Off the Beaten Path

Fall Foliage Adventures

By Barbara McMartin

This updated article, selected by Barbara, was originally published in our October 2000 issue.

Many Adirondack trails remain little known and used but are interesting destinations for hikers with a sense of adventure. The routes are quiet, clearly marked and well maintained for the hiker. Within these areas you will find some of the region’s best trails and paths, which are appealing for all ages and abilities. This month’s featured hike is Jenkins, a small mountain that packs a mighty view. Just as important, this trail is safe for use during fall deer and bear hunting seasons. 

Two other quiet but wonderful hikes are mentioned to whet your appetite: Clockmill Pond and Berrymill Pond/Moose Mountain Pond. Hunters occasionally use these routes, so be alert as you should be anywhere in the Adirondacks during hunting season.

In the northern Adirondacks, Jenkins Mountain has remarkably well-designed and varied trails leading to the summit. The trail is 8.2 miles round trip with a 780-foot elevation change, so allow 4-5 hours to enjoy the trip. The trail has everything good trails should have, such as history, unusual things to see, easy grades, and a tread that will not erode. The trail does not head directly toward the summit, but winds about in many different directions, all designed to enhance the walk.

The trail starts near the parking area for the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths. Drive about 0.8-mile north of Paul Smith’s College on NY Route 30 and turn west for a short distance on a gravel road to the parking area. The north and west sides of the mountain burned in the railroad-caused fires of 1903. A fire in 1912 burned the east slopes down to Long and Black Ponds. So, almost all the forest you will see is relatively young. 

The trail begins along the Barnum Brook Trail. Follow the blue rectangular paint blazes on the north loop of that trail until you reach the bridge over Barnum Brook. Crossing the bridge, follow the blazes right, onto an old woods road that leads to Jenkins Mountain Road. Turn west and follow the roadway through nice woods, passing several marked intersections. Markers denote the distance covered every 0.5-mile. After 0.5-mile there is a rise through a good hardwood forest, at one-mile there is a lovely hemlock knoll, at 1.5 miles balsam wetlands. The road is now heading northwest and shortly beyond at a corner where there is an outhouse, the road bends sharply south. 

Now begins the best part of the trail, which narrows and winds along the top of a series of eskers, with ferny meadows, stagnant ponds, and one huge beaver meadow below the steep slopes. Over the beaver pond you have a lovely view north to rock slopes of Jenkins’ eastern summit. At two miles you reach a bridge over the outlet of the beaver pond. The walk along the eskers continues for nearly another half-mile. Where the trail makes a hairpin turn back northwest, look through the trees to Long Pond way below the slopes. Notice how dry the tops of the eskers are – bracken ferns tell you how dry and disturbed they are.

At 2.5 miles the trail begins a long traverse up Jenkins’ steep southern slopes through one of the more unusual forests you will ever find. The lovely traverse, with some ups and downs, is so gentle you hardly know you are climbing, but the mountainside is so steep you have wonderful views up to rock ledges, down to a broad valley, and out through the thin forest. Notice how tall, straight, yet small in diameter are the trees that grace the slopes. Notice how the canopy is barely closed so light reaches the forest floor and dries it out. The under story is sparse, not as rich as you would find in an unburnt stand. In one place there is a stand of paper birch – sure signs of fire, but most of the trees are maples. Notice how the fields of hay-scented ferns have few young trees – scientists have found that fern inhibits the germination of some tree species.

You pass the three-mile marker on the traverse. Just short of 3.5 miles the trail makes a sharp turn to the right and climbs more steeply to a turn back west. At 3.5 miles you are in a small valley between rock outcrops, west of the western summit. The trail crosses to the north side of the mountain. Gradually, the trail curves east to head up the northwest slopes, briefly crossing the one wet meadow on the trail – it is filled with equisetums and jewelweed. As the slopes become steeper, the trail zigzags back and forth to keep the grades gentle, thus preventing erosion. Just below the western summit, the trail zags back left, west to the rock knob that tops the far western edge.

From the knob you can see Follensby Junior Pond to the north, St. Regis Lake just south of west, Tupper Lake, and the High Peaks from the Sewards around to Whiteface. The return trip, retracing your steps, takes little more than two hours, but pause frequently to discover what you may have missed on the hike up.

In the southern Adirondacks, Clockmill Pond provides a pleasant hiking, canoeing, fishing, picnicking or camping destination. The short 1.7-mile path on the old logging road is among my favorite fall walks. Late September or early October finds the swamp maples around the pond aflame with dark reds. The trail starts in Clockmill Corners, a remote bend in the Powley-Piseco Road, a narrow dirt road for more than half its distance. The road intersects NY Route 10 in the north, 0.3-mile south of the bridge over Piseco Lake; the trailhead is four miles south. The southern end of the road is 8.6 miles west of Route 10 in the hamlet of Stratford on NY Route 29A; the trailhead is 15 miles north. 

Just southeast of Clockmill Corners, the trail skirts a swampy meadow that has a natural dike across its small outlet. This snowmobile trail is ideal for hikers because it’s on high ground in a valley that is quite flat and easy. At 1.2 miles it forks in a weed-filled open meadow, take the left fork toward Clockmill Pond. The 0.5-mile path is unmarked and leads to the pond’s northwest corner, where you have to bushwhack along the north side promontory that separates the pond from the vlies to the north. You will reach a man-made rock dam that was added to the natural dike. The lake is extremely pretty, with huge exposed rocks lining the south shore, an island seems to float in the middle of the pond, and many water lilies fill the shadows.

In the eastern Adirondacks, the Berrymill Pond/Flow and Moose Mountain Pond trails have an unusual attractiveness for hikers, but few people other than fishermen reach the ponds. The area offers hiking, mountain biking, fishing, camping, and snowshoe opportunities. To get there take Northway Exit 29 east for 0.3-mile to NY Route 9, then go north 2.6 miles where you turn right at a road marked for Port Henry. In 0.3 mile this leads to an intersection, turn right again onto County Route 4 (Moriah Road). Follow this road for 2.8 miles to the trailhead parking lot on the right.

The blue marked foot trail is six miles round-trip with only a 470-foot elevation change; allow 2-3 hours for the trip. It follows an old tote road that heads due south through a mixed forest of conifers and yellow birch. At 0.35-mile, the trail turns right to avoid the wet open marsh area, then at 0.6-mile, the trail climbs at a gentle rate along Berrymill Brook. On the right you will see a yellow marked trail to Bass Lake, don’t take this. Instead, continue on the blue trail left to a footbridge and the continuing trail to Moose Mountain Pond. Berrymill Pond lies to the south, however it’s now more of a marsh. At 1.9 miles the trail parallels the pond, then heads southeast toward Moose Mountain Pond. At 2.5 miles the trail forks briefly, stay right to continue through a beautiful strand of old forest. The trail passes several good views of Moose Mountain Pond and surrounding mountains on the way to a lean-to. 

These three quiet, wonderful Adirondack hikes remain little known and used but are interesting destinations for those with a sense of adventure. The trails are generally well marked and well maintained for the hiker, shoeshoer, or cross-country skier. Within these areas you will find some of the region’s best trails and paths that are appealing to all levels of hikers. Enjoy the fall foliage!

Barbara McMartin (1931-2005) was an author of many guides to the Adirondacks and several histories. If you want more information on these regions, consult the Discover the Adirondacks guidebook series, coauthored with Bill Ingersoll. To learn more about the park, read her book Adirondack Park: A Wildlands Quilt. Both are available at your local bookseller.