Beaver Pond (Orleans County)

Beaver Pond is a remote 40-acre pond in the Bill Sladyk Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Orleans County. In part 2 of Natural areas of Vermont [1969], Hub Vogelmann described a cedar bog at one end of Beaver Pond, but beyond that, no details were given.

Here I provide an online map for reference. The map shows Beaver Pond to be in the far northwest corner of the WMA, just a few hundred feet from the Canadian border. I visited this area on July 24, 2023. From the designated parking area, I hiked an old woods road (now called the Round Pond Trail) to its intersection with the Beaver Pond Trail. At the end of the Beaver Pond Trail, I found a primitive campsite and two small boats, but no bog. Since the forest along the southern shore of the pond was dense, I decided to retrace my steps and try another approach.

A different map showed an alternate trail to Beaver Pond, so I decided to try that. To make a long story short, I found a cedar bog at the end of that trail. See the online map for details.

• My observations on this day

In retrospect, the quickest way to get to the bog is to paddle a boat from the end of the Beaver Pond Trail across the pond to its northern shore. I'll bet those boats are used for exactly that purpose!

Posted on July 29, 2023 11:57 AM by trscavo