Fishbrook Pond/Black Mountain Shoreline

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like falling leaves."

           - John Muir

We've received seven inches of rain in the past seven days, and it's not like we were in a drought before that.  Essex County received the worst flooding in its recorded history prior to this new rain, Whitehall is still under water, and homes along the Hudson River had to be evacuated as the river overflowed its banks.

So, of course, I had requested off from work May 17-19 for what I hope will be an annual spring hiking trip.  The forecast was for constant rain every hour until we had hiked out on the 19th.  People thought I was kind of crazy to still go; some friends suggested I build an ark.  But never fear!  With the proper gear and the right knowledge, rainy day activities don't have to be limited to the indoors.  For more fun...just add water!  Besides, I wanted to hike one last time before the Rapture...

So I headed out to my second favorite camping spot in the Adirondacks, Fishbrook Pond on the East side of Lake George.  I met my girlfriend last year at Crane Mountain Pond while meeting a friend there for an overnight, so it seemed right to camp out again with her :)  I was introduced to Fishbrook Pond while working for DEC Camp Pack Forest a few years back.  There are two leantos on the pond with great firepits.  They also stock the pond with fish every spring, so bring your pole if you're into that kind of thing.

The trailhead is at the Hogtown parking area.  It used to start at Dacy's Clearing, but they closed the road that leads to it last year due to budget cuts, which adds an extra 1.7 miles each way of road walking.  Blech!

I could already tell the weather wasn't going to be as poor as predicted - the hike in it hardly sprinkled, though the air was saturated with humidity.  Also, black fly season is upon us.  They were incessantly and aggressively attacking my mucous membranes, making mad darts for my eyes, ears, mouth, and any other moist orafice they could find.  So, we stopped and I reached into my pack and found...nothing!  I had forgotten my bug spray and mosquito headnet - GAH!  I envisioned sleepless nights with swarms around my head and cringed.  Thankfully, this foreboding foreshadowing would not come to pass, as there was a wind ranging from a slight breeze to a violent gale at the pond, which drove the bugs away.

At about 2.7 miles from Hogtown trailhead, or 1.0 miles from Dacy's Clearing, you reach a trail junction.  Head to the right to summit Sleeping Beauty Mountain and continue on through a marshy area to Fishbrook Pond.  This way is longer than the way I went, plus I didn't want to deal with the marshy area after all that recent rain.  We took the left fork of the trail, which heads up a boulder-strewn path, then hooks to the right with views of Lake George in the distance.  This was a little difficult while carrying our packs due to the sticky humidity and rain-slicked rocks, and I kind of wished I had my old trekking poles which were stolen on Sawteeth in the High Peaks.  Grr >:-(  Anyways...continuing up, the trail then flattens out and descends to Bumps Pond.



Just beyond Bumps Pond the trail from Sleeping Beauty comes back to connect.  There's tons of obvious beaver activity in the area.  I noticed several beaver-gnawed stumps, thin trees dragged to the area, and further down the trail, an abandoned and collapsing dam.

Fishbrook Pond is an easy downhill mile from Bumps.  Well, easy when the rocks and roots aren't wet, anywho.  The majority of the trail is also a horse path, so from time to time there may be giant piles of...we'll say "poop" to avoid.  However, the horse trail does end when you reach Fishbrook Pond.

Fishbrook was swollen and slightly overflowing its banks, but not too badly.  As you continue around the pond you'll come to a leanto with a grassy front lawn.  Each leanto has an outhouse, which was much appreciated considering the weather.  The outhouse for this leanto is up the hill and back down the trail a little.  I, however, prefer the leanto on the far side of the pond because it has a nice rocky precipice and, I dunno, I just think it's more picturesque.  It's really just a personal preference.  It takes a good 10 minutes to walk from one leanto to the other and you cross the pond's outlet along the way.  That part was slightly hairy because the stream, which is usually a trickle, was high and moving quickly.  When we got to our leanto, I went out to gather firewood, which I had to go far to get since the area around the leanto was picked clean.  Meanwhile, Courtney began setting up our "home".  Then, she started a little fire for us.

Now, prevailaing winds and storms generally come down Lake George, from North to South.  With that in mind, I had expected the leanto to shield us because it is on the North side of the pond with the opening facing to the Southeast.  I had, though, forgotten to take into account the low pressure system which had brought in the storms.  As such, the winds that night came exclusively from the Southeast in 25-45 mile per hour gusts, straight into the leanto.  In order to block this, and hopefully protect us from the predicted driving rain, Courtney and I fashioned a windblock from the tarp she brought.  We tied it down securely in four spots, then weighed down the bottom with our firewood, also in an attempt to keep that dry.

That night was a bit of a wash (haha!).  It began raining, then got windy, and it was nigh impossible to keep the fire going.  Because of the storms, I couldn't even pick up ESPN Radio on my crank/solar National Weather Service radio, which normally comes in loud and clear.  Then later, I accidentally snapped the crank off it.  Woops.  We went to bed pretty early that night, eager for the full day ahead of us.

We had several options the next day for our dayhike.  We had a hard time choosing between the one-mile hike to Greenland and Millman Ponds, the slightly longer hike to Mount Erebus, and the difficult 3-4 mile one-way down to Lake George's shoreline.  Naturally, we chose the most difficult of the three.

After our leanto, the trail becomes difficult to follow.  Blowdown covered much of the path; we were lucky the trail markers were close enough together to see from one another (although, later on, there IS one random yellow marker between red ones.  Some sly ranger was probably snickering to himself "Tehehe...I'se a funny guy.  This'll be SO funny when someone gets lost!").  If you can battle your way through this jumble, you'll come to a swamp-like area, where the trail opens up, though it was extremely wet.

It is a constant steep descent to Lake George.  I would estimate you descend 1,200 feet or so.  Keep in mind you have to go back up.  There are plenty of beautiful cascades along the way, running heavily while we were there.

 

Like the energizer bunny, the trail to the shoreline just keeps going, and going, and going...but eventually you will reach this gorgeous view at the Black Mountain Shoreline, where there are several campsites run by the state for those without access to the island campsites of The Narrows.

We expected to die on the hike back up, but it honestly wasn't that bad.  In fact, it took us less time to get back than it took us on the hike down.  How much of this was due to us breaking off sticks and using them as trekking poles, and how much was due to us furiously charging ahead to avoid the swarms of black flies?  It's tough to gauge.  But when we got back, the weather was b-e-a-gorgeous.  That night we filled out tummies with some delicious Mountain House meals (Spaghetti with Meatballs and Chicken Breasts with Garlic Mashed Potatoes) and even had some Neapolitan Icecream for dessert.  They are restaurant quality meals.  No longer do we hikers have to stomach those old army packs - blech!  Another great brand is Backpacker's Pantry.

We were able to start a roaring fire that night and we used it to dry out our boots and socks.  We still had no view of the stars - it was overcast the majority of the trip.  It was quite serendipitous and surreal to hear owls hooting across the water.  As we lay down for the night, I even heard that distinct yipping of coyotes not too distant :)

This whole hike, and especially Fishbrook Pond, is like a salamander haven.  I heard a rustling in the darkness near my head soon after shutting out the lights, so I whipped out my headlamp and saw these creepy lil (yeah...little) creature a foot from my face.  It's called a Spotted Salamander.

I had to work at 3 pm the next day, plus pick up my car from the repair shop, so we had to leave early.  We thought we were booking it, but it still took us over two hours to hike the four miles to Courtney's car.  Most of that is because it had poured the night before and the majority of the trail had become a river:

The bugs were even worse on the way out than the way in.  I saw a few totally unprepared hikers coming in.  They looked about 18 and completely naive.  I let them know they were crazy because this was not the day to be making that hike with their lack of gear and knowledge.  Still, we managed to find a few moments to handle this cool lil garter snake.

Fishbrook is a great place to camp that affords flexibility in your full-day dayhikes.  It's also a fantastic place to fish and swim.  I highly recommend it.