Oversett Pond August 8, 2025
Hike Report – Oversett Pond – 8 August
Eighteen Denmark Mountain hikers gathered in the parking lot in Greenwood for the hike to Oversett Pond. Those hikers were: Jeff Sturgis, Steve Moy, Kathy Huchthausen, Tom Dugas, Susan Sedita, Mark Horsman, Robin Marciello, Jacob Schor, Eleanor Sapko, Rachel Pickus with Seamus and Rose, Andrew Bradford, Carol Strozewski, Polly Lombardi, Ginny Haase, Sandy Bell, Sheldon Ashby with Layla Ashby and Pearl Pabaton. We chose to take the loop trail around the pond in the counterclockwise direction. We left the gate at 10:00 am on a sunny and warm day. We hiked in on the gated and abandoned Oversett Pond Road and after about a mile, picked up the trail in the woods until we came to the junction for the loop trail at 10:30 am. We took the trail to the right over the outlet stream and walked along the shore of the pond a while before we started to gain elevation. It was here that Gordon Farrell caught up with us after arriving a little late at the trailhead. There were several switchbacks as the trail got steeper up the roughly 600 foot elevation gain to the top of the Oversett Mountain Ridge.
As we topped the ridge, we enjoyed the view from the first outlook and then continued on to the second, more spacious and unobstructed outlook. We hunkered down here at 11:30 am to enjoy our lunch and socialized with a great view of the pond below us and the forested hills beyond. After our summit picture we started down on the longest leg of the hike along the ridge and then on down to the swampy area across the inlet. This was a very nice trail, first through a nice deciduous forest transitioning to a section of fir trees and finally into alders and similar plants through the swampy area which had extensive, well constructed new boardwalks to keep our boots dry. The trail then curved around to the left and followed the shoreline of the pond directly opposite the ledgy ridge that we had recently been on. At the bottom of the ledge on the opposite shoreline were large boulders that were left by the glaciers that had formed this landscape. After one hour of hiking we reached a landing that had many canoes that had been brought in over the gated Oversett Pond Road by the locals for their trout fishing. Behind the landing was a cleared area with a fire pit and an outhouse.
We rested there for a while gathering our strength for the last push of a little over a mile back to our vehicles. The trail followed the pond for a bit until we came to the junction that completed the loop around the pond. A short distance later, we reach the discontinued Oversett Pond Road and walked back to the trailhead with everyone reaching the parking lot by 1:30 pm. We figured we had covered about 4.5 mies. It was in the high 70’s and fairly comfortable when we started, but it had reached the mid-eighties when we finished causing everyone to be happy that the hike was over. The consensus was that this was a beautiful spot, and in spite of the heat, a great hike.
Jeff Sturgis
