Osgood Pond and Upper Osgood River

By Rich Macha

You will not find too many places where you can paddle both small and large ponds, a narrow canal, and a river that seems to disappear into the wilderness, all in one day. Throw in a couple of Adirondack great camps and some history into the mix and you have a most-interesting day of Adirondack-style paddling. I recently got to revisit the Paul Smiths area and paddle from Church Pond through to the Osgood River via Osgood Pond.

Church Pond is on NY Route 86, 0.15 miles east of NY Route 30 and Paul Smith’s College. It is best to park on the dirt road next to the pond. A wooden dock allows paddlers the benefit of maintaining dry feet while entering and exiting their canoes or kayaks.

Heading northeast, you soon turn east through a narrow section of Church Pond before opening up somewhat again. The naturalist may want to closely examine the fascinating variety of plants that grow on trees that have fallen in the water. Much of the land to the north is within the Paul Smith’s College Conservation Easement Tract where you find three lean-tos plus some trails including a section of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail. At the east end of the pond, turn left and paddle into a short 10-foot-wide manmade canal that leads into Little Osgood Pond. Bear right to continue on the journey, but you may find that the western lobe deserves some exploring before continuing – I was surprised to find a loon hanging out in here.

At the far end of Little Osgood, enter a longer canal that is very shallow at times, and where heavily-laden craft may scrape bottom but, generally, will not be much of a problem to the day-tripper. The canals were dug in the 19th century to allow folks staying on Osgood Pond to get to church. The canal leads into the southern bay of Osgood Pond – note that an alternate launch spot is on the right at a sandy beach off White Pine Road.

The 508-acre Osgood Pond is big enough to be called a lake and you may want to avoid it on a windy day. Its shores are a mix of state, private and easement lands. You will see some development and there is a chance of having to share the water with a small power boat or two – despite this, the loons and other wildlife, such as bald eagles and Canada geese, seem to be tolerant of visitors. There is a lean-to on easement lands near the less-traveled southwest corner of the pond.

To get to the Osgood River, paddle around a point where Northbrook Lodge is located, then past its boathouse before heading northeast across the pond. Northbrook Lodge is an Adirondack great camp that has some Japanese architectural influence which was popular during the early 20th century when this assemblage of buildings was built.

Before entering the Osgood River, the Japanese Tea House of White Pine Camp is seen on your right. A long bridge leads from the tea house to the main camp where, curiously, from what I could see from the water, a lot of tall red pines grow – I’m sure there has to be at least one white pine there though. White Pine Camp is known for the fact that it was the summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1926. State Forest Preserve starts just north of the camp and Debar Mountain can be seen well to the north.

The river is quite broad and is navigable for close to three miles. Three backcountry campsites are located along the east shore. The water is often filled with some kind of vegetation including water lilies, pickerelweed and reeds; the west shore is often boggy. Trees are primarily coniferous – black spruce, balsam fir, northern white cedar and tamarack – typical of the northern boreal forest. The needles of tamaracks turn an attractive golden hue in late October and offer some welcome color well after deciduous trees have exhibited their showiness earlier in the month.

After a couple of miles, the river jogs left and Blind Brook enters from the northeast. We paddled up the brook for almost a mile and had to lift over two beaver dams before deciding to turnaround – it really felt as if we were deep in the wilderness here.

Back on the river, we soon stopped at the last campsite for a break, after which we continued down the river to the end of navigation where there were a few rocks, what is left of an old log dam, across the now-narrow river. Past this point, the river more resembles a babbling brook, and purportedly, disappears underground for a while.

Three great blue herons guided us back to Osgood Pond as they flew ahead, landed, then flew ahead again whenever we got to within 200 feet of them. We headed back roughly the way we came. Saint Regis Mountain could be seen to the southwest and Jenkins Mountain stood out to the west as we crossed the pond and rounded a private island.

On this most recent trip, our round-trip distance totaled 12 miles, but there is more to be explored in the vicinity if desired. The 1.5-mile outlet of Jones Pond enters the east end of Osgood Pond and can be paddled by those who are willing to lift over a few beaver dams. Jones Pond, itself is surrounded by state land.

The lower section of the Osgood River can easily be reached by paddling across the south end of Meacham Lake and then turning south to paddle upriver. This section is more like your typical meandering narrow Adirondack stream with the possibility of an occasional beaver dam or obstruction to get past. There are ponds and an esker to the east that you may want to explore along the way.

The Osgood River may be short in length but certainly is not short of interest to the paddler.

A lover of wild places, Rich Macha has led many trips for the Adirondack Mountain Club, and has spent 20 years in the paddlesport/snowsport business. More of Rich’s adventures can be found at northeastwild.blogspot.com.