[Bill Menke’s Journal Entry
for February 27, 2006]. The town of Lake Placid, New York is extremely cold this morning,
minus five Fahrenheit, but clear and sunny.
I dress warmly: show boots, three layers on my legs (long underwear,
pants and an insulated bib), and five on my upper body (long underwear, two
fleece shirts, and two fleece jackets), heavy gloves on my hands and and a
balaclava and ski mask on my head. I
snowshoe to Connery Pond, a small pond located south of the Lake
and west of Whiteface
Mountain. The short (0.6
mi) access road branches off of Route 86, just south of the point where it
crosses the Ausable
River. About a foot of fresh, powdery snow is on the
ground. The road passes through low woods, dominated by birches and
evergreens. I pass several small
streams, all of which have open water, despite today’s cold temperatures. The pond is reached via a short trail that branches off the road. It parallels one of the Ponds
inlet streams. The stream is steaming a
little, with nearby bushes encrusted in frost and with beautiful rosettes of
ice crystals growing along its banks.
Judging from occasional patches of grass that poke through the snow, the
inlet must be a marshy little delta. The
main area of the lake is completely covered with ice and snow. Whiteface
Mountain is visible to
the east. Puffs of clouds cover it
summit. I guess that it is still snowing there.
After standing a few minutes out in the bright sun, I turn an head back. Cobble
Mountain, a smallish hill
located just north of Lake Placid village, is
visible from the trailhead. About an hour, overall.