Every named pond in the Adirondack Park — quiet waters, lean-to destinations, swimming holes. Browse by region or jump to a name.
Bartlett Pond is a four-acre pocket water in the Lake Placid town boundary — small enough that it rarely appears on recreational radar, and remote enough that access details stay local knowledge. No fish stocking records on file, which typically means limited habitat depth or a shallow basin that winterkills, though some of these off-grid ponds hold wild brookies that never make it into DEC surveys. The pond sits outside the High Peaks corridor proper, so it's not a trailhead magnet or a lean-to destination. If you know where it is, you're either hunting the woodlot edges or you grew up within a few miles.
Big Cherrypatch Pond is an 11-acre water in the Lake Placid region — small enough that it lives mostly in the local knowledge column, not the tourist circuit. The name suggests old clearings or burn scars where wild cherry moved in, a common Adirondack succession story, though the pond itself has likely grown back to mixed hardwood and softwood by now. No fish data on file, which often means either limited access or a pond that doesn't hold populations through winter drawdown. If you know where it is, you know why you're going — and that's usually the ponds worth the effort.
Black Pond is a six-acre pocket water in the Lake Placid region — small enough that it likely sits tucked in forest away from main corridors, and without fish stocking records or named trail access in the DEC database. Ponds this size in the Lake Placid area are often remnants of old timber operations or wetland complexes that never made it onto the recreational map, though some hold brook trout that wander in from feeder streams. If you know where it is, you probably found it by accident or from a local tip. No formal access documented — which in the Adirondacks usually means bushwhack, private land, or both.
Three connected ponds at the headwaters of the Boreas River, acquired by New York State in 2016 as the centerpiece of the 20,758-acre Boreas Ponds Tract — the largest single addition to the Forest Preserve in a generation. Paddle-in or hike-in only via Gulf Brook Road. Mount Marcy and the Great Range fill the northern sky from the upper pond. Lean-tos and primitive sites along the shoreline. The single most photographed view in the newest wilderness areas of the Park.
Bradley Pond is an 8-acre backcountry pond at the foot of the Santanoni Range, reached via 3.9 miles of the Bradley Pond Trail from Tahawus. A lean-to sits on the shore — most visitors overnight here before summiting Santanoni, Panther, or Couchsachraga.
