Last weekend our friend Sarah came to visit and we wanted to get out for a short hike. Alden is walking/running now and with the heat of the summer, putting him in a backpack carrier sounds hot and miserable, so we opted for a hike where we could push him in the stroller. We went to Cherry Pond and Little Cherry Pond at Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge. We’ve hiked in this refuge to Mud Pond and blogged about it recently: Snow Pond.

Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge

Parking is off of Airport Road/Hazen Road in Jefferson, NH.  One of the great things about this hike, is that it is very easily accessible for everyone.  The trail to Cherry Pond is a flat, wide, defunct railroad bed.  It is perfect for a wheel chair, riding bikes, or in our case, pushing a stroller.

Sarah at the start of the trail.

As soon as we started walking however, we were swarmed by mosquitos!  We quickly covered Alden and doused ourselves with bug spray, but they still buzzed all around us.

Walking to Cherry Pond.

We found the Champion black spruce tree (http://extension.unh.edu/Trees/NH-Big-Tree-Program) pretty easily and you can too.  Just look for the small forest opening on the right hand side of the trail.  You can’t miss the magnificent beauty!

The champion black spruce tree.

Soon enough we made our way to the platform overlooking Cherry Pond.  We stopped for a few photos and then continued back along the edge of the pond toward Little Cherry Pond.

The beautiful view from the Cherry Pond platform.

What a cute family photo! Shhh…Alden is sleeping under the mosquito netting.

Walking along the railroad bed to the Little Cherry Pond trail.

Spur trail to Little Cherry Pond is only 0.6 miles.

We started to make our way up the trail, but the mosquitos were ferocious so Andrew decided to head back with Alden and let Sarah and Lindsay continue. The girls jogged to stay ahead of the buzzing and hungry mosquitos, stopped at Little Cherry Pond for a quick photo and turned back quickly.

The mosquitos are getting us!

As soon as we were out of the woods and back on the railroad bed, the mosquito swarm diminished, but the deer flies were relentless.  After finding no sign of Andrew and Alden, the girls started making their way back toward the parking area assuming the boys had just started back. Nothing like some annoying bugs to make a nice morning stroll into a fast-paced power hike!  Amazingly, we ended up with only a few bites each.

Blue flag iris at Little Cherry Pond.