turned L & followed a path W & soon reached an old woods road (L leads thru private land back to EH Rd, this is the route in that is mentioned in guidebooks, an older NatGeo map shows our route). Taking a R we continued on this obvious but unmarked route to a height of land (2,300' elev). A R turn (a tree has a yellow arrow pointing R) leads to Bog Meadow. We went straight ahead on an obvious old road dropping to a vly on Diamond Brook. After a lunch stop, we proceeded on a less obvious path on the S side of the brook then down along the brook losing 500' from the height of land. Moose sign: tree bark scrapings. The Eleventh Mountain massif was constantly in view to the S. Don't expect trail markers or signs here. Once we got off the unplowed road conditions were powder & skiing was very good. Bumpy snowshoe tracks for about half mile then we had to break trail the rest of the way. 5 hours.

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