Five Ponds Wilderness Area
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Five Ponds Wilderness Area | |
|---|---|
| IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area) | |
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| Location | Adirondack Park New York USA |
| Nearest city | Wanakena, NY |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 117,978 acres (447.4 km²) |
| Governing body | New York State Department of Environmental Conservation |
The Five Ponds Wilderness Area, an Adirondack Park unit of New York's Forest Preserve, is located in the towns of Fine and Clifton in St. Lawrence County, the town of Webb in Herkimer County and the town of Long Lake in Hamilton County. It includes 1,064 acres (4.3 km²) of private inholdings, 99 bodies of water covering 1,964 acres (7.9 km²), 57.9 miles (93.2 km) of trails, and 14 lean-tos.
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[edit] Geography
The area is bounded on the north by Cranberry Lake, a portion of the Oswegatchie River, the road leading to lnlet and private lands; on the east by the Colton town line and private lands in the vicinity of Gull Lake, a road leading to Gull Lake and the Remsen to Lake Placid railroad; on the south by Stillwater Reservoir; on the southwest by the Pepperbox Wilderness Area and on the west by private lands and the Aldrich Pond Wild Forest. In the vicinity of Young's Road the wild forest and wilderness boundary is the Streeter Lake snowmobile trail. Land south and east of this boundary will be classified wilderness upon acquisition of inholdings.
The terrain is low, rolling and interspersed with many small ponds. Swamp areas and small brooks are numerous. The forest cover varies from pole-size hardwoods in the sections that were heavily logged and burned more than forty years ago to virgin pine and spruce stands.
[edit] Forest
This is one of the few locations in the northeastern United States where stands of virgin timber can be found. When early logging was in progress and the Oswegatchie River carried the softwood logs downstream to the sawmills, it was found to be impractical to haul the huge logs by horse and oxen from the Five Ponds area out to the landing on Wolf Creek, so that section was not logged. The old growth pine and red spruce stand on the esker between Big Five, Little Five and Big Shallow, Little Shallow and Washbowl ponds is an example of this virgin timber. Slightly south of the St. Lawrence-Herkimer-Hamilton county marker stands what is (arguably) the largest virgin White Pine in the Adirondacks. The virgin pine stand at Pine Ridge along the Oswegatchie is another well known spot where examples of original growth timber may be seen. However, portions of the Pine Ridge stand were completely blown down in the 1950 hurricane and the timber was salvaged by a logging contractor. Most of the remainder of Pine Ridge was destroyed in the great blowdown of 1995. The Adirondack Park Agency ruled to leave the downed timber untouched. Camp Johnny, a nearby rise of land and popular camping spot over the decades remained untouched.
[edit] Recreation
In addition to these spots, other points of interest to the hiker, camper and fisherman are: High Falls on the Oswegatchie River; Alder Bed Flow on the Middle Branch of the Oswegatchie River; Cat Mountain; Sand Lake; Wolf Pond; Big Deer Pond; Nicks Pond; "The Plains," which are very similar in soil and cover type to that of the Moose River Plains; and the numerous, clear, spring-fed ponds, most of which support brook trout.
[edit] Fishing
The Oswegatchie River was long considered the top brook trout stream in the state, with catches of three to four pound brook trout common during the summer months. This distinction was lost when perch were apparently introduced accidentally or otherwise into Cranberry Lake several years ago, with adverse impacts to the brook trout population. At the present time, the area is popular with hunters and fishermen who frequent the interior ponds.
[edit] Canoeing
The Oswegatchie is a fine canoeing stream and is used as such to reach interior wilderness points of interest. The river has received increasing use in recent years and care must be taken that such use does not result in resource degradation. There is a 3.5 mile canoe carry at approximately 18 miles upstream that leads the traveler to Lows Lake via Big Deer Pond.The existing lean-tos on the river will be phased out and ultimately replaced by primitive tent sites.
[edit] Public access
The Five Ponds area is accessible to the public from the north and also from the south if one has a boat or canoe, from the east from the vicinity of Lake Lila in the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area and along the Remsen to Lake Placid railroad. The area can also be reached from the southwest via the Raven Lake primitive corridor, and from the east, by boat or canoe, via the Bog River/Low's Lake tract. The western boundary in Herkimer County is accessible from the Bear Pond Road in the Aldrich Pond Wild Forest.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Adirondack Park Agency. "Adirondack State Land Master Plan", Updated 2001.
