Every named pond in the Adirondack Park — quiet waters, lean-to destinations, swimming holes. Browse by region or jump to a name.
Babbe Pond is an 18-acre water in Keene — small enough to miss on most maps, quiet enough to stay that way. No fish stocking records on file, no formal trail system, no lean-tos — this is either private or effectively unmanaged, the kind of pond that shows up in property deeds and old survey maps but rarely in trip reports. If you're poking around the back roads between Keene Valley and the Ausable Club lands, you might catch a glimpse through the trees. For most paddlers and anglers, it's a name on a list and not much more.
Birch Pond is a seven-acre water tucked into the Keene township — small enough to stay off most hiking itineraries, quiet enough to hold that status. No fish stocking records on file, no marked trail system leading in, no lean-to or DEC campsite designation — the kind of pond that shows up on a topo map but rarely in trip reports. If you're looking for solitude and you know how to navigate off-trail in the northeastern Adirondacks, Birch Pond delivers exactly what its acreage suggests: a place to sit still for an hour and hear nothing but water and wind. Access details are local knowledge; ask in Keene Valley if you're serious about finding it.
Butternut Pond is a 159-acre water in the Keene Valley corridor — large enough to hold decent depth and structure, but off the main trail network and absent from most fishing reports. No documented stocking or species surveys in the DEC records, which usually means either legacy brookies that haven't been sampled in decades or a pond that doesn't winter well enough to hold trout year-round. Access likely requires bushwhacking or following old logging roads — the kind of water that shows up on the topo but not in the trail register. If you're looking for solitude and don't mind uncertain fishing, ponds like this are the reason people still carry a compass.
