Pond Sampling!

I collected water samples from Little East Pond and East Pond today, as well as Russel Pond and Beaver Pond. Summer is starting to get warmer and more humid. It was a relatively easy 5-mile loop hike for the east pond pair. There was plenty of moose track and sign along the trails. Little East Pond is a clear, tiny, and shallow body of water surrounded by a spruce-fir forest. It appeared to only be a couple of feet deep at the deepest point, it seemed like it might be possible to walk through the entire pond (see photo below top). The black flies were particularly bad however. I noticed a pair of ducks in the water, with lots of what I think are green frogs along the banks (see photo).


The trail from Little East to East Pond is primarily flat, cutting through a very dense spruce-fir and yellow birch forest. East Pond is striking in its beauty (see top photo of me getting a sample and middle photo bottom), very clear with a blue tinge, this pond was once mined for diatomaceous earth. I waded into the water and briefly submerged myself, it was almost painfully cold, but very refreshing after a sweaty, humid hike. I wanted to stay longer but I was worried about possible thunderstorms, and I wanted to have enough time to sample Russel and Beaver Ponds. Russel Pond is alongside a Forest Service campground down the road from the east pond trail, and Beaver Pond is just off Route 112 near the Lost River.