Paddling Follensby Pond

We had a unique opportunity today to paddle Follensby Pond, currently owned by the Nature Conservancy.  It is the famous site of the 1858 Philosophers' Camp of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others; and also the site where bald eagles were introduced into the Adirondacks in 1980. Since it was the Conservancy's group paddle and they weren't sure of the paddling ability of the participants, we didn't get to paddle much of the pond.  We just put in at the end of the road and paddled to the beach where we had lunch.

But it was nice to get at least that much of a glimpse of it.

At the beach I found something I had never seen before, tracks in the sandy bottom made by mussels.

After lunch we walked the short distance to the outlet of the lake.

We have paddled up to this point from the Raquette River.

It is unclear what the future will be for the pond.  The Conservancy has done a fish study that showed it is a unique habitat for trout, but public access would quickly deplete the supply.  So it probably won't be opened to the public, but instead will be sold privately.  So this may be the only time we get to paddle it.