Snowshoe Routes: Adirondacks & Catskills by Bill Ingersoll

Author:Bill Ingersoll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mountaineers Books

Cotton Lake shoreline

The old woods road begins clearly enough at the bend on Withers Road. For the first fifteen minutes of walking it leads nearly due south, but then makes a prominent bend to the east. Just after the bend, there is a lesser side road continuing south towards Forty Mountain Beaver Pond. Continue straight as the trail swings just north of east, reaching another fork at 1 mile. You may notice an old barrel or gas can just before this point. You may also notice two or three diverging routes. The leftmost leads to private land; straight leads to the site of a stone dam on Twin Lakes Stream; right is the route to Cotton Lake.

For the remaining 2.5 miles to the pond, the route winds between a series of open and partially wooded wetlands, several of which you can see from the path. You then swing southeast and begin a long descent into the valley of the North Branch Little Black Creek. (On the return, this is the longest uphill on the entire route.) Find a good ice bridge across the North Branch and follow the route around the north side of another vly visible to your right.

The path then forks left from the old road. This turn may be marked by an old paint blaze or other informal marking, but for the remaining 0.3 mile the path no longer follows a woods road and is therefore less obvious. It leads up one rise, skirts the edge of a slight basin, and then climbs to a saddle. Cotton Lake is just beyond, after a nearly two-hour hike.

The pond is small and round, and might be considered plain were it not for the sculpture garden of weathered snags that rim its southern and eastern shoreline. The gently sloping topography and the open forest make it possible to establish a winter camp just about anywhere around the pond. The sense of seclusion is hard to beat. Bushwhackers will also be tempted to continue on to Middle Branch Marsh and North Branch Lake, both of which are much easier to explore in the frozen embrace of winter.

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