Adirondacks: Long Pond
Dave and Helen Damouth
www.damouth.org
14 June 1996
added 2011/04/30
We travelled to Long Pond on Friday morning, June 14. We kept no notes, and so this report is missing many of the usual details. Long Pond is west of upper Saranac Lake, reached by a dirt road which leaves the highway at the south edge of the golf course. You can indeed drive all the way to the lake, although many people pass through the lake via several marked portage routes.
Friday night we had the lake to ourselves. Two cars were in the parking lot - one a day fisherman who was leaving, and one whose occupants must have portaged off to somewhere else. Saturday and Sunday we saw other groups, and had two other occupied campsites within sight and sound.
The lake is part of the St. Regis canoe area, and a set of regulations are posted at the parking lot. I did not see any requirement to use marked campsites, and in fact there were no labels on the existing sites, other than a "be careful of the environment" type of sign within the site. Our site had a fireplace and picnic table, apparently left over from when the site had a permanent cabin many years ago. Good firewood was available within 100 yards, and the site was not particularly dirty.
Saturday, we bushwhacked up Long Pond Mountain. The map shows a steep set of contours on the side of the mountain closest to the lake. They are indeed impassable cliffs. Go around to the East, after skirting West of the swamp shown on the map. The view from the top is worth the climb. From various vantage points you can see 360 degrees, across the many lakes to the remote high mountains. Several of the High Peaks are visible and identifiable.
Because of wet unpleasant weather, we packed up and left on Sunday