Kibby Pond Ledges(Wilcox Lake Wild Forest-Adirondacks)

Sitting high above picturesque Kibby Pond to the east, in the Wilcox Wild Forest, are a dramatic set of ledges on the west slopes of an unnamed 2765 foot peak.  These ledges would be the main goal today, as my buddy Jim and I set out on a two car traverse hike.  We first spotted a car at the DEC parking area for Fish Ponds on Bartman Road, then drove back to Route 8 to get started at the DEC trailhead for Kibby Pond.  Elevation to start was about 1560 feet.  We donned our snowshoes and set out, following the DEC trail, which quickly drops down to a small creek crossing.  Luckily this proved to be no issue.

The DEC trail winds its way east/ southeast to the pond, arriving after about 1.7 miles.  The trail ends in a small clearing here at the shoreline, where a boat also sits.  We could spot some of the ledges that we were heading to off to the east, across the frozen water.

A pleasant summer fishing and/ or picnic spot made for a nice pit stop today, as we mapped out our off trail part of the hike.

Winding our way around Kibby Pond's shore proved tougher than expected. Here, a well placed beaver dam got us across the wintry outlet of the pond.

The pond's outlet almost had a magical appearance, in a stark winter setting.

Across a wetland at the far southern shore, we spotted this great view northeast towards another unnamed summit bump, rising up to 2650 feet, above the snow covered pond.

The view to the north towards the small peak that the trail skirts around.

The joys(tongue in cheek) of off trail winter hiking in the Adirondacks! Twisting our way through thick snow laden spruce.

Once clear of the pond, our route took us nearly due east, rising over a shoulder of a smaller ridge before arriving at the base of the ledges.  The slopes were extremely steep, however, at nearly a 90 degree pitch in spots.  Add in deep snow and thick spruce and there was no way we were going to go straight up the ledges.  We decided to swing left, aiming for the col north of our peak, where the slopes were slightly more forgiving.  A steep, grueling push got us up on the ridge, where snow covered hardwoods greeted us.

Almost as quickly as we got onto the ridge, we ran smack dab back into spruce.  We worked our way up and over downed trees and deep snow to the 2765 foot wooded summit. 

Once at the top, we tried to work our way back down to the ledges we saw, but it was very tough to negotiate the steep slopes.  A small break in the trees, provided us a spectacular SW view towards many of the peak surrounding NY 8. 

From right to left, Black Mountian, Blue Hills, and Corner Mountain.

Pushing back up from the viewpoint into deep powder.

From a slightly smaller ledge, we found this this SW look towards Kettle Mountain.

Our route continued to the east, heading down a steadily steep slope, but certainly easier to navigate than the west side.  From a tiny clearing, we caught a great through-the-trees glimpse towards Crane(left) and Ross and Blue(on the right).

A zoom view of Crane Mountain on our descent towards Bartman Road. Like a beacon in the night, Crane stands impressively among all of the southern Adks.

Our descent off the east slopes finally brought us down to a jeep road, which we followed out to Bartman Road and our waiting car.

A very fun day in the woods, with 6.5 miles RT and over 1700 feet of ascent.