Swimming Holes

With this wkend looking to be HOT
Can you folks give me some ideas of hikes to obscure - beautiful - places where you can also swim? preferable places that won't have a ton of people around & w/in approx 1-2 hrs from albany
i know of fawn lake, blue ledges, dix watering holes, the lake i guess by is it ampersand or catamount (i forget). your secret places revealed here please!thnx

Check out Canary Pond in the Silver Lake Wilderness near Wells. It’s between Upper Benson and Whitehouse on the Northville Placid Trail. There is a nice rock ledge on the shore were the water is about 12’ deep making for a nice place to jump off of. It's about a 9 mile hike from Whitehouse. Promise not to swim if there are people fishing. Nothing scares the fish away faster than someone jumping into the water.

shadowcat said:

your secret places revealed here please!thnx

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If they are secret, we can't very well reveal them now can we?

-dave-

Here's a source:

Swimming Holes

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness.

There's a great ledge to jump off into Clear Pond, many ledges and slabs to slide into the water at Rock Pond, Pharaoh lake has a great spot in front of the leanto on the northeast side.

Also, Tenant Creek has some great spots to cool off. The cross marks the parking area with the creek going off to the east.

Dave's secret place

"If they are secret, we can't very well reveal them now can we"
I'll pay you money $$$$$$$$$$$

Mr X

That "swimming holes" link...
I used that last year and we drove to what was supposed to be this great place to swim far up on the hudson. I can't remember the name of the town it was by. let me tell you, it was so skanky! we were so dissappointed. there was trash, broken bottles, grafitti all over the rocks, dirty diapers, food. i am not even close to exaggerating! here was this place that could and should have been pristine. the water looked good and there could have been a nice shoreline w/ lots of cool rocks to hang out on but the folks around there ruined it. i wish i could remember the name of the town i actually wrote to the town supervisor or paper & told them how ashamed they should be. of course i never heard back. now that was a total lack of LNT!
Spier's Falls by Corinth - that's the place that was totally disgusting! Reason why I come to you guys vs a link off the web - I trust you more.

Other than the pool in my backyard? Let's see SC, there's the two spots in West Lebanon/Brainard where Rt. 20 crosses the river. (I'm not sure if that's the Poestenkill, Batenkill, or whateverkill) They look like nice spots, but I don't think there would be alot of privacy.

How about a tubing trip down the Deerfield in Charlemont? Or for that fact, down the West Branch of the Westfield River in Chester, Huntington and Russell. Some spots near Rt. 20 might have some swimmers, but away from the highway wouldn't.

Mr. X said:

Here's a source:

Swimming Holes

Click to expand...

This site is hit or miss actually. I've found some SWEET holes, and some S#!t holes. Not a bad idea to stick to the one's that have photos!!

Shoe Box Falls, Rte 73, Keene NY Area

Shoe Box Falls is about one mile up the North Branch of the Bouquet River from Rte 73. Drive up Rte 73 towards Keene from the ADK Northway (I'm guessing Exit 30, not far from the Split Rock Falls, another nice hole right on Rte 9). There is a lot on the left which has parking for some roadside camping and parking on that side of the highway (I guess it's south side) as well. Follow the stream about one mile until you get to the rocky slabs. There you will find a spot where the rock split diagonally, but downward, with a small falls and about a thirty foot deep (who knows, may be much deeper) pool, just 15-20 feet wide and about 50-70 feet long. From there the water cascades over the rock along some nice little flumes. Perfect for kids of all ages, really quiet mid-week. It combines a nice little hike with a very cool little swimming hole. You won't be alone, but you won't be mobbed.

Enjoy

Wherever you go, I'd stay away from Huntington Gorge. We need to remember safety first in the back country, especially. Swimming holes are great, but may hold unexpected hazards. "Killer Gorge" I've met locals who are tight lipped about their swimming holes so they won't have to pull the "flatlanders" out.

Here's just one

-LINK TO SOMEWHERE ELSE-

Shadowcat,

Based on your request of spots without too many people:

About a half mile in on the North Trail to Giant there are a couple of nice spots on Slide Brook right next to the trail.

(Here's a pretty good "secret" spot: Well up Dipper Brook, which is the brook that drains the Giant / Rocky col, there's a wonderful place I call "the grotto." Easiest way to reach it: Take the Zander Scott (Giant Ridge) trail to the last switchback, where the trail makes it's final left turn to head for the Washbowl. Instead, turn right, and bushwhack through open woods, slightly uphill, to the brook. There are a couple of small waterfalls and pools, and a nice view.)

Here's where I ended up.....

Blue Ledges
let me tell you the place to be this wkend was def on water! and blue ledges was greeeeaaaatttttt!!!!. it was a longer drive & hike in then i expected. for some reason i had in my head the trail was near a main road and a short walk in so i thought man the locals will be out in force. but it was a bit of a drive past minerva and then almost 7 miles on a dirt road. the hike in was only 2.5 miles but there was one muddy rock garden after another. on the way in i was full of energy and skipped and hopped my way but on the way out i was dragging big time - fully feeling the effects of the heat. the misquitos were a pain whenever we hit a muddy area but once on the beach the bugs didn't bother us at all.
i was in my glory. we had the entire place to ourselves up until the time we left at 3:30 when a couple came in w/ their 3 dogs.
the place is very nice & i'd def recommend it for a day hike when it's hot for some swimming, reading and exploring. the water was cool and clean. the far side of the river was flowing pretty good still but 1/2 of the river on our side was fine for swimming. plenty of room to dive and swim. if you haven't been there give it a go this summer.

Along the Lincoln gap road in Vermont on the west side of the gap runs a nice stream. There is a natural bowl that circulates round and round. You'll have to spot it for yourself.

The swift circular current is created by a waterfall which feeds the bowl.

We actually went scuba diving in it to see what it felt like to be under a water fall. (your tank gets ripped out of its cam strap, thats all)

As an aside, like most streams it is full of nasties that look like a cross between a giant millipede and a crayfish. But they dont seem to mind your presence.

Blue Ledge....slowly I turned, step by step...

Shadowcat;

You should see Blue Ledge in the winter - there is awesome ice all the way down the ledges. Problem is getting across the Hudson since it does not freeze over because the water is moving too fast. We could not figure out a safe way to get across. So we had to stare at this beautiful ice with no way of getting to the base of the climb.

I'll PM you some pics since I can't figure out how to post them here.

KZ blue ledges ice climbing

when i was surfing the web for info on blue ledges i saw several links referring to the ice climbing. i didn't look into them at the time but maybe you could search and see if any of them discuss how to actually get to it? you could also try contacting ian at adk mountain guides; he may know:
http://www.adirondackmountainguides.com/ice.html
(tell him i told you to ask him - he knows me by bj)
will look for the pics
thnx

OK - I figured out how to attach a photo to this post.

kz: sweet

wouldn't it be fun if we could have ice like that but in the summer so you could climb in shorts and a t-shirt? well, maybe but in 90 degree weather that ice looks good. there is a thread on Neice site where someone is asking how to climb or get to the ice. it came up on google when i did a search for blue ledges but i can't for the life of me find the thread. it was in feb of this yr. maybe you'll have better luck. thanx for cooling me off!

Yeah - that was my climbing partners thread on NEice.

Summer ice? - I just returned from a week on a glacier in Alaska. 24 hour sun and lots of ice - it was not shorts and tee shirt weather though.