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October 11, 2004 |
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Big Pond - Little Pond
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Gray weather did not keep us from getting excited about leading outings on the first day of the Catskill Park Centennial Lark in the Park, on October 2nd. Neither did the fact that we had very few people pre-register for the events. We'd scheduled a hike from Big Pond to Little Pond and back in the morning, followed by canoeing in the afternoon. We arrived the night before and camped with friends at one of the four designated campsites on Big Pond. A pair of mature bald eagles on the edge of the pond greeted us before we set up camp, and a pack of howling coyotes made us glad to be snug in our sleeping bags during the night.
After breakfast and packing up camp, we waited at the trail head for a few minutes for any others that might show up for the hike, but none did, so our group of five set off on the trail. The Touch-Me-Not Trail (red blazes) runs seven miles between Alder Lake and Beech Hill Road, and we began on it across the road from the Big Pond parking area (elevation 1,950'). The sorry sight of broken glass on the trail greeted us for the first 50 feet or so, but then we were amidst a beautiful orange and yellow forest, hiking on a nice trail. It was a gradual rise to Touch-Me-Not Mountain, where the trail skirted just below the summit (elevation 2,760'). We passed by the first trail that leads from Touch-Me-Not down to Little Pond, and we descended another half-mile into the col between Touch-Me-Not and Cabot Mountains (elevation 2,450'), where we turned down the second trail leading to Little Pond (yellow-blazed Little Pond Trail).
It was a beautiful maple forest here, and the fallen leaves lined the path. We felt as if we should have been riding a horse and buggy down this beautiful country lane 150 years ago. After a couple tenths of a mile we emerged from the woods into a huge open meadow with grand views to the southeast. The mountains were framed in high, dark gray and steel blue clouds. It was a sloping meadow, with a stand of mature Norway spruce, a small pond, and patches of shrubs and saplings at the top, with the meadow dropping away below. There was tremendous variety in the ground cover here, and we kept thinking what a great place it would be to come back to during deer hunting season.
There were signs of past human habitation, such as old foundations, roads, and crumbling shacks, as we exited the meadow and entered the woods again. We descended through another spruce plantation, and saw a small plot of red pines that had been blown down by the wind. Below this, we encountered a pretty beaver meadow, with Touch-Me-Not Mountain behind it, and then the trail followed the little outlet stream through a hemlock ravine for a short distance before meeting Little Pond and the state campground there (elevation 2,000'). Total distance from Big Pond to Little Pond on this route was 3.1 miles.
We spent some time at the campground, throwing sticks in the pond for the dogs and checking out some of the tent sites. There were only a few other people there, despite the fact that this was getting to be peak foliage time in the Catskills. After a snack and our half-mile or so hike around the east side of Little Pond, we headed up the Campground Trail (blue blazes) back up Touch-Me-Not Mountain. The 1.2-mile trail went straight up the steep mountainside, and was quite a tough climb. We were certainly happy when the trail finally leveled out on the summit. The trail dropped down a bit on the north side of the mountain before meeting the red Touch-Me-Not Trail, where we closed our loop and turned east for the last leg back down to Big Pond. Distance from Little Pond back to Big Pond via the Campground Trail was 2.2 miles, for a total hike distance of 5.8 miles.
A leisurely lunch in the back of the truck at the Big Pond parking area was enjoyed by all, as we chatted and killed time until the canoeing event was supposed to begin. As the time of canoeing approached, so did the light rain. The only one who showed up for canoeing, outside of our own group, was a photographer for the NYSDEC who was hoping to get some good action shots for the Lark in the Park. We did paddle around a bit ourselves that afternoon, but we didn't spend long out in the rain and soon went home for hot showers.
- Aaron and Chris
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