Crane Pond Road is not regularly maintained by the NYSDEC and as such is quite rutted, muddy, and just plain darn rough.

I don't understand this sign except maybe that the road was simply "legally closed". The road was passable, although there was one lane closed.

Crane Pond Road is a road quite a bit of history, with the Adirondack's version of the Sagebush Rebellion. A brief history: "In 1990, a group of men wearing masks removed the boulders and vowed to keep the road open. Members of Earth First, a radical environmental group, later pitched tents at the start of road to keep out vehicles. Footage later aired on a 60 Minutes piece about violence against environmentalists."