Balsam Lake Mountain - Geography

Geography

Balsam Lake Mountain is in the middle of a long range beginning at Barkaboom Mountain to the west and extending east to Doubletop Mountain. It rises from a base well over well over 2,000 feet (610 m) on the north and south, with cols over 3,000 feet (910 m) between it and neighboring peaks. Creeks rise in several narrow valleys on all sides, the largest of which is Clark Hollow on the northwest. The steep valley slopes alternate with gentler ridges in between.

The summit plateau above 3,600 feet (1,100 m) is relatively flat, shaped like a large T pointing north, south, and east. On the west, a steep face drops to a shallow col of 3,140 feet (960 m) between Balsam Lake Mountain and the neighboring easternmost 3,420 feet (1,040 m) summit of Mill Brook Ridge. South of that summit extends 3,460-foot (1,050 m) Woodpecker Ridge, which with Balsam Lake Mountain and the connecting ridge forms the narrow valley in which the feeder stream to Balsam Lake, the feature the neighboring mountain is named for, rises. Black Brook flows out of the hollow on the southeast, below a more gradual ridge descending from the summit to a low of 3,340 feet (1,020 m), where it connects to the 3,440-foot (1,050 m) and 3,480-foot (1,060 m) peaks known unofficially as West and East Schoolhouse mountains between Balsam Lake and 3,868-foot (1,179 m) Graham Mountain, the High Peak two miles (3.2 km) to its east.

Mill Brook, which gives the mountain to the west its name, rises from the hollow on the northeast. It is joined by an unnamed tributary which flows into it from Clark Hollow. All the streams that rise on Balsam Lake Mountain are part of the Delaware River's watershed. Mill Brook on the north slopes feeding that river's East Branch directly at Pepacton Reservoir, making it part of New York City's water supply. Water from the southern streams drains into the Beaver Kill not far below the mountain, which itself reaches the East Branch at East Branch well below the reservoir's dam at Downsville.

The southern and northwestern portions of the mountain, down to an elevation of 2,100 feet (640 m) in Clark Hollow, are owned by the state. Its Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) manages the land as part of the 13,500-acre (5,500 ha) Balsam Lake Mountain Wild Forest, which stretches across Mill Brook Ridge and circles back to Beaverkill Road around private lands along Beecher Lake and brook. The northern slope, up to 3,600 feet (1,100 m) on the summit's northern spur and 3,400 feet (1,000 m) along the fire tower road, is privately owned by the descendants of railroad baron Jay Gould, who grew up in nearby Roxbury.