Where: Stephens Pond, on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail, Blue Ridge Wilderness Length: 7.2 mile (round trip). Difficulty: Moderate - There are no significant climbs on this 3.6 mile trail. The trail is wet in places. The route passes through varied forests for three miles before it reaches an intersection with the Cascade Pond trail (which can be used to reach Blue Mountain Lake Village). At the junction, turn left (south), it is then .6 miles to the lean-to on Stephens Pond. Access: From Blue Mountain Lake, drive east on Route 30 for 2.5 miles to the Northville Lake Placid Trail Parking Area. Head south from the road on the Northville Lake Placid Trail, this short section is marked for snowmobiles. In a quarter mile the trail enters the Lake Durant State Campground. You can also park in the campground, but, in the summer a day fee is required. Signs direct you to the continuing NPT which leaves the campground near site 3.
From near the Stephens Pond lean-to, looking north towards Blue Mountain. This photo is from late November 2019.
Where: McRorie Lake and Mud Pond Mountain; Cedarlands Conservation Easement, near Long Lake. Length: Five mile (round trip) to climb Mud Pond Mountain. Adding a visit to the McRorie Lake lean-to makes it a 7 mile round trip. Difficulty: Moderate - The first 2.2 miles is easy walking along an old woods road. This gets you to the point where a side trail up Mud Pond Mountain is marked with a sign which says 'OA Mountain'. It is a very steep half mile from there to the view point. An additional 8/10th's of a mile past the Mud Pond Mountain trail brings you to a nicely sited lean-to on McRorie Lake. Access: From Long Lake, drive toward Tupper Lake on route 30. Approximately a half mile from the Long Lake Bridge, turn right on Kickerville Road. Follow the Kickerville Road to where the pavement ends. Signs indicate that the continuing gravel road is private, but that is not correct. After .8 miles on the gravel road a DEC sign points to a parking area on the left. From the parking area, return to the road and walk an additional .4 miles. This brings you to an intersection of three roads, all of which are gated. Take the hard left. Signs indicate that this is the way to Mud Pond.
The Cedarlands Conservation Easement tract is just a few minutes drive from Long Lake, but, the access requires a bit of local knowledge. The area offers outstanding hiking and canoeing, and only its' obscure location keeps it from being a very popular destination. I visited the area a year ago, and my post from that outing is found here. I won't go through all the details again, because this recent hike (November 2019) covered essentially the same ground.
The main 'trail' in the Cedarlands tract follows a sturdy (closed) gravel road. This road was used for logging until just a few years ago, and it's fascinating to see how quickly a road deteriorates once maintenance stops. Beaver have completely blocked the road about 2.5 miles in. Hikers, however, can easily bypass the blockage by passing below the dam.
This time around, however, we were able to enjoy the impressive view from Mud Pond Mountain (it was completely socked in last time I was there). And, it was well worth going back, this modestly named mountain offers expansive views to the east and south. The video and pictures illustrate the point.
YouTube video from the hike.
Looking over McRorie Lake towards Kempshall Mountain.
The view from Mud Pond Mountain. The prominent peak left of center is Kempshall on the east side of Long Lake. McRorie lake is in the foreground. Glimpses of Long Lake are seen in the middle distance with Fishing Brook Mountain in the distance.
Looking southeast, towards the Fishing Brook Range. The body of water in the center of the photo is Long Lake. Mud Pond is in the foreground right.
One of a series of snow squalls obscured the view of nearby Grampus Lake Mountain.
By the time we hiked back out, the skies had cleared. This is the stream that flows out of McRorie Lake, into Mud Pond, and eventually into Big Brook and Long Lake.
