Skate Report: Miller, Reservoir & Cummins Ponds, Strafford VT & Lyme NH

[JoAnn Berns]

Skated Reservoir Pond just outside the skiing area known as Green Woodlands, and Cummins Pond, inside it.  Also skated Miller Pond in South Strafford, VT.  Three small early season gems when conditions are good.  I would not travel far for any of them based on today but if you're flexible re ice quality and nearby, good fun. 

All 3 have very solid ice, 3+ everywhere except inlets, outlets.  On Reservoir saw 2 thinly iced holes likely kept open by wind and one on Cummins so be careful as they refreeze but will still be thinner tomorrow.  

All 3 easily accessible by land.  All had highly variable surfaces: a little bit of skim ice, lots of refrozen crack, drainhole and snow squall ice.  All had modest sections of smooth ice and the smoothest ice was under the thin soft snow cover.  Miller was best at the far end, from the inlet area to beyond the camp's docks and has good parking at the Fish & Wildlife access.  If the thin snow cover stays soft, Reservoir and Cummins have nice circumnavigations (we cut the latter short only due to time, not ice conditions) with views of Smarts Mtn (see pic).  

Note:  The parking is extremely limited at Reservoir as the small boat launch area is not plowed and road parking is not allowed, so may need to walk from one of the very few roadside plowed out areas (do not park in plowed areas at the end of driveways), or go to the parking area for Greens and walk back.  

Cummins is a lovely pond requiring a (pretty) 30 min walk in, best to have spiked footwear for it, not good conditions for skiing in.

In the map pic the track starts where we found a very small roadside parking area to access Reservoir, then drove to the "P" parking area and walked in to Cummins.

Happy skating,

Jo

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[JoAnn Berns]

Red line is our track and the Greens parking area is where the red line goes up above the "R" in "Dorchester Road."

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From: nhnordi...@googlegroups.com <nhnordi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of JoAnn Berns <dr...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2024 6:29 PM
To: vtnordicskating@googlegroups com <vtnordi...@googlegroups.com>; nhnordicskating@googlegroups com <nhnordi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Skate Report: Miller, Reservoir & Cummins Ponds, Strafford VT & Lyme NH

 

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From: nhnordi...@googlegroups.com <nhnordi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of JoAnn Berns <dr...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2024 6:29 PM
To: vtnordicskating@googlegroups com <vtnordi...@googlegroups.com>; nhnordicskating@googlegroups com <nhnordi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Skate Report: Miller, Reservoir & Cummins Ponds, Strafford VT & Lyme NH

 

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[David Lysy]

For those going to Reservoir Pond, park in the snowmobile parking 0.3 miles east from the boat launch.  Just past the Hinman DOC Cabin.  The snowmobile parking is on the south side of Dorchester Road. 

D

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[Sandra Owens]

I was able to break through the ice about 2’ out from shore. Ice was 1.5” thick. I was not able to get on the creek but sense it is likely thicker. There is a dam to the immediate left of the parking area. 

The creek looks really nice though and I’m hopeful to get on it by Sunday with these next couple of cold days.

Sandra Owens

Benson, VT

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On Dec 13, 2024, at 6:31 PM, JoAnn Berns <dr...@hotmail.com> wrote:



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