Black Pond WMA Exposed Dune Layers

Black Pond WMA Beach Looking South

See that some of the banks have been undermined.

Black Pond WMA Birches in the Swale

Black Pond WMA on Lake Ontario: Swale Behind the Foredune

In mid-November I longed to see once more before winter set in, four beach areas along the eastern Lake Ontario shoreline.

My goal one afternoon was to visit beaches ranging from Black Pond WMA in south-western Jefferson County, the farthest from home, to Sterling Nature Center in northern Cayuga County.

The other two were Sandy Pond Beach State Park and Mexico Point State Park, both in Oswego County.

Lake Ontario had been at disastrously high levels all spring and summer, causing major damage and closures of many camps, roads and parks all along the shoreline.

Glade on the Way to Lake Ontario

Black Pond Wildlife Management Area

...where the pond breaks through a sand barrier to reach Lake Ontario. South of this point is sand dunes and beaches; north is weathered flat rock, barren or with a thin layer of soil, extending northward more or less all the way to the St. Lawrence River.