Trails Less Traveled

Hiking-A Trek to Pitcher Pond

It might as well be spring, but April 29 dawned cold and clear with the temperature at my house registering a chilly 24 degrees.  In spite of this, 39 members of the Tramp and Trail Club, probably rejoicing at the end of a week of snowy, drizzly weather, assembled for a hike to Pitcher Pond, a small glacial lake in the South Western Adirondacks near Brantingham Lake.

 Our route followed a horse trail, which as the map shows descends steeply into the valley of Otter Creek, crosses on a sturdy bridge and climbs again through a wooded valley before reaching more open territory.  It intersects with Van Armand Road and follows it briefly before turning right on a much narrower path that leads to the pond.  Up here the leaves are just beginning to bud on the trees and the woods appear very open and big.  The snow-dusted ground was carpeted with trout lily leaves and some of their nodding yellow flowers, unopened because of the cold.  We also spotted a few red trilliums, the evil smelling blossoms we called “stink pots” when I was a boy.

We took our lunch break on a steep bank above the pond where binoculars revealed a small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, formerly called Myrtle Warblers.  In the picture you can easily see the telltale yellow spot of one of the warblers perched in a tree.  The trail then circles around the high bank above the pond before rejoining the trail we came in on.  The beauty of the pond, the streams and the mature forest are best visualized by looking at the pictures taken by my friend and fellow blogger, Dianna Morris.

On the way home we discovered that the Boondocks Inn provides a nice place to relax after a long tramp in the woods.  Many thanks to Pete Geiskopf and Jim Pitcher (no, the pond was not named after him) for leading and co-leading this pleasant 6-mile spring hike.

Pitcher Pond

Otter Creek