XC Ski - E. Branch Sacandaga Trail - Siamese Ponds Wilderness - 2/28/15

In the last few years, the Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area has become increasingly popular with cross country skiers.  This is due in part to the network of trails that includes the Botheration Loop and the Raymond Brook Ski Trail.  These trails were designed as ski trails and were well planned.  Skiers obviously appreciate the network as can be witnessed by the skier traffic in the area. 

Other trails have been around for years as old roads turned into trails.  The East Branch Sacandaga Trail in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness has been around for over a hundred years.  A jeep road is shown on the 1885 topo map of the area.  This trail now runs from the Old Farm Road near Thirteenth Lake and goes 11 miles to Route 8 just south of Eleventh Mountain.  It follows the East Branch Sacandaga River until the last mile and a half or so when it leaves the river to make its way to Route 8.    

Signs at the summer parking area 

Sign in kiosk and the intersection with the NW corner of the Botheration Loop

Last night I was contemplating where to ski today.  I wanted a fairly long ski but I didn't want to break trail in 2 feet of powder and I didn't want to be on a trail that was hard packed from a lot of skier traffic.  The East Branch Sacandaga Trail seemed like a good bet.  It doesn't get a lot of traffic, but there was a good chance it was broken out since its been a couple weeks since the last big snow.

I parked at the Old Farm winter trailhead with hopes of skiing 7 miles to the Sacandaga lean-to and then return.

  

Great ski conditions along the trail

As expected, the first 1.1 miles was hard packed snow until I got past the SW portion of the Botheration Loop, but even this snow wasn't bad for skiing.  As I got past the Puffer Pond Trail at 1.2 miles I found the E. Branch Sacandaga trail had been skied on recently by 2 skiers.  Perfect; the trail was broken yet still soft snow.

By going north to south I had more downhill on the way to the lean-to.  After a slow climb to the 2.4 mile mark, the trail drops almost 300 feet over the next mile.  I had good ski conditions, so this stretch did not present a problem, but  it can be fast if the snow is firm.   At the bottom of the downhill run, the trail comes alongside the river.         

East Branch Sacandaga River

At 4.5 miles the trail crosses the river on a bridge.  My dog Rev was a little timid about crossing the bridge, but she followed me after I went across.  Once across this bridge, the trail is quite level all the way to the lean-to.

The bridge crossing 4.5 miles south of Old Farm Road 

At 5.4 miles, there is a small bridge crossing over Cross Brook.  Rev took the lead this time.

At 7.1 miles we reached the Sacandaga lean-to.  It is located at a 90 degree bend in the river.  A large suspension bridge provides access to the other side for those wishing to continue on to Siamese Ponds.  I crossed the bridge just to take some pictures then came back.  Rev actually came out on the bridge with me. 

The large suspension bridge at the lean-to 

After a cold -15 degree start to the day, I could tell that it was beginning to warm up nicely.  I sat in the lean-to and had some food and drink.  Rev had some treats.

The lean-to is starting to show its age, but is in no structural danger at present.  I first saw the lean-to 31 years ago, so its doing OK.  It sits close to the river, so if and when it needs work, I'm sure it will be moved further inland, as it current practice.

   

Sacandaga Lean-to

On the way back, I took a detour to follow some ski tracks and orange ribbons (see loop below on the map).  The tracks followed what perhaps at one time was a path or an old tote road.  After going up and over a small bump, I followed the tracks down the other side.  At the bottom, the tracks turned south and the orange ribbons headed north.  I wanted to go north, so I broke trail for a half mile before connecting with the Puffer Pond Trail.  The woods were open, but the snow was deep, so breaking trail was slow.  Once on the Puffer Trail, I was quick in getting back to the car.  Rev and I didn't see a person all day, although 6 other cars were in the parking lot when I left.  It looks like all were on the Botheration Loop, or at Hour Pond.

Ski Stats:

Ski Distance:  16 miles

Ski Time:  6 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~1200'

Max Grade:  16.6 %

Avg Grade:  3.1 %

The elevation isn't quite symmetrical due to the bushwhack on the way back

The route on the Nat Geo map

XC Ski - Short Swing Trail to Horseshoe Pond - Pharaoh Lake Wilderness - 2/15/15

It was another cold day in the north country on Sunday 2/15, but I find that if you choose the right activity, and location, you can be comfortably warm.  Cross country skiing is a physical activity that I can do, even in the coldest temperatures if I stay out of the wind.

The route I chose Sunday was the Short Swing Trail in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness.   The first quarter mile is tough on skis.  Once you cross Paragon Brook on a little foot bridge the trail widens out on an old road and although you begin to climb, it is easier.

I found it to be a joy to ski the first 2.4 miles to the Tubmill Marsh lean-to, although two downed trees at the bottom of a pair of downhill glides provided for a little excitement.  0,3 miles past the lean-to, the trail begins to climb again, this time 380' in a mile.  I was able to climb this without skins, but I did a couple herringbones and relied on my arms and poles to help get me up this section. 

Tubmill Marsh lean-to

Tubmill Marsh

At 3.4 miles, I reached the trail junction with the Tubmill Marsh trail and I turned right to head SW towards Horseshoe Pond.  I was still following an old set of snowshoe tracks which provided a nice consolidated base that was now covered with a couple inches of powder. 

The old snowshoes tracks provided a welcome base for my skis

Very quickly after my turn on the Tubmill Marsh Trail, the grade turned steep enough that I stopped to put on my climbing skins.  At the top of the grade, there was a short downhill stretch before Horsehoe Pond, but i left the skins on the skis because it was too cold to fool with taking them on and off.   

Honey Pond

Potter Mountain from Honey Pond

I passed Honey Pond along the way and enjoyed the view of Potter Mountain which is a nice open summit that I bushwhacked to last year. 

A zoom view of Potter Mountain

Rev and I reached Horseshoe Pond and I skied out on the frozen lake to the point located inside the horseshoe.

Horseshoe Pond

Leaving Horseshoe Pond

Horseshoe Pond was my turnaround point on this day so I did an about face and enjoyed following my ski track back the way I had come.  I removed my skins at the place I had put them on.  There were several nice downhill glides that took me back to the Tubmill Marsh lean-to.  The uphill grade after that was steeper than it seemed while going down, but I managed to climb it without skins.  

Even though the windchill was below zero all day, I had my gloves off quite often.  It's amazing how warm I stay while backcountry skiing.  I just don't stop for long because within a couple minutes that warm feeling can disappear.

Ski Stats:

Ski Distance:  8.5 miles

Ski Time:  4 hours, 15 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1300'  

The out and back profile (9x exaggeration)

The route on the Nat Geo map

XC Ski - Moose Pond - McKenzie Mountain Wilderness - 2/14/15

After skiing at Henry's Woods in the morning, Leesa and I traveled to Saranac Lake and north towards Bloomingdale on Route 3 to try another XC ski trail; the Moose Pond trail.  This trail follows an old roadbed which provides an easy traverse to a beautiful pond.

The trail is 1.5 miles long on a gentle uphill grade, gaining 70' in 1.5 miles.  Moose Pond has a bit of history (which always adds to the interest factor for me).  The pond is bordered by the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness on the east and south, and by the Debar Wild Forest on the north and west.  The pond is also accessible via a boat launch (hand launch) at the north end.  There is parking at the boat launch for 28 cars and the pond has 9 designated campsites.  On a clear day there are fine views of Moose, McKenzie, Whiteface and Esther mountains.

For us, we didn't get the full effect of the view and the lake since it was snowing and the lake was, of course, covered in ice and snow.  The trailhead is especially obscure in the winter, however there were 2 cars parked along route 3 at the location where the trail starts.

Not an obvious trailhead from the road in winter 

The trailhead is on the east side of Route 3, immediately north of a transer station.  We parked behind the 2 cars already there and headed in on our skis.

A nice bridge provides a painless crossing point on the Saranac River  

We followed the old road past two different paths that led to the pond, but eventually downed trees discouraged us from continuing all the way to the boat launch at the north end.  We backtracked and took a path down to the ponds where we found the remains of a house chimney which I had read about.     

A reminder that homes used to exist here

We skied out onto the frozen snow covered lake; suddenly exposed to the swirling snow coming down.  There was a very limited view, but we had our choice of which direction to ski; eventually we decided to go north to the boat launch area.
 

Overcast snowy day that gave us an eerie shroud of stillness on the pond 

Leesa and Rev heading north to the boatlaunch 

Staying close to the western edge of the pond, we skied north past several designated campsites. There was also piece of a foundation; providing a reminder of time gone by.

Rev atop an old foundation

Reaching the boat launch, we found a relatively large parking lot and noticed that snowmobiles had been running in on the access road, although they had not gone out on the lake (perhaps because of the wilderness boundary)?

Heading south to return to the car, we swung past the peninsula at the north end and noticed a nice campsite there.  Nine designated sites have been established on the pond, which is understandable since the pond can be reached by car.

Off the pond and back on the trail we had a nice kick and glide back to the car.  This trail though short provides a nice novice ski tour or relaxing 2 hour ski to a pond with a view.  We'll have to return in the summertime to see what the area feels like when the snow is gone.

Ski Stats:

Ski Distance: 6.0 miles

Ski Time:  2 hours, 45 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 500'   

  

Our Route (Click image to enlarge) 

XC Ski - Henry's Woods - Lake Placid - 2/14/15

Recently I did a trip report on the Peninsula Trails in Lake Placid; a relatively unknown gem to folks outside the Lake Placid area.  Here is another one:  Henry's Woods.  This is a trail network that is privately owned, but open to the public free of charge.  It has been open to the public since 2008. There are plans for further expansion, but even the existing trail network is sufficient for most people.

Located on Bear Cub Lane, just off of Old Military Road, the network is a delight.  Once you turn on Bear Cub Lane, there is a parking loop about a 100 yards down on the right.

The trail system was well planned and was obviously designed with skiers in mind.  The green loop trail provides a nice 2 mile loop with a long gentle climb followed by a similar long gentle descent. The yellow plateau trail is a narrower woods trail, but is relatively level and is easily negotiated.

Information Kiosk

A well drawn trail map

The blue switchback trail has a few turns that need to be negotiated and the red Rocky Knob trail provides a challenge for intermediate to advanced skiers.

The trail network is open to well behaved dogs and Rev got to visit with a dozen or so dogs today. 

Very dog friendly!

Color coded trail markers

Ski conditions have been great for the last couple weeks and today was no exception.  The snow has stayed powdery due to the extreme cold that the northeast has endured during the last couple weeks.

The Loop Trail

One of the views from the Plateau Trail

Rev on the Plateau Trail

There is a viewpoint with a great view of the Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumps! 

The "Bridge to No-where on the Loop Trail"

We were very impressed with this trail network and we hope they do expand as they've discussed. The current 212 acre trail network may be expanded to over 600 acres in the future.  Let's hope their good work continues.  We certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness and hard work that went into the current system.  Thank you Uihlein Foundation!

Thank you Uihlein Foundation!

XC Ski Stats:

Ski Distance:  4 miles

Ski Time:  2 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~600'