Can I keep ducks this far from the pond, realistically?

I'm thinking of getting some ducks and I need some advice on housing them. We have a pond on the property but it's situated in the woods at the bottom of a big muddy hill, and would be pretty inconvenient for me to get to on a twice-daily basis. I would really want to house them near the barn/chicken coop and allow them to roam over to the pond at their leisure. How far is too far to realistically expect this to work? Also, what are the chances they'd actually come back up the hill to the duck house at night? We're on ~30 acres so having enough space isn't an issue...I just don't want to have to buy a four wheeler to get to and from the duck pond. I've included a diagram of the relevant areas for reference. Thoughts and advice?

Once they get to the pond they might never come back. You can try setting up a routine where in the morning you take them to the pond and then at night you bring them back and eventually they "might" begin doing this on their own. However, once they get on that pond they might not want to come back. You might want to get them used to treats such as frozen peas to get them to come to you first before taking them to the pond. I know my ducklings have a routine where every morning I open their pen and they go out the door and into the side yard to forage and then at the same time every night they gather up at the door to be let into the house to get into their pen. (I still keep mine in the house until their duck pen is ready). Ducks like routine any any deviation from that makes them upset. The other concern is that because the pond is so far away, their treck to the pond is exposing them to a lot of predator risks along the way.

If they were my ducks, I'd just set up a watering trough or baby pool for them to play in up by the house and forego the pond.

Yeah, I had a feeling that's the answer I was going to get. I just really wish I could use the stupid pond. I think I'm generally just too much of a lazy poultry keeper to routinely hike with ducks. I'd rather just find them a "pond" that keeps them near the other animals and their house. I'm not so much worried about predators in the daytime, but it would be very hard to secure a duck house/pen in the wooded area around the pond for nighttime. You're totally right, but I'm still bummed out about it. Thanks!