Adventure To Debar Pond Lodge - Part 1

The last time I tried to get to the Debar Pond Lodge, I was blocked by a snowstorm and fallen trees. So I tried again eight days later. It was cloudy, but warmer and pleasant. I parked the car and started down the lane with the dogs:

We passed by the official trail to Debar Pond. It crosses a marsh on elevated boards which have become dangerously dilapidated and difficult for me and my leg braces. Besides, I wanted to see the lodge which is now the property of New York State:

The forest smelled sweetly of Balsam and the lane was entirely pleasant walking:

I could see a mountain and marsh through the trees. I supposed it to be Debar Mountain, but there are several peaks clustered there and I don't really know which of them is Debar:

This was easy hiking but in a totally wild setting, with no one else around for many miles:

And I was very glad we were there:

We crested a small rise and saw a wide expanse ahead, dotted with many outbuildings, all of them now abandoned:

The first two seemed to me to be a woodshed and a lawnmower shed:

A wonderful greenhouse. What a shame that it has so deteriorated:

I couldn't even guess what this building was for, though a neighbor later told me it had once been a chicken coop:

A barn, perhaps for livestock. Or maybe this was used for crops when the property was a hops farm:

The dogs cared not one whit for history, but only wanted to run and investigate. I let them run since I was sure no other person was there and the land was open so I could keep them in sight. This was much more impressive than I had imagined, and we hadn't even arrived at the pond or the bigger buildings. But I'll cover that in Part 2, tomorrow: