As Wild as it Gets: Oswegatchie River and Wolf Pond in the Five Ponds Wilderness

by Bill Ingersoll

Wolf Pond may be one of the most remote lean-tos in the Adirondacks. I won’t stick my neck out and say that it is the remotest, but it is certainly up there. The nearest access from a paved road is something on the order of ten miles. There is a shorter approach from the west, from Bear Pond Road, but that route is by no means easy. The best route, though, is one that combines paddling up the Oswegatchie River and hiking past the Five Ponds.

If I were forced to pick just one part of the Adirondack Park to claim as my “favorite” – a claim I normally refuse to make because I have been to so many phenomenal places that I see no advantage in ranking them by preference – this area must clearly be it, because I have returned to it so many times. Since 1999, when I first ventured up there, I have paddled the Oswegatchie River 21 times as of this writing, with plans for a 22nd at about the time this article goes to print.

The Oswegatchie River and Wolf Pond are just two features in the serenely enchanting Five Ponds Wilderness, located in the far northwestern corner of the Adirondacks. While the word “Adirondack” conjures for many people images of mountains and crowded trails, the Oswegatchie watershed is a landscape that resolves itself into gentle hills and winding streams. It might almost sound bucolic if it were not so essentially wild. Rather than the in-your-face scenery of a mountainous country, this place gets under your skin with its bird-rich wetlands, its sensuous and graceful pines, and a long list of little details that let you know you are no longer in an environment of man-made contrivances.

Simply put, a kayak or canoe trip up the Oswegatchie River and an overnight backpack to Wolf Pond is one of the best long weekend trips you can make this coming summer or fall.

How to Get There
The river is accessible from Inlet Road, which leads south from NY Route 3 at the Clifton-Fine town line east of Star Lake. After turning off the highway, Inlet Road immediately bears left and leads for 3.2 gravelly miles to a large, grassy clearing by the river. This is the place to park and launch your canoe. There is a campsite in the woods for late arrivals.

The River
From this point to its source the Oswegatchie is one long, sluggish channel with most of its elevation change located at one site, High Falls, which is many miles upstream. It is a matter of speculation just how long the river really is. While it is easy to measure the straight-line distances between major landmarks on a map, it is nearly impossible to measure the river’s overlapping squiggles – the distance you actually paddle. I have learned instead to measure my progress up the river in terms of time, rather than miles. Other peoples’ times, of course, may vary greatly.

It takes about 45 minutes before I begin to pass the first of the river’s designated campsites, indicated by numbered markers. After 90 minutes I pass High Rock, which is a scenic and popular campsite located behind a large rock bluff that rises vertically out of the depths of the river. Griffin Rapids Lean-To is reached after just over two hours. The “rapids” are merely a set of riffles where the rocky riverbed is briefly close to the surface. They seem quite innocuous, but it is sobering to remember that a paddler drowned a short distance upstream from here in 2003.

Cage Lake Springhole Lean-To, a prized campsite under a stand of tall, straight pines, is another hour’s paddle upstream. I highly recommend this spot or one of the nearby tent sites for birders.

Upstream, the river’s turns become tighter, its current quicker, and its obstacles sterner and less forgiving. Deep within this section is a logjam that is getting worse year after year. Use the ad hoc carry path through the alders on your left. Shortly beyond this bad spot, though, the river straightens itself out and becomes gentle again.

Allow two hours for the paddle upstream from Cage Lake Springhole to the lopsided footbridge that marks where the trail to Five Ponds and Wolf Pond departs. There is a large landing here, although admittedly it is an exposed place to leave your boat while you will be on the trail. If you have had enough for one day, there are plenty of campsites along this portion of the river where you could spend the night.

The Trail
Follow the blue-marked trail south from the river. You enter an area of massive blowdown (the trail itself is clear) and cross three wet hollows, the third one recently ravaged by beavers. The blowdown gives way to a mature forest, which quickly gives way to a true old growth forest after you ford the outlet stream of Big Shallow Pond. You reach the pond itself and its well-appointed lean-to about two miles from the river.

The continuing blue trail fords the creek again and follows a small esker through a blowdown-ravaged forest (the result of a 1995 windstorm) between Big Shallow, Little Shallow and Washbowl ponds. The brush can be quite thick here. However, after passing the Little Shallow Lean-To at 2.5 miles the trail reenters the deep woods and becomes a very pleasant woodland trail.

It continues this way to a junction at 4.6 miles. Bear left onto the yellow trail here and follow it for the last half-mile to the Wolf Pond Lean-To. The pond itself is located at the foot of a tall, steep bank in front of the lean-to, but unfortunately there is no view of the pond from the shelter.

My most memorable wildlife experience occurred here one foggy morning, when the soulful wails of a loon mingled with the riotous banter of a nearby pack of coyotes, which sounded remarkably similar. For a minute the two species joined together in a chorus the likes of which I have never heard again.

Bill Ingersoll lives in Barneveld. He is revising Barbara McMartin’s Discover series and is co-author of several books. For more information about this region, consult “Discover the Northwestern Adirondacks” (Lake View Press).

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