Wild And Remote Debar Pond - Part 3

The dogs and I had hiked to Debar Pond:

The views of this secluded gem, surrounded by mountains, were excellent:

But it was time to hike back to where we'd parked:

We hiked across dry ground with planks over the wet spots:

Through the Adirondack forest:

Until we reached the elevated planks through the cedar swamp:

The dogs had a grand time playing on the planks, but I had to be careful as I'm quite clumsy with my leg braces:

The planks were covered with chicken wire to prevent them from being too slippery, but they were also beginning to rot, sag and lean in various "interesting" directions:

We crossed back over the bridge where the beautiful Joe-Pye-Weed was in bloom:

And also where a lot of Turtlehead, a member of the Snapdragon family, was blooming:

We reached the dirt lane which had brought us to the trail head. I signed out at the register and snapped a photo of my four very happy pooches:

We loaded back up into the car and began our journey back out of the Adirondack forest to where we could again be on a regular, paved road:

Wild And Remote Debar Pond - Part 2

I was hiking with the dogs to Debar Pond, a short walk, much of it on elevated planks through a cedar swamp:

We eventually reached the end of the planks and continued on a trail through the Adirondack forest:

The dogs ran and played. They were having a grand time:

I saw more yellow mushrooms, this one in a miniature "forest" of Shining Clubmoss:

And soon we arrived at Debar Pond, a little known and secluded gem:

The dogs were less interested in the water than usual, perhaps because the weather wasn't very hot that day:

As for me, I luxuriated in the spectacular scenery:

I knew from our last trip here that the trails led to no other scenic overlooks, so I confined my explorations this time to the areas immediately adjacent to our arrival point:

I coaxed Seamus and Daphne into the water and they seemed to enjoy it:

And then we explored a little more for different views of Debar Pond:

On our last trip, I hiked the full length of the pond in a search of more shoreline access but never found any, so this time I didn't even try. I did, however, delight in the scenery:

Clover wouldn't go into the water but she sure enjoyed getting next to it and gazing out over the pond. I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Wild And Remote Debar Pond - Part 1

It was already afternoon and rain was predicted soon, yet the sun was still shining and I decided to take the dogs to Debar Pond. We drove 30 miles to this overgrown sign and parking area, far off the main roads:

We walked up the dirt lane to the trail head, where I signed the register and called the pooches to begin our hike:

There were beautiful yellow mushrooms along the way:

This was a short hike, but a scenic one. Much of it was on elevated planks through a cedar swamp:

There clearly hadn't been much maintenance done and much of the wood was rotting:

We crossed over this lovely stream:

And continued on through the cedar swamp:

Joe-Pye-Weed was blooming profusely wherever it could take root near water:

The planks were springy and saggy, a little worrisome for an old codger like me with leg braces. But I was careful, in one place even getting on my hands and knees to get past a particularly rickety spot:

The little dogs weren't worried about falling, though. They even wrestled and played as they traversed the planks:

And there were occasional side trips for the small dogs:

Big Seamus, however, wasn't so agile and did take a spill off the planks into the swamp. He managed to right himself and get back up onto the boardwalk without any help from me. We were almost to Debar Pond. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Part 4 - A Journey On The Port Kent Road

We were stopped at Grass Pond for a little fun and recreation on way home from the farm. Clover and Daphne were the first to arrive at the end of the boardwalk:

Clover jumped off the end of the boardwalk to explore the sights and smells of the marsh before the other dogs arrived. Madeline and Daphne watched her over the edge of the boardwalk but declined to join her:

When I got there, I was awed by the wild, natural beauty of the quiet pond:

This was the Adirondacks that most tourists don't get to see:

But this was just a rest stop, and soon we were headed back up to our parked car where old Winky and Wally slept, pretty much oblivious to all that was going on:

Seamus must have decided that he was a nature boy and refused to walk on the boardwalk, preferring only to step on the mossy ground alongside:

Madeline, she with the perpetual smile, was only too happy to use the easy wooden surface:

And we all paraded happily back up to the parked car, just visible through the brush:

There was a flurry of "Papillony" activity just as we reached the car, but everything went smoothly:

I did a head count and pulled back onto the Port Kent Road, here only a seasonal road:

And then we continued heading southeast toward Route 3, passing this logging operation on the way:

We passed through the little town of Loon Lake and turned south onto Route 3. I put my camera away and concentrated on driving, at least for the time being. But we were to have one more rest stop, and I'll post about that tomorrow:

Chapter Two, Debar Pond

This is the a continuation from yesterday's post. We'd hiked in to Debar Pond, enjoyed the water and taken a brief excursion toward its eastern shore. Then I tried to hike along its western shore but became mired in deep mud and fell several times. That's when I turned back. But as we were preparing to return to the car I spotted another trail heading southward down the western shore of Debar Pond and, of course, I just had to go see where it would take us:

This trail was not covered in my guide book so I really felt as if I was exploring unknown territory. We passed through deep forests and ferns of many species, some of them even taller than Seamus:

The trail seemed well worn at first, giving me the idea that it was commonly hiked. But the farther we went, the more overgrown it became:

I eventually came to believe that we were following an old woods road, used either for logging or for someone's private camp many years ago. There were old barrels used as culverts in places, some of them still functioning as intended, some of them nearly rusted away:

The trail offered no views of Debar Pond and took us higher and higher up the mountainside:

I finally stopped when we arrived at the tall, precipitous side of a mountain. No way was I going up there although there might have been spectacular views. We turned back toward where we'd begun:

When we returned to the access point for Debar Pond, I almost didn't let the dogs go in again. But they'd had so much fun the first time that I relented:

And Daphne went in way over her head and actually swam. Fergus soon followed:

Then Daphne began jumping out of the water in great leaps as she circled, reminding me a salmon making its way upstream. She was having more fun than I think I've ever seen a dog have. I wish I had a video of it, but I did get this photo of her in mid-leap:

But eventually I called them out of the water. Seamus resisted momentarily, but soon we were on our way back to the car:

The trail from the water to our car was less than a mile in length, but the scenery was pure wilderness nonetheless:

And I was considering what our next adventure would be that day as we traversed the boardwalk back to the trail head. But I'll post about that tomorrow: