Miller’s Pond is only forty minutes from my house. It still took me two full hours to actually get my boat on the water last Sunday. My paper map was printed four years ago and it showed a public access dirt road right off the main highway. The dirt road is still there. The brown wooden public access sign is gone.
I drove past the turn twice before I recognized the tree line. When I finally steered down the gravel path, it ran for about half a mile and then ended abruptly at a chained metal gate. There was no room to turn my car around. I had to put it in reverse and back up all the way to the highway while checking my mirrors to avoid hitting a drainage ditch.
I eventually parked at a small gravel pull off near the south bridge instead. There is room for exactly two cars there without blocking the county road. Getting to the water means you have to carry your boat down a steep, slick mud bank. My kayak weighs forty pounds empty. I slipped twice on the way down and got dark brown mud all over my shins and the knees of my pants.
The pond itself was completely empty once I finally pushed off. There were no motorboats and the wind was dead. The water is mostly shallow near the edges. I spent three hours just paddling the perimeter and looking at submerged tree branches and old tire tracks on the opposite bank.
I stopped near a patch of tall reeds to drink my coffee around noon. My thermos does not hold heat well and the coffee was already lukewarm. I sat there for another hour anyway before paddling back to the bridge.
If you want to try this spot, ignore the main access road on the older county maps. Park at the south bridge and wear shoes with actual rubber grip on the soles.