Southern Adk Bike Trip 7/22-7/24/21

I drafted this post a few months ago and never had a chance to finish it....

Day #1 - 51 Miles

I took a bike tour of the Southern Adirondacks starting at Lake Desolation, NY. The trip was a Thursday thru Saturday to avoid the worst of the summer weekend traffic. We rode gravel bikes and camped out two nights. From Lake Desolation, we headed north to Sacandaga Reservoir and then Northville. There was still a short section of Fox Hill Rd beyond Lake Desolation that was unpaved. However, it was paved several weeks later, so the entire way through is now pavement. From Northville, we headed north on Rte 30, this was the busiest road on out trip. Fortunately, there is a good shoulder and traffic was not too heavy on a Thursday afternoon. We enjoyed a brief quiet ride through the NYSDEC Sacandaga campground and then it was back on Rte 30 for a few more mile to the village of Wells. The ride around Lake Algonquin was quiet and then we headed up to Lake Pleasant via Gilmantown Rd. It was a pretty good climb on a paved road that eventually turned to a soft gravel road, we had to push a bit on the soft gravel climb. There was virtually no traffic until we got into Speculator. We made a quick stop at the Mountain Market and we were off to find a place to camp near Fawn Lake. I had not been to Fawn Lake From the south in a number years. I was surprised to see how wet everything was. It had been a wet summer and the trail was very wet and there was standing water in the woods. We were fortunate to find a relatively dry spot to set up our tents and enjoy a quick swim before dinner.

Day #2 – 67 Miles

The next day was a beautiful morning with loons on the calm lake. We quickly packed up and headed to the west. Traffic was light and we made good time down to Piseco and Rte 10. It was hard to leave Rte 10 that has a great shoulder, no traffic, and nice views, but I planned on riding the Powley-Piseco Rd. I was quickly questioning my plan when we encountered miles of soft gravel. The road has been resurfaced and it has not been packed in yet. We struggled through the soft dirt, but occasional sections of packed road kept us hopeful that that the road conditions would improve. As we pushed south, the sections of hard pack became more frequent and longer. We took nice breaks where the road crosses the East Canada Creek at a couple of different spots. By the time we got to The Potholers, the road upgrades were done and it was a quick ride back to civilization. We had a nice ride across Rte 10A to Caroga Lake. One of the highlights of our ride was a camp road along Canada Lake and London Bridge Road that avoid the busy state highway and got us down to County Rt 112 that we took to Benson. The road to Benson was just beautiful; great pavement, occasional views, and no traffic; it went very quickly. We were hit by showers a couple of times, but they did not last very long. We ended up going to North Hampton to camp for the night, fortunately, they were able to squeeze us in.

Day #3 – 44 Miles

The trip home was uneventful. We went back through Northville and across the bridge. Traffic headed north was busy on a Saturday morning, but traffic was not too heavy headed south. We opted to avoid the climb back up to Lake Desolation and instead headed a little further west to Fayville Rd. My partner for the ride is from Niskayuna, so we parted ways near the former Camp Boy Haven. I had an easy ride back into Saratoga, Broadway was busy with the start of track season.

A few pictures from our trip:

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Map of fire regimes across the USA

I'm not sure what happened to the thread on fires and their differing impacts in the ADKs that was posted in the "General Adirondack Discussion" section of the forum. The one thing I was going to add to the conversation there was the following map that shows how the natural fire regimes differ across the Adirondack region- as well as across the entirety of the country. ​This was pointed out in that thread but the following map helps to illustrate it:

Of note is that the majority of the central ADKs is classified as having a natural fire regime that consists of "stand replacement fires." This means that when natural fires do occur across the majority of the Adirondack Park, they are nearly always catastrophic events resulting in a complete reset of successional forest dynamics.

In contrast, the fringes of the Adirondack Park- including the Lake Champlain valley- have a natural fire regime that consists of "mixed severity fires." In other words, when fires occur here, the set back in successional dynamics isn't always so severe, and the forest can appear to recover more quickly- especially when compared to the different regime of the higher elevation parts of the ADKs.

As complex as this map looks, it's still very much a generalization. The rabbit hole of differing fire regimes is deep- if you do a google image search for maps of fire regimes across the USA, you find no shortage of Jackson Pollock-inspired graphics.

Stand-up paddleboard experiences?

I had always supposed that stand-up paddleboards were a no doubt fun but essentially frivolous waterfront pastime till I read the Daily Enterprise coverage of the Tupper Lake 8 Miler in 2019 and saw that they didn't do that much worse than the canoes, maybe something like 80% of top canoe speed. I am very fond of my canoe, but I had some back disc trouble that kept me from being able to sit in mine from mid-July till the end of the paddling season this year, and that got me thinking about them again. Being able to stand up instead of sitting is always much more comfortable for me anyway. I am thinking of renting one next summer for a half day or a day and seeing if I can learn how to remain on top, and what the overall experience is like. I've read that people do use them for paddle camping at times, though this seems to be a much less common use for them. I'd like to try making one someday, perhaps, too. I'll be very grateful to hear any thoughts people have about whether an SUP in Adirondack waters is a practical idea or not.

Nine Carries (St. Regis Canoe Area) 7/10 - 7/11/21

Click Here For Full Photo Album

I've paddled the St. Regis Canoe Area's Seven Carries canoe route more times than I can count off-hand. As a student trip leader at Paul Smith's College, it was a route that I would take freshman students on every September. It's a perfect route for such a purpose- it can easily be done in a single day at a somewhat casual pace, and it's a great introduction to the broader Paul Smiths/Lake Clear region, including time spent on some backcountry waters in the vicinity.

Despite being on my "to do" list for years, the more remote and more challenging Nine Caries route was something that I did not get the chance to undertake until the past summer. A friend and I decided to tackle the route over two consecutive days, paddling west to east, with a single night spent camped in the backcountry.

As with the Seven Carries, the name "Nine Carries" is a bit of a misnomer. Both routes traditionally started or ended on Little Green Pond, but as one can drive past Little Green and on to Little Clear, it's possible to shorten the number of carries by one. Beavers have also added a short paddling stretch to the Nine Carries route, which splits what was once a single portage into two. And there's a bit of "choose your own adventure" inherent in exactly what route you take in the more remote stretches of the route.

And so a late Saturday morning saw us making the couple-tenths-of-a-mile portage from Floodwood Road down to the southwest end of Long Pond, and setting out across that body of water.

Long Pond is pretty well named- it's a long and somewhat twisting stretch of water, and on most parts of the pond it's impossible to see more than a small section of the overall water body. The pond has almost a secretive nature to it- while traversing Long Pond, it always feels as though there's something fun and interesting hiding just out of sight around the next bend.

As we paddled up the pond, at times we caught glimpses of the fire tower on the summit of St. Regis Mountain to the north.

As we paddled, I also took the time to glance into some of the designated campsites along the shore as we slid past. Long Pond is clearly popular at times, and the sites were visibly well used- even when viewed from afar.

In spite of the appropriateness of the name, we over estimated a bit just how far along the twisting and winding bends of the pond we needed to traverse. The start of the first portage is not quite at the furthest end of the pond- and suddenly, with a flash of recognition from a previous winter visit across the ice to climb Long Pond Mountain, I'd realized we'd paddled too far. A quick bit of backtracking brought us back on route, and soon we were at the portage.

This first portage originally went all the way to Nellie Pond. In recent years, however, beavers had flooded a short stretch of the portage near the south end of the carry. The flooded stretch isn't very far across, but the water is deep enough that it necessitates getting back into the canoe for the few seconds it takes to cross the pond.

Beyond the beaver pond, the portage to Nellie Pond begins in earnest. This is a long portage- the sort that makes you want to grin and bear it and try to get everything through in one trip no matter how much you'll pay for it later in back soreness. We started with everything and made it about halfway through before we elected to drop my friends heavier canoe for round 2.

The portage trail was generally in good shape but there was a stretch of mud about halfway through that was a bit difficult to deal with. One could see that this area had once been traversed by bog bridging the but the bridging was old and rotten and pretty much useless.

I missed the turn-off for Bessie Pond during my first trip through (I blame having my canoe over my shoulders). On our return trip with the heaver of our two boats it looked like a nice and quiet body of water from what we could see through the trees. According to the DEC map for the St. Regis Canoe Area, there is a designated tent site at Bessie Pond also, although we did not get a chance to look for it.

Nellie Pond was also nice, although quickly traversed. My friend had some difficulty launching- she managed to set out behind a half-sunken log before realize there was no way around it onto the main body of water.

After Nellie Pond came a short portage to Kit Fox Pond, which was similar quiet and serene albeit quickly crossed.

Ever since leaving Long Pond, we'd been chasing the tail end of a summer camp group. We caught up to (and passed) them at the far end of Kit Fox Pond. It was a group from Keewaydin Dunmore- a summer camp for boys based in Vermont. I've been known among my friends to carry a lot of extra less-than-necessary camp comforts with me, but holy cow was this group loaded down with gear. Most impressive were the heavy wooden chests they carried on their backs, with straps around the forehead for extra support. I hope at least one of those chests had ibuprofen in it.

Beyond Kit Fox Pond, those tackling the Nine Carries route have a choice- they can make a short portage to Little Long Pond, followed by a short paddle, and then another short portage to Fish Pond. Alternatively, a longer portage trail exists that circumnavigates Little Long Pond entirely and provides a direct route to Fish Pond. With her larger canoe, my friend elected to take the portage-paddle-portage route. My setup was a bit lighter so I chose to carry across the longer portage trail straight to Fish Pond. We both arrived at Fish Pond at the same time, so neither route is really any quicker.

In contrast with the relatively small bodies of water we'd traversed thus far (or in the case of Long Pond, narrow if not small), Fish Pond is fairly open and broad.

Fish Pond has two lean-tos- one on the north shore, and one on the south shore. Our intended destination for the evening was the lean-to on the north shore- the Blagden Lean-to. We made a beeline straight across Fish Pond for the lean-to, and were quite happy to find it unoccupied. The lean-to is set back off the water a fair bit and in a beautiful clearing in the forest. We quickly began unpacking and moving in.

It was early yet in the afternoon so we spent the next several hours relaxing and enjoying the surroundings. As near as I could tell, there were only two other groups camped on the lake- both summer camps, and both occupying tent sites. The lean-to on the south shore appeared unoccupied. With it being a Saturday afternoon, I kept expecting other groups to show up and figured we'd have a decent chance of sharing the lean-to with others, but the pond remained quiet. Clearly the added portage distance to reach Fish Pond from other water bodies (which themselves also necessitate portaging) keeps the use levels relatively low in this remote part of the Saint Regis Canoe Area.

As the afternoon waned, the winds started to die down... and the mosquitoes started to pop up. They never got very bad but they were still obnoxious enough that we chose to get a small smudge fire going.

And soon enough, afternoon turned into evening. With the arrival of dusk, our smudge fire turned into a small proper fire for light warmth against the evening chill as we cooked and dinner. Before long, we'd turned in for the evening.

The next morning dawned chilly, and we were up with sunrise to get an early start as one of us had an afternoon deadline to meet. With the arrival of daylight, we were greeted by morning mist on the pond as we set out on our journey back to civilization.

At the east end of Fish Pond began our first portage of the day- a relatively short and easy one to Mud Pond. We arrived and set out across that body of water just as the last bits of mist were dissipating from the surface. The day was quickly turning warm and humid.

The Mud Pond to Ochre Pond carry is also a fairly lengthy one, and it would take us a couple of trips to get all of our gear through. When I hiked back to help my friend with her canoe, I was greeted with a look that said, "how the heck did I let you talk me into this?!?"

Still, the portage to Ochre Pond was beautiful. Along the way it passes first the outlet of Monday Pond, and then Monday itself. The DEC shows a designated tent site on Monday Pond but it's across the pond and I unfortunately didn't get a chance to look for it.

Ochre Pond was accessed via a bog bridge out into some swampy terrain. It too was a beautiful body of water that felt remote. There are a couple of campsites on Ochre Pond- we saw the site on the north shore as we paddled by. The fire pit area did not look particularly flat but it also appeared as though there was better tent space in the woods a bit further uphill.

Continued in next post...

Memories

On this day in...

Black Creek Park 2017:



Buck Mountain LGWF 2013:




Very wet and rainy at home today.

Fires, regeneration and ecological impacts

Quote:

Originally Posted by montcalm (Post 288152) Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but just another historical bit of evidence I recall is that Verplanck Colvin burned many summits in the west/central Adirondacks for survey. Most of those summits remain bare today. From this I'd conclude they were absent of fire for more than a couple centuries, maybe millennia, prior to him razing them to have been entirely forested. When I look at the eastern part of the Adirondacks, where we know there have been a number of natural fires in the past century, we see them taking out small mountain tops, and we also see repopulation with red pine and oak, or paper birch. If natives were burning the western parts of the park, that aren't as prone to natural fire, it was a very small scale. Just some food for thought...

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSettahr (Post 288243) This is mainly speculation: I would assume that Colvin's fires were quite probably of a higher heat/intensity than a natural fire typically would be. Since the goal was to create a summit working space with good visibility, I'd also assume that they cut down larger trees prior to starting the fire- so there'd be a lot more slash on the ground to feed the flames. A higher intensity fire would be much more disruptive to the soil ecosystem, which in turn would set things back a lot more in terms of overall successional dynamics.

It sure is speculation, and I didn't add the caveat that people have been walking on those past burned areas, further disturbing them from regeneration of soils through lichens and mosses.


But I think there is some truth to where I was going, and that is what we see in fire scars on mountains in the east. They don't strip the mountains completely, and we do see regeneration of red pine, birch and I would guess small red oaks.

The speculation of fires never seems to end, but it started with the thought of natives burning the forest, which I believe is documented for agriculture, but has really no evidence for managing the forest - although it'd be a good idea, and it seems to get taught a lot.

What would be interesting would be to look at the fires of the 20th century and see how the regeneration has taken place. I'd assume there must be some records from fire observers, and I was thinking of actually trying to find some data.

Anecdotally, I've also noticed quite a unique ecosystem on small, forested mountains in the west. They aren't quite like the rest of the forest often. We see all sorts of stuff actually, from blueberry bushes and scrubby spruce to what I found most interesting, and that is what I'd call glades. I can see the evidence of these kind of things on burned mountains in the east - mainly big tufts of grasses that often retain soils even after fires. But I've also noticed that the tree cover is much thinner and there's more ferns. I've also seen some pretty large white pines perched up on cliffs, so maybe there is no rhyme or reason.

Maybe those glades are evidence of fires? Maybe it's just an environmental response to increased exposure.


I didn't want to drift the hunting thread too far talking about fire, so I started this thread.

heating with wood

It seems NYS may ban heating with wood.https://wyrk.com/heating-with-firewood-in-new-york/