[Journal entry for January 4, 2014; Island Pond, Harriman State Park, New York]. Today is a gorgeously clear and cold day, the second that we’ve had since snow fell two nights ago. I drive up Route 106, twice pulling off to the side of the highway to view the scenery. I first stop at Little Long Pond, near the peninsula that I visited on this summer’s Intern Fieldtrip. The pond is completely snow-covered and snow is clinging to the evergreen trees around its shore. I then stop a wetland just north of the highway and a little west of the pond. Beavers have built a dam at its eastern end. Sadly, the wetland is being taken over by Phragmites grass, yet some of the more interesting original bushes remain. I park at the Island Pond Road trailhead. I’m glad that my car has four-wheel drive, for about six inches of unplowed snow covers the parking area. I start hiking at about 2PM, with the intention of making use of the late afternoon’s low sun angle in my photography.

I cross the stream that’s near the trailhead and snowshoe north along Island Pond Road, a disused one-lane woods road. The snow is unbroken, except for various animal tracks, including White Tailed Deer, coyote and squirrel. The trail crosses regions of Mountain Laurel bushes and evergreen trees. Snow is still clinging to their branches, making the terrain look beautiful and wintery. I walk about a mile northward, past several trail intersection. Several of the trails have had some post-snowfall traffic. Island Pond Road bends to the west, heading for the western shore of Island Pond. However, I continue northward, taking a spur that leads to a rocky peninsula at the southern end of the pond. The peninsula is a favorite summer picnic spot with a beautiful view of the lake. Dallas and I have visited it many times over the years.

I turn west onto an unblazed trail, thinking that it leads to one of the rock ledges on the peninsula, but instead find that it leads to a small mining pit near the lake shore. The pit is flooded and covered with ice. The park has many of these small iron mines, most dating from the Revolutionary War period. This one is called the Garfield Mine; today’s my first visit to it. I then bushwhack back to the road, through rather too many bushes and continue north. I come to the spot I have been seeking, a rocky peninsula marked by the ruins of an old cabin. Its walls and chimney, of concrete-reinforced stone still stand, but it roof is long gone. I walk to the end of the peninsula, admiring the view of the lake. Across it to the north stands Island Pond Mountain, site of the the rock formation called the Lemon Squeezer, and to the east stands the bare ridge of Surebridge Mountain, whose broad ledges are decorated by the Bowling Rocks.

I test the ice; it’s about six inches thick and capable of bearing my weight (or so I hope). I walk westward, staying close to the shore – just in case! The area south of the pond is a marsh. Quite impenetrable in the summer, the ice allows me to I walk with ease through the less-vegetated sections adjoining the pond. I wind my way through picturesque hummocks of vegetation – mostly blueberry. I see from the tracks in the snow that a coyote took the same route, probably last night. There are signs of a scuffle in one spot; perhaps it found some prey. I pass another rocky peninsula with a beaver lodge build against one of the rock ledges. Beavers were very rare when, thirty years ago, I first began to hike in Harriman State Park. Now almost every body of water has a colony. As I approach the western shore, I get a good view of the little rocky island that gives the pond its name.

I join Island Pond Road when I reach the western shore of the pond, and take it back south. The snow on this section is unbroken, too. I spot a small animal walking through the snow that, from a distance, I do not immediately recognize. As I approach, I realize that it’s a Border Collie wearing a sweater; its owners are just coming up the trail. The dog is frolicking in the snow, digging and prancing.

The light is getting dim and decidedly orange as I approach my car. I stop briefly to view Lake Welch on the way back.

About two hours.