Berry Pond Preserve(Adirondacks-Lake George)

With clouds rolling in and the humidity set to return, I headed north to hike at the Berry Pond Preserve in the southern Adirondacks, a short distance west of Lake George village off of exit 21.  The Preserve was purchased from the Lake George Land Conservancy by New York State earlier this year and access to the Preserve is gained through the Village of Lake George’s Recreation Center trail system at the end of Transfer Road.  There are a number of trails, marked and unmarked through these woods, but following the blue marked trails will bring you to Berry Pond Preserve.

 A short distance in, there is a lean to near babbling West Brook.

 The blue trail ascends fairly steeply, climbing over 1000 feet from the trail head.

 An open field provides the first vista of the day, with Lake George visible to the north and east.

 A zoomed in view of Lake George with Long Island and Buck Mountain visible.

 A view to the south opens up a short distance further.  According to my GPS this was at an elevation of 1642 feet.

 A panorama near the blueberry fields.

The blue trail leaves the summit area, and descends steeply a wide woods road.  Only a few feet away, the drop off from the road is pretty significant.

 The blue marked trail meets up with the orange trail, which forms a loop around Berry Pond.

 There are many views of the pond, with many opportunities to see wildlife.

 There is also an active beaver community at Berry Pond.  Here is an old beaver dam I spotted near the shoreline.

The Orange marked trail leaves the pond and follows a dirt road, which eventually meets back up with the blue trail.

Boulder eats boulder.

 Just before arriving back at the car, I dropped down off the trail about 20 yards to a nice view of West Brook, an important tributary of southern Lake George.

With clouds thickening by the moment, I arrived back at the car after about 5 miles RT.