Paddling and Snorkeling Little Green Pond

Enjoying summer to the end

The final summery days of the season are gold for us all and so Wren and I took advantage of a splendid afternoon earlier this week and set out for Little Green Pond. We started with a swim and as we approached the sandy beach area, I noticed two distant Hooded Mergansers flying along the far shore of the lake. I threw the ball a few times for Wren who plunged in after it, and then I grabbed my mask and snorkel and dipped into the water myself. Wren sat playing with her ball in the sand.

I snorkeled through the clear, green waters of the aptly named pond, following logs and branches which may have hidden a fish or a turtle. Rather than find a turtle, I noticed a few old beer and soda cans hiding in the logs and I dived to pick them up. I had actually been doing the same thing in

After snorkeling for about a half hour or so I began swapping my snorkeling gear for my paddles, and I grabbed a plastic bag from the car to collect the cans. I quickly discovered there were not one, but two, more crayfish hunkered down in two of the cans! So I held the cans in the water, hoping they would choose to leave – I had nothing with me to cut the cans open. The first crayfish left its can quickly – my disturbance of it must have convinced it that its neighborhood in aquatic suburbia was falling into disrepair. The other, however, stubbornly remained and I had to wait it out, trapping the can down with a stick so the crayfish could leave while I finished getting the canoe ready. But the wind and waves tipped the can up and the crayfish remained stuck inside. So I stood holding the can down in the water and waited. Finally the crayfish came to the opening – unsure if it should venture forth. It had a bit of a squeeze to get out of the hole, but it eventually managed it and shot across the open sand for fear of being exposed. Wren and I hopped into the canoe and set off.

Little Green Pond is a peaceful paddle and can make an easy short trip if that’s the goal. We looped the shoreline as I usually do and Wren took up her usual post alternating between watching the shore and dozing in the sun. A few Ring-billed Gulls flew overhead, and a pair of Common Loons sat in the middle of the lake, their wailing calls drifting on the breeze towards us.

A bit of birding and other wildlife 

As we skirted the far shore we spooked up the pair of Hooded Mergansers I had seen earlier, and they flew around and behind us to land again. Further along, the northeast portion of the lake creates a small corner and as we poked our bow into it to explore, three more Hooded Mergansers – this year’s chicks – came out and flew across the lake. Passing a beaver lodge - I’ve also seen North American River Otters on the ice on Little Green Pond during the winter - we turned to complete our loop. As we neared the put-in, a small gaggle of young Common Mergansers proceeded to dive and feed in the shallows along the shoreline. If crayfish could hate, they were probably cursing me and my home-wrecking habits under their breath for exposing them, and I wondered if they had all found a safe hiding place from the mergansers.

I waited for the mergansers to move along and we paddled to shore. Wren played and swam again while I loaded the gear and we headed home for dinner as the sun dipped to kiss the horizon. I stopped twice on the way home – the first to watch two Beavers swimming in Lake Clear Outlet. And then as I reached the open sky and saw the enormous full moon rising over the mountains, I had no choice but to stop again. Dinner was late that night.

Find other great places to bird and paddle in Saranac Lake.