Today I mountain biked in to Long Pond, in Benton, NH. The ice was excellent, thick black ice from end to end, though with lots of blemishes and some snowy areas.
The access road is closed from both ends, so I parked at the north gate closure (there’s a nice little parking area, room for 4-6 vehicles) and biked from there. The northern part of Long Pond Road hasn’t been open since November 2022; it got badly damaged last winter, and never re-opened. It’s still damaged, but easily navigable by mountain bike. A handful of washouts that you can ride through, and half a dozen trees down that require stopping to go over or around. From the north gate it’s about 2.75 miles / 4.5 km, and on the way in it’s a steady climb up about 725 ft / 220 m. (The southern way in is, I believe, about 5.5 miles / 8.9 km and 1,150 ft / 350 m. But I haven’t done it.)
The ice was great from the boat ramp south to the inlet, where there was a little bit of open water. There were a handful of other open spots as well, but all obvious and easily avoided. Around the edges of the pond, and some edges of the islands, there was fresher black ice that was right on the edge of being strong enough. Otherwise it was all thick and strong. Not, however, perfect fresh black ice, but rather black ice that had matured and developed blemishes. Great skating nonetheless. The northern end of the pond had some snow skimmed areas, but the good kind of snow cover that just makes your strides quiet and soft. There were a very few drifted spots where the snow could catch you; again, easily observed and avoided.
Happy skating! And boy is there a lot of happy skating right now. Thanks for all the great reports!
— Christopher Boone