Cross Country Skiing the Deer Pond Loop

Even though it has been a while since I posted new content on here, I have been keeping fairly active through the first part of winter.  I hiked a handful of times, mostly sticking to lower elevations that are now frozen, and were too wet or buggy in warmer weather.  To keep my fitness level up, I
continued running through most of the season as conditions allowed.

My first winter in the Adirondacks, I have been focusing a lot of my outdoor time on cross country skiing.  Majority of my outings on skis have been at the local groomed trails.  The snow pack was slow to develop and the groomed trails allow for skiing on a lot less snow.  Finally on February 6th a heavy snow fall dumped more than a foot of snow in the area, giving a much needed boost to the snow base on the trails.

In the Adirondacks, the state designates certain trails as ski trails.  Often they aren't much different than hiking trails.  The closest designated trail in the Tupper Lake area is the Deep Pond Loop.  The Deer Pond Loop travel 7.3 miles in the Saranac Lake Wild Forest, just east of Tupper Lake.  The loop travels through a variety of tree types as it makes its way over rolling hills and by the occasional bog. My only experience on the Deer Pond Loop came in summer.  The loop also allows mountain bikes in summer.  My first impression wasn't that great, at least for mountain biking.  The trail was rather wet.  With the wet terrain came abundant mosquitoes.  Portions of the loop had a good deal of blowdowns that made for a frustrating ride.

Cross country ski trail marker

I noticed the trailhead seemed somewhat busy in the winter, so I decided to give it try on skis.  This seemed to make sense since the loop is marked for cross country skiing.  The morning after the storm, the trailhead wasn't plowed  The alternative trailhead wasn't much better, but allowed for parking near the end of a quiet dead end.  The snow wasn't touched and the going was rough.  Unfortunately, the heavy snow weighed down the branches too much and the trail was obscured by heavily leaning trees.  Not wanting to wear all the snow or have it fall down my shirt, I decided to come back.  The following morning after the snow settled a little, I headed back to the now plowed main trailhead.

At least one set of tracks already broke the snow.  Both directions of the loop saw some traffic. I headed counterclockwise.  The heavy snow left the trees with a beautiful layer of white in their branches.  The existing tracks made for a good pace.  Just over a mile from the main trailhead the trail splits.  Turning left, continues on the main loop while straight leads to another trailhead in a short distance along the highway.  Unfortunately my track didn't continue on the main loop.  I would have to break snow.

Snow weighing down trees

The existing track made the travel easy to start

After a foot of snow

For those that never cross country skied, no two snow events ski the same way.  Deep, unconsolidated snow makes for rough skiing.  Rather than glide on the surface, the skis sink, essentially leading to walking with skis.  These were the conditions that I had in store.  Initially, on flatter terrain, the skiing wasn't too bad.  I would soon head into hillier terrain and the skiing was very slow and rough at best.  An icy base and crusty surface complicated even the shallow hills.

The end of the broken trail

Very slow going through a foot of new snow

I very slowly made my way to Deer Pond near the three mile point.  After eating a quick bite, I decided to push on.  Unfortunately I hit a string of snow laden branches that left me quite wet.  I didn't start skiing until nearly noon and I questioned if I had enough time or energy to potentially break as much as four miles of snow before dark.  I turned around and skied the three miles back to the trailhead.  With my tracks set on the way out, the return went much quicker and easier.

The route gets narrow

View of snowy trees in a clearing

Despite no visible trail the route is obvious

The view on the way out

I returned the following Saturday, determined to ski the rest of the loop.  I knew at least the first three miles were broken by my last effort.  I hoped that someone else took advantage of my tracks and maybe completed the task.  Once at the trailhead, it was clear a lot more skis added to the tracks in both directions.

My track from the previous week

Skiing through northern hardwood forest

I headed out just before noon on a perfect, blue sky day.  I made quick time to the first junction.  The leg toward Deer Pond that I broke out the following week didn't have much more, if any new traffic, beyond the first couple tenths of a mile.  Nonetheless, my old tracks made for much easier skiing.  I made to Deer Pond much quicker than the previous week.

Still a lot of snow on the trees after a week

Mosquito Pond

It didn't appear that anyone skied beyond Deer Pond.  My old track still was present, but it didn't look like anyone added to it.  Either way, my legs felt much fresher than last time I reached this point.  I traveled the tenth of a mile beyond Deer Pond, and I saw a lone track continue beyond my turnaround point the previous week.  I followed the track.  I found that snow consolidated greatly over the week and started to ski my own track.  I sank much less on the surface than I did following the existing track.

Narrow section of trail

No mistaking the route in the dense spruce

The loop travels roughly two miles between Deer Pond and the Old Wawbeek Road.  About halfway, the trail drops to Mosquito Pond.  Upon reaching the pond, I reached a well-trenched trail from snowshoes.  At this point the skiing went much faster on a hard surface.  At times, the skiing became a little sketchy in the snowshoe tracks.  The actual trail becomes much narrower in this section.  The trench made it difficult to maneuver my skis on some of the curves.  Nonetheless I made my way to the Old Wawbeek Road without incident.  The trail travels through dense spruce forest that made quite the winter scene with the snowy branches.

View into the tree canopy

Notice the snowshoe trench in place

Tunnel like trail under snowy tree branches

The last 2.5 miles of the loop heads back to the main trailhead.  The loop travels along the Old Wawbeek Road.  This was originally the route between Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake.  Although chunks of paved road still exist in the summer, the forest has reclaimed it for the most part.  A set of ski tracks continued the length of the old road, making for a fast final leg.

Old Wawbeek Road

I finished the 7.3 mile loop in about three hours.  With broken trail and decent snow, the skiing was fairly easy and enjoyable.  The previous week, I traveled only six mile but spent much more time and energy breaking trail.  I enjoyed the lack of bugs compared to summer and the lingering snow resting in the trees made the loop rather scenic.  In the summer, Deer Pond makes for a pleasant spot for a break.  In the winter, the pond isn't nearly as inviting.  Since I live only a few miles from the Deer Pond Loop, I'm sure I'll visit again.  I wouldn't call it a great destination, but it's nice to have it nearby.

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Cascade and Porter Mountains

I have been slowly climbing the Adirondack 46er peaks since I moved to the Adirondacks in May.  Cascade and Porter Mountains have a reputation as some of the easiest 46ers to climb.  Despite their relative ease to summit, they offer excellent views for a lot less work than many other higher peaks.  There short distance comes as a deterrent to me. Because with their easy reputation comes huge crowds, not what I'm looking for in a mountain experience.  Because of this, I avoided the peaks over the summer.

With fall rolling into late October, I decided to visit these two peaks.  Monday October 21st forecasted a beautiful day before less desirable weather moved in the rest of the week.  To avoid as much of the traffic these two peaks see, I arrived at the trailhead at twilight.  Only one other car arrived before me.

With my regular hiking partner, Choya, we began our climb of Cascade just before 7AM.  Heavy rain fell just a few days prior, leaving the trail rather muddy.  Mud would be the theme for the rest of the hike.  While Adirondack trails seem to hold mud, I was still surprised by the amount of mud.

Rock steps

The trail to Cascade climbs nearly 2,000 feet in 2.4 miles.  While not the worst climbing in the region, the trail climbs pretty consistently.  Because of the mud, this made the trail feel more difficult.  I tried to pussy foot through the mud by stepping on rocks. Because of the high volume of traffic, the trail bed is rather wide.  Plenty of rocks are available to follow to avoid some of the mud in the worst spots. The climb seemed to take longer than I would have expected given its distance.

The theme of the hike- mud

Around 3,500' in elevation, I started to encounter snow along the trail.  The snow was generally sporadic at first, with more as elevation increased.  The trail, which saw tons of traffic over the weekend according to the register, was generally clear of snow for the most part.  The snow never seemed to be more than an inch or two.

Notice a little snow starting to come into view

The first views start pretty high along the trail.  Views into the heart of High Peaks seemed promising with a few clouds skimming parts of the peaks.  As I neared the summit, the trail passed over bog bridges.  Packed snow on the bridges made the wood quite slippery.  The wet area around the bridges had a pretty thick icy coating.

Typical trail

View from open area during the climb

Early morning view

Snow on the higher elevations

Dense valley fog

Choya didn't care for this too much

Slick bog bridges

Cascade's summit looks pretty impressive.  The trail leaves the trees and ascends open rock to the summit high point.  Stairs built into the rock navigate the trickiest terrain.  The exposed summit offers quite impressive views.  Unfortunately, as I reached the summit, clouds closed in, eliminating majority of the views.  I waited at the summit, hoping the clouds would leave as quickly as they came, but I wasn't so lucky.

Approaching Cascade's summit

The sky was blue as I reached the summit

Clouds didn't obscure the north at first

Choya with wind whipped ears

Whiteface just before it disappeared 

Faint view through the clouds

It appeared that Cascade was the only clear summit at this point

A short window of visibility

Choya wondering what we are looking at

I dropped off the summit and retraced my steps about .3 miles to the junction of the trail to Porter.  The trail drops in elevation from the junction.  The well worn trail acted as a stream bed to melting snow.  Although not deep, the running water continued to the low point between the two peaks.  Sections of deep mud broke up the running water.  After the low point, the running water continued as I climbed toward Porter.

Dropping off Cascade

Cascade became fully shrouded by the time we left

The trail reached a large garage sized boulder at what appeared to be a high point.  My altimeter read close to Porter's elevation, although I knew it was reading somewhat high.  I scrambled up the slick boulder hoping to see ahead.  The clouds obscured the view, although there appeared to be another high spot ahead.

Heading toward Porter

This doesn't look fun

The route ahead brought me to some of the nastiest mud of the day.  I quickly reached Porter's summit.  The clouds broke long enough to catch a brief view of the higher peaks to the south before, I headed back.  The thought of trudging through mud and running water wasn't too appealing.  Surprisingly, I only sunk above my ankle once.  Choya wasn't so lucky and quite muddy up to his belly.

A brief glimpse at the High Peaks

The skies cleared as I left Porter

Not this again

Water flowing down the trail

At least the mud wasn't deep here

As I reached the junction of the Cascade Trail, the clouds appeared to be lifting.  I traveled the .3 miles back to the summit and my luck improved.  Most of the clouds lifted, and the views helped me forget about the slogging through the mud. Surprisingly nobody else was on the summit. The 360-degree views from Cascade are quite impressive.  The summit offers grandstand views into the heart of the High Peaks.  Snow on the higher peaks as well as the occasional cloud over the summits enhanced the views.  In the valleys, fog dotted the landscape below higher terrain.  I was lucky to get the view to myself.

Most of the High Peaks in the clear

Nice depth in the distant terrain

A few clouds leaving the summits

The same pic is above with no mountains visible

The clouds make for interesting shots

The fog hanging on to the north

Still some clouds but at least I can see mountains 

The summits almost completely clear to the south

Nice view across the snow

While I had only passed four people up to this point, my relative solitude changed on my descent.  In the 2.4 miles back to the trailhead, I never traveled more than a few minutes without passing upward hikers.  When I reached the trailhead, still before 11AM, the parking lots all seemed to be full.  Dozens of groups signed the register after me.

Nice water feature lower on the trail

Choya on Cascade 

Maybe he's enjoying the view too

On busy weekends, it's not unusual for these peaks to see hundreds of people a day.  They stand as the shortest routes to any of the 46ers with easy trailhead access.  The two summits are often some of the first tackled by aspiring 46ers.  Roundtrip to both peaks clocks in at just 6.2 miles.  Despite sitting in the High Peaks Wilderness Area, don't expect a wilderness feel with the crowds.  That being said, the views, particularly from Cascade, make it easy to understand why the peaks get so crowded.  Cascade's views are stunning.  If you don't mind sharing your hike with others, the two peaks are worth a quick outing if you are looking for views and don't have a lot of time.  With planning, it's possible to get the peaks to yourself.  I had both summits to myself by hiking during the week, after the peak season.

Catching Choya as he was blasted by a gust

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