BTS#14: Flat Mountain Pond, White Mountain Nat'l Forest
Recording pure nature sounds on a high elevation pond in New Hampshire.
Introduction
At an elevation of 2,330’, Flat Mountain Pond appears out of nowhere in the Southern Sandwich Wilderness of the White Mountain National Forest.
This location has been on my list for a very long time.
More than 3 miles away from the nearest paved road, and nestled between multiple mountain peaks, Flat Mountain Pond looks like an ideal candidate for natural silence (no noise pollution) on paper.
However, upon arrival, I began to have some doubts.
Both east and west parking lots to access the trailhead were nearly completely full…about 30 cars in total.
As it was a Saturday, I guessed that most of the people were simply out for a day hike, and that I would have the place to myself on Sunday and Monday.
As it turned out, Flat Mountain Pond was more popular than I suspected, but for good reason.
While sharing the mile-long pond with backpackers both Saturday and Sunday night, I fell in love with the landscape here.
In the silent time I spent observing, I watched and listened to:
dueling dragonflies
jumping fish
coniferous winds
relentless flies
echoing birds
booming frogs
chattering squirrels
I even watched a leech swimming in the shallows. I was surprised to see them moving like snakes in the water. Here’s a short video for those of you who haven’t seen one before.
Video
In this Behind The Sounds (BTS) episode, you’ll experience Flat Mountain Pond from my view and learn tips on how to record wind and fire sounds in the wilderness.
The BTS series is a resource for learning field recording techniques, advice, methodology, and gear selection and set up.
Each episode covers one recording expedition.
It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to film these informative videos in the field and edit them in post production.
To watch the full Behind The Sounds series, consider becoming a Patreon.
If you do, you’ll also get:
Field Recording For Beginners eBook
participate in monthly sound challenges
free downloads of my nature sound albums
the opportunity to Zoom with me to ask questions, nerd out on gear, or receive critiques on your work.
Sounds
In total, I recorded 60 hours of audio on Flat Mountain Pond.
Out of that total, 6 hours were noise pollution free.
That’s 10% and is considerably higher than my average recording trip!
I could have had several additional hours, but a group of three campers blasted country music across the pond until midnight Saturday night…
The BandCamp album represents the sonic highlights from the trip as a whole.
Photos
Final Thoughts
Despite having to share Flat Mountain Pond with a few groups of backpackers, the trip was well worth it and yielded many great recordings.
Though I’ve crossed it off my “to-do” list, I will be back to observe the sounds here during different seasons. Next time, I’ll go during the week to avoid the crowds!
Support Acoustic Nature
If you enjoyed this post and would like to help support Acoustic Nature, please consider "buying me a coffee" or becoming a Patreon with the buttons below.
As a thank you for your support, Patreon supporters receive a copy of Field Recording For Beginners, exclusive access to the full Behind The Sounds video series, nature sound library downloads, and more.
If you are unable to support the site financially, please share this post with others, or leave a comment below letting me know you enjoyed this post! Both are free and help the website grow. Thank you ♫
Thanks for reading,
-Jared
Read Next:
7 month review of the Peak Design Travel Aluminum Tripod.