[Journal entry for November 10,
2014; Beaver Pond Brook, Harriman State Park, New York]. Just before sunset on this clear afternoon, I
parked off of Route 106 at the eastern border of Harriman Park, by the lot near
the bridge over Minisceongo Creek. I then walked west
along the highway. The fall foliage is
mostly gone now, yet a few individual trees remain whose pretty colors came
late and are still vivid. Furthermore, many bushes, such and Blueberry and
Winged Burning Bush, still have deep red leaves. I took a short detour to Lake Welch Dam, so
as to have a view across the lake. A
small island full of Blueberry bushes is especially pretty.
I continued west along the highway, crossing the
causeway that cuts off the narrow southern section of Lake Welch. This lake was impounded when the dam was
built in 1942, flooding the much smaller Beaver Pond, an adjacent swamp and the
nearby hamlet of Sandyfield, New York (which is no
more). Beaver Pond Brook, which feeds
Lake Welch and which connects to its southern end, still bears the defunct
pond’s name. The name, Beaver Pond, now
signifies a pond adjacent to Lake Welch that is formed by a pedestrian walkway
cutting off a corner of the main lake, near the public beach and campground.
The water level is low and a wide band of rocks and
mud are exposed on the shoreline. The
exposed shoreline eases my access to the brook, for the woods here are full of
Mountain Laurel and nearly impassible. I
walk the lakeshore until I reach a canal that cuts across what once must have
been a peninsula, turning it into an island.
Fortunately, the water is low enough that I can cross using stepping
stones that someone has laboriously arranged at a shallow spot. Beavers have built a small dam across the
canal right on top of the stepping stones.
Their lodge, a large shaggy pile of sticks, is nearby.
I continue along the shoreline. This southern arm of the lake slowly narrows
as it morphs into the brook. I clamber
around a very large boulder that is taking up the entire beach and, shortly
thereafter, reach the brook proper.
Beavers have built another dam, this one substantial enough to raise the
water level about a foot above lake level and to create a substantial beaver
pond. I walk along the dam and then pick
my way though bushes and grass until I reach a boulder that provides a good
view of the pond. The sun, now very
close to setting, is casting a ruddy light onto the hummocks of grass in the
pond and on the bushes and trees along its bank.
I try to walk along further upstream, but the boggy bank
is full of Mountain Laurel and is impassible.
I make my way inland about a hundred yards to an old power line right of
way. Mountain Laurel is growing here
too, but I find a deer path that’s manageable and take it north. I come to Lake Welch near the canal, which is
east to cross at this spot. I then
circle about a wide bay, and reach Route 106 at the western edge of the
causeway. I hear the shrill cry of an
osprey and, a moment later see the bird itself fly by.
I walk back along Route 106. The evening is very still and the reflections
of sky and trees in the surface of Lake Welch are very beautiful.
About two hours.