All in a Day’s Work

Some of our sampling sites for the Adirondack Long Term Monitoring Program are accessible roadside locations which makes planning gear and equipment logistics easier. Other sites are incredibly remote and offer much more of a challenge in getting both staff and the gear there while getting the samples back to the lab efficiently. One of our most arduous trips is to Willys Lake in the bowels of the Five Ponds Wilderness area. Because the driving distance to the site is so far, and involves leaving the Adirondack Park only to reenter elsewhere, we typically camp at nearby Whetstone Gulf State Park. This July Research Associate Lija Treibergs and I made the trek, and we started by sampling six different outlet and stream sites on our way down to camp for the night. Most of these were roadside or accessible after a short hike but it still took all day. We treated ourselves to some ice cream at Mary’s Dairy and made the campground by 7pm. But even after we got there our day was not quite over yet. Because we would not get these samples back to the lab within 24hrs, the TP bottles, testing for Total Phosphorus, needed to have a solution of Sulfuric Acid added to suspend/stop any biological processes from continuing. After our work was done for the day, we ate dinner and were in our sleeping bags by dark.

With a long day ahead of us we were on the road by 6am. The drive to the parking area still took over an hour, most of which was spent winding down a bumpy dirt road. After a brief delay obtaining the current gate code which had changed since the last visit, we reached the next gate and could drive no further. Next, we loaded our packs with about thirty pounds of gear, including canoe paddles, put on our helmets and hopped on our bikes. The next mile and a half was dirt and large cobblestones but mostly ridable having to get off and walk up only a couple steep hills. Near Bear Pond, the road worsened to a muddy, boggy ATV trail and we stashed our bikes to continue on foot. We followed this trail for another two and a half miles, cautiously tiptoeing along the logs and sticks among the stagnant marshy water. Now at our GPS cut-in for Willys Lake, the half mile bushwhack began. Our pace lessened as we fought through thick forest, sweaty and covered in pine needles, and then all of a sudden water came into view and before I knew it we were standing along the shore next to a small metal rowboat.

Since the last visit a tree had fallen on the boat but thankfully it did no damage and was rotten, light and easy to throw off. As we paddled our way out to the deep hole to profile and collect our sample, my eyes were like sponges soaking up the pristine beauty of this isolated backcountry lake. The remote Five Ponds Wilderness area is one of my favorites and I always enjoy exploring somewhere new. While the rippling water lapped at the sides of the boat I pondered just how many people visited Willys Lake annually and how many people had ever visited Willys Lake. Very few people, I decided and considered myself incredibly fortune to be there experiencing true wildness in this special place. It was the type of place you never want to leave and the minute you do, can’t stop thinking about the next time you’ll be back.

After the long, difficult journey back to the truck we still had to sample nearby Loon Hollow Pond before driving back to the lab. We drove a few miles back down the dirt road and parked near a fork where once again we hopped on our bikes and rode a mile and a half uphill towards the pond. Thankfully this waterbody also had a boat stashed along shore for us to use, provided by the private landowners. As we launched the boat the sky darkened considerably. When we reached the deep hole, we worked very quickly while keeping eyes and ears aimed at the worsening clouds. Then, suddenly, the sky rang out with deep deafening thunder. I finished filling my last collection bottle and immediately started reeling in the anchor line while Lija brought the EXO sonde back to the surface. We paddled as fast as we could towards shore and the minute the boat was secured the deluge began. The temperature dropped considerably as we carefully biked back downhill in the pouring rain. Back at the truck it was finally time to change out of our wet, dirty clothes and start dreaming of what we might find for dinner at Stewart’s on our way home.