9/20/14 Hidden Ponds

Mostly sunny and 50's - not bad. I had a couple of ideas for this hike and it also has lots of water for Kelley.

We started from the parking lot on Rte. 182 . The first thing I wanted to check was the trail to Tunk Mt. The trail up Tunk  from here has been too hard for Kelley but perhaps when they worked on the other trails they rerouted or improved access on the Tunk Trail.

First stop a small stream near the start of the hike

and then by Salmon Pond

and Mud Pond

to the Tunk Mt. Trail - the first part had not changed and was still too much for Kelley- and there is not a work around for her. Later on this trail there are iron rungs to climb- another problem for her. Before they put in the rungs ( and rerouted)  there were ropes hanging down the rocks to assist you.

we turned back and took the new loop trail which took us past Little long Pond

to the no longer maintained trail to Tilden Pond

Too high

but she found a spot where she could get in while I photographed some sticks

The other thing I wanted to do was try to find some trail past Tilden Pond. They are on this map made by the hiker who gave it to me but not on other maps.

I have marked on the map the route I think we took- because it came to a camp which is indicated on the map. looks like they are ready for cold weather.

There was an old woods road/path leading back from beside the cabin and we took that hoping to find either the trail to Tilden Pond or Little Long Pond . Pretty woods but we did not see any trails going off it. We eventually came to a large beaver pond without finding any other trails.

At this point we gave up for the day and headed back the way we had come. We will try this again. I will contact my map source for help.

Turned out to be a nice hike anyway as it was a pretty day in the woods. Kelley was happy with all the water and seemed to enjoy trails we had not been on before. 3  1/2 hours