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Late Fall Camping at Sugar Hill

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On my way down to Pennsylvania and on my way back to Albany, I spent a two nights camping out at Sugar Hill State Forest, lower Assembly area. While the area is primarily designed for equestrians, it does offer a person who seeks drive-in camping without a permit in Finger Lakes Region a place to stay.

On the Sunday night driving down to Pennsylvania, there was nobody else around but a bow hunter I saw in the morning. On Friday night, there where a lot of horse owners, because the Upper Assembly-area was closed for the winter. I drove around, hoping to visit the fire tower a top the Assembly area. Unfortunately, it was closed for the year. I did get some interesting shots from Tower Hill Road, heading up there, looking down at Seneca Lake.

Tower Hill Road

On the other side of the ridge from Tower Hill Road, you can see Keuka Lake. It looks a lot different this time of year then in other times of year. I do wish I could have seen it from the fire tower, although I guess the fire tower has limited views due to trees growing up. I could have hiked up to the tower, but it’s a ways back, with the road gated off.

Valley

Next I drove down to Birdseye Hollow State Forest / Sanford Lake. Got lost. I know this time of year you don’t need camping permits for it, but it looked it was only tent sites. Things where pretty grown up, and it was getting late. I ended up driving back up the hill, to Sugar Hill, and settling in at the Lower Assembly area. On Sunday night, all the horse campers had packed up and gone back home.

I proceeded to make baked zita in the dutch oven, over a warm open fire. Somebody had left firewood from the previous weekend, and there was ample dead and down wood nearby in the forest, so I really nice warm fire.

Cooking Dinner

I like the campsites down at Sugar Hill, although I wish they offered more privacy. Yet, I guess that’s not how Assembly areas work at horse camps. That said, on a Sunday evening, there was nobody else around. It was a bit more crowded the following Friday, for my return trip. It was a nice night, and great meal.

Campsite

Morning unfortunately came early, with the change of day light savings time, and it was dark when I set my alarm clock for 6:30 AM. Yet I knew I had a big day ahead, driving down to Pennsylvania, so I was before dawn. But eventually the sun rose over the pines of the Lower Assembly day, and it was a beautiful morning.

Camping Set Up

Sunrise

I packed up my gear, headed across a muddy truck trail to get packed up, took kind of a bath using a tea-kettle with hot water, and I was on my way to Pennsylvania. The camera lens kind of was fogged up from the cold.

Old Canal Warehouse in Chittenango [Expires November 19 2023]

Campsite

The drive to Pennsylvania was spectular, especially just South of Sugar Hill in Coon Hollow (really a wide valley), with beautiful farms lining the road, and tall mountains surrounding it.

Coon Hollow

As a side note, I also stayed here on Friday, November 12. There where a lot of equestrians that where using the area by around 9 PM, with lots of horse trailers. Many came late. This Lower Assembly area doesn’t get much use in the summer, compared to the Upper Assembly area, but this time of year with the Upper Assembly area closed, many where down here for the weekend. Weekdays, you’ll probably be alone camping here — especially in the winter.

Here is a map of Sugar Hill.

Love this view of Cornplanter Bridge

Fall at Green Lakes State Park

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Green Lakes State Park beautiful and unique state park featuring mineral rich waters, meromictic ecosystems, and old growth forest outside of Syracuse, NY. I went out for a 1.5 hour walk along these lakes on a beautiful fall morning around 7 AM.

It is a three mile walk around both Green Lakes and Round Lake, and is very popular for crazy suburbanite joggers, which will try to run you over when you go for an early morning walk. In the day time in the fall it’s even more crowed, though there is no entry charge after Labor Day Weekend

Sunrise Over Green Lake

Watching the sun rise across the lake.

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The colors along the trail as the sun rose where spectacular.

Fall Morning

As I walk along the very colorful tree line along the lake.

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As the fog rises on Green Lake and over green lake.

Fog on Green Lake

Walking over to Round Lake and watching the colors of the trees reflect on the lake’s surface.

Round Lake

On a brightly lit trail around Round Lake as the sun filters through the colors of fall.

Trail

And dozens of color reflect upon Round Lake.

Reflection

Then I walk over to Green Lake with the colors at peak on a very beautiful fall morning.

Green Lake

Down

From the southern edge of Green Lake, there is this pretty little point jetting out into the Lake.

Jetting Across the Lake

I proceeded to walk along to the western Edge Of Green Lake to see the bright colors across the lake. This is from the point shown in the previous photo.

Western Edge

One last view of the colors, as I return back to my truck.

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The Old Administration Building at Green Lakes (taken the previous afternoon).

Old Administration Building

The New Administration Building at Green Lakes.

New Administration Building

Note: The best time for peak folliage at Green Lakes State Park is during the Columbus Day Weekend in October. This is when I was out hiking here. If you want to visit it during the most pretty part of the day, make sure to get here right at the crack of dawn, which occurs about 15 minutes later then surrounding areas, due to the low elevation of the lakes.

Here is a map of the walk around Green Lake and Round Lake. If you are doing it in the morning, it’s best to walk around the Eastern Shores first for the sunrise, and the Western Shores second to see the colors on the leaves.


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Why Does the DEC Hide Camping Areas?

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One of the things that I’ve puzzled over for for some time, is the practice of hiding officially designated roadside camp sites and primative camping areas from their website and from offical signage on primary roads.

Campsite 55

The DEC never puts a sign up along a road saying “Camping Area”, although they do often designate individual sites along the roads with smaller markers. It’s always signed as “C.C. Dam Assocation”, “Moose River Plains Wild Forest”, “Mountain Pond Fishing Area” with no information on camping activities, despite having dozens if not hundreds of designated road-side camping sites.

Brasher Falls Sign

Limekiln Entrance Sign

It’s not like people can’t figure out where primative campsites are located by searching the Internet for other web sites, driving around on state truck trails, checking topographic maps, studying Unit Management Plans, and talking to people who have been their previously. Things are not really hidden, it’s that DEC just doesn’t make it obvious.

Campsite 4

To make matters worst, the DEC varies greatly in their policy towards putting campsites on their online interactive mapper. Some camping areas are not included in their interactive mapper at all, while other are in part or whole. Some designated camping areas on the mapper, require a free permit from the DEC, although you would never know it from the website.

Adirondack Park Land Cover

The DEC also does not provide public access to the shape files used to draw the data in the online interactive mapper. Despite one’s repeated attempts to contact the Department for acess to that shapefile, the GIS director has never responded. If you wanted that incomplete shapefile, you would probably have to FOIL the agency, and no guarantees that the department would provide access.

Tent

There are probably a couple of rationals for this disorganized policy towards primative camping:

  • Discourage over use by keeping camping areas known to a limited number of people who’ve spent the time discovering them on their own
  • Discourage ‘casual’ use by youth who seek simply places for partying and generally making a mess with beer cans and other unburnable trash, damage to vegetation, and generally getting themselves in trouble
  • Competition from State-owned DEC Campgrounds, many of which are money makers for the DEC and help fund other activities of the department
  • Disorganization in the DEC regional offices, which may not sychronize their data with DEC Headquarters in Albany.
  • Regional DEC Offices desire not to share with the DEC in Albany, a list of campsites that do not comply with wild forest guidelines due to spacing or frontage issues.
  • Regional DEC Offices would prefer people contact the forest rangers directly about camping opportunities, so they can better control use of their lands and maintain a kind of fiefdom over them.

Reading in the Rain

Regardless, it would be nice if the Department of Environmental Conservation, in the form of it’s regional and state offices, would be honest with the public about camping opporunties across the state. The public owns the land, and the public has the right to know about how it can be used, without directly having to contact individual forest rangers, which may or may not be honest or helpful.

Balsam Pond 2010

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For the first weekend of summer, I decided to go out to Central NY for a weekend. The original plan was to spend one day at Brookfield Camping Area, but it was too crowded, so I decided to head south west to Balsam Pond in Chenango County, outside of Norwich and Pharslia.

Balsam Pond Sign

Balsam Pond is a man-made lake, popular for fishing and free camping. They also allow motor boats on the lake, so during the day, you’ll hear boats roaring up and down the lake.

Balsam Pond Sign

While the weekend was pretty rainy, Balsam Pond turned out to be quite nice, and popular but not full, as was the case last year. This time I choose to set up in Campsite 3.

Campsite Number 3

Soon after getting there, it was raining. I quickly got the tarp up, and was hanging out in the back of my pickup, reading a book.

Waiting Out the Rain

In the evening, the rain stopped, although the clouds remained as I walked down by the lake.

Balsam on Edge of Pond

In the morning I got up, and hopped in the lake for a quick dip to get cleaned off. Hazy and cloudy in the morning, but no rain.

Marshy Edge

I drove up north to Truxton in Cortland County, to check out the ever so beautiful Labarador Hollow, but decided with the rain, not camp up there. There where some roadside campsites there, but no lake to cool off up there, so I ended up spending another day at Balsam Pond.

Balsam Tree

The next evening was nice, with not much rain, but very cloudy, damp and dark. But I got a nice fire going, and it didn’t involve burning too much plastic but mostly wood, under the Christmas lights.

Even by morning of the June 28th, the weather wasn’t perfect but so be it. This time of year, is not known for it’s perfect weather conditions after all.

Canoes

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