[Journal entry for July 18, 2018; Jim’s Pond, Black Rock Forest, Cornwall New York]. I parked at the Scenic Trailhead (blazed in white), off of Old Mineral Springs Road in Moutainville New York at about 4PM, on a clear and cool afternoon. Mineral Springs Brook was not much more than a trickle, yet I was surprised that it was running even that strongly, for the weather has been very dry. Black Rock Forest must have experienced a thunderstorm that I missed. I made brief visits to the Lower and Upper Falls, Blueberry Overlook and Jupiter’s Boulder Overlook – all terrific spots but ones that I have visited multiple times during the past few weeks. I also examined a group of Pipsissewa plants in bloom along the trail. I spent somewhat longer poking around two wetlands, one along the Ryerson Trail (blazed in yellow) and the other off of Jim’s Pond Road (a woods road). I guess that they must have formed relatively recently, perhaps when the roads and dams were built, for they are full of dead trees. They wetlands have only a little open water, and are crowded with Phragmites, Cattail and other grasses. They were full of the voices of frogs, including the low-pitch call of the Bullfrog. I reached Jim’s Pond after about an hour of hiking.

Jim’s Pond is about a quarter mile long and a hundred yards wide, and is nestled up against the south flank of the ridge that includes the Eagle Cliff Overlook. A small protruding bay on the south side is crossed by the gravel causeway of Jim’s Pond Road. I don’t know whether the pond is natural or anthropogenic, but I could no dam when I looked across the bay towards Highland Brook, its outflow. Most of the pond’s surface is open water, but water lilies and other aquatic plants grow in patches. An old beaver lodge, covered with grass, stands mid-lake. I first viewed the lake from where the Stropel Trail follows its western edge, and then walked along the road on its southern shore as far as the bay. The water was very still and dramatically reflecting the puffy clouds overhead.

I then walked back along Jim’s Pond Road until I connected with the Arthur Trail (blazed in yellow) and took it towards Sutherland Pond. I made a detour to visit a wetland; I guess it is the same one that I viewed from Jim’s Pond Road. I passed several high rocks cliffs, each with very large and angular blocks rocks strewn around their bases, and with small caves where the precariously-piled blocks formed small cavities. I believe that these cliffs formed as the great glacier of the Ice Age plucked away rocks from the southern flanks of hills, sharpening up the cliff. The boulder fields developed afterwards, as the cliff partially collapsed when the glacier retreated.

I connected with the Scenic Trail again and took it along the western edge of the swamp at the southern end of Sutherland Pond. Though I hoped for a view, I found none, for the swamp is full of tall bushes, including Blueberry and Buttonbush, which rise above eye-level. I joined Sutherland Road (a woods road) and took it to the Hall Road Gate, from whence I could rejoin the Arthur Trail. The trail crosses the swamp and, after a little bushwhacking, I was able to find a couple of spots where I could get a view. I went as far along the Arthur Trail as the puncheon in the middle of the swamp, where I started a beaver. The area has some very pretty Buttonbush in bloom. I then turned about and went back to Sutherland Road and took it as far as an unblazed side trail that leads to a little rocky viewpoint along the western shore of Sutherland Pond. The sun was very low on the horizon, now, and the view of the pond was really quite spectacular, with the eastern shore partially lit and reflected in the pond’s still waters.

I spotted a Red Eft salamander and a very tiny toad as I hustled back to my car. A Barred Owl called, asking me ‘Who Cooks For You’ many times over. The sun had not yet quite set when I reached Old Mineral Springs Road.

About 4:30.