Adirondacks: Winch Pond & Marsh Pond, 5/12/23

On our getaway day, the weather was still gorgeous, so I opted for a short bushwhack exploration amidst the cluster of ponds near Wilmington Notch, at the edge of the Sentinel Range Wilderness. I started with a steep, rocky climb on the trail that leads to popular Copperas Pond, where I had gone snowshoeing on our last visit in March.

I turned onto the less-used trail that leads to secluded Winch Pond.

On the approach to Winch Pond, the trail passes an old beaver meadow with a screened view of Stewart Mountain, one of four rough, trailless Adirondack Hundred Highest peaks in the Sentinel Range. (Traversing all four of these peaks in a day is considered a tour de force of Adirondack bushwhacking.)

Quiet beauty at Winch Pond. A Northern Waterthrush was singing here.

Near here I launched my bushwhack to hidden Marsh Pond, nestled right at the base of the Sentinel Range. Along the way I crossed this beaver meadow on the outlet brook of Winch Pond.

Rolling terrain.

When I emerged at the edge of Marsh Pond, I was surprised to find an active osprey nest in a tall snag about 100 yards away. Despite this distance, the parents were not pleased with my presence, so I did not linger long. Even with a brief visit, I was able to absorb the wilderness flavor of this place. To the east, the wild, hulking mass of Stewart Mountain (3615 ft.) dominated the scene.

Zoomed in, it looks downright intimidating.

Looming to the SE was the rolling crest of Kilburn Mountain (3881 ft.), highest peak in the Sentinel Range. 

 

Standing in this wild and secluded spot, this wonderful passage about Marsh Pond in Barbara McMartin's Discover the Northern Adirondacks took on new meaning:

 

The prevailing feeling at Marsh Pond, so surprisingly close as the crow flies to a major highway corridor, is one of deep remoteness.  The steep, dark, spruce-clad slopes of the mountains, their summits bristling with cripplebrush, convey a sense of palpable aloofness that both tantalizes and threatens the would-be explorer of those high regions. You will not be the first to sit by the shore of this quiet pond, looking up at the range that is the heart of this wilderness, and say to yourself, "Not today...but someday."