Northeast Wild

  Jan 16, 2019 - CHASE LAKE skiing & lean-to camping.  Shaker Mtn WF.  Avg of 3" on ~6" crunchy base - good skiing.  Coyotes howling.  Missed the cheap beer drinkers, tracked & wheeled vehicles & snowmobiles (saw tracks).  Lots of junk in & around the lean-to (actually some of it is useful).  Trail to old lean-to site is novice (this was untracked), rest is intermediate (had seen some snowshoe & ski use).  Very quiet while I was there - nice spot. Jan 1, 2017 - CHASE LAKE ski, from the end of Pinnacle Rd in Bleecker.  Shaker Mtn WF, Adirondack Park.  Excellent skiing (if you used Maxiglide on nowax skis; snow can be sticky with temp close to freezing) - 10" powder on over a foot of base, close to 2' total.  Trail to the newer lean-to (intermediate) which has a nice view then across the lake to the old lean-to site & looped back (easy but less used & more breaking trail).  Ran into a couple on way bac...

  Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Feb 11, 2008 - HOUR POND. Good base with foot of powder - excellent conditions. Started at the N end of 13th Lake, skied 0.8 miles along the lake (some slush under the snow) with winds over 20mph, temp 7 degrees. Onto the Peaked Mountain Pond trail where we gain 400' in less than a mile - I get good grip & acceptable glide with Swix Polar grip wax on glide zone of Fischer Outtabounds skis, Maxiglide on nowax pattern. Crossed Peaked Mtn Brook on good ice bridge. From vly with view of Slide Mtn headed off-trail to the S (described in latest 2005 edition of Discover the South Central Adirondacks) thru open woods climbing gently to a beaver meadow. Crossed above a beaver dam & broke thru the ice, one foot getting very wet. Changed into a dry sock (because boots will still be wet, I recommend that you carry spare wool socks & plastic bags or waterproof socks like Sealskins) & scraped the ice off skis. Height of land ~2,200', dropped down i...

Mar 3-5, 2019: WOLF POND snowshoeing & lean-to camping. Vanderwhacker Wild Forest, 3 miles S of Boreas Ponds. Hard snowshoe-packed trail, narrow, very twisty & turny with lots of ups & downs - would like to have skied it but not with a heavy load, probably intermediate+ in the best of snow conditions. New trail with red markers,NE-facing lean-to is only a couple of years old. Mostly evergreen woods, balsam fir dominant. 4"-8" powder on deep crunchy base. 2.4 miles to pond & lean-to, some interesting ice on rocky area half way. High Peaks view to the N - Redfield (4,606'), Skylight (4,926'), Marcy (5,344'), Haystack (4,960'), Basin (4,827'), Saddleback (4, 4,528') Mountains; glimpse of Gothics from west side of pond; to the NE, Boreas (3,776') & Wolf Pond Mountains are nearer. Could not find the thunderbox under 4' of snow & possibly a downed tree. Grouse. Owners of nearby private land came out on snowmobile - chat...

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 t...

Southeast of Indian Lake village. Jan 9, 2020. JOHN & CLEAR PONDS ski. Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Temp at start 10F rising to 20F, blue skies, no wind. Very good skiing on a solid base (~6") topped with 3"-7" of powder (more in open areas & hardwoods, less in the softwoods which still held snow on the branches). Fairly easy skiing to JP. Someone had skied the first mile - easy breaking trail after that - I broke the whole way despite having 4 others who could help. Some wetness below the powder on the ponds (the prepared skier always brings a scraper). Lunch on JP in the sun, felt warm, quick stop at the lean-to. Intermediate skiing to CP with some short steep downhills on return. Some blowdown. Back the same route. 8.2 miles, 4.7 hours. Doing the loop would have been shorter but we wanted more skiing. In the Adirondack Park, there are 43 Mud Ponds, 21 Long Ponds, 16 Clear Ponds, 16 Round Ponds, 14 Lost Ponds, 14 Rock Ponds, 14 Deer Ponds, 13 Grass Ponds, 12 B...