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Brasher State Forest

About 5 miles north of North Lawerence, on Saint Lawerence County Route 55 there is a sign for the Brasher State Forest and Walter Pratt Picnic (and Primitive Camping) Area, maintained CC Dam Association.

Brasher Falls Sign

As you enter the camping area, there is a sign for the picnic area along the lake, and camping on the other side of the road. Originally they allowed camping on both sides of the road, but concerns about run-off and other pollution from campers relocated the sites to the other side of the road.

Entering the Campground

If you want to camp, all you have to do is sign-in on a card, and stick it in the retrospective window. This so they can contact you during an emergency. You can stay for up to 3 nigths, or longer if you get up to a 2-week renewable permit from the DEC.

Campers Sign In Here

The campsites are quite nice. Not all of them are as separated as this one, but I wanted one that was a little farther away for some peace and quiet. Also I figured I could listen to music as loud as I wanted to here.

Campsite 21

One of the major features of the area is a beautiful dammed up section of the Red Brook, that creates an artificial lake. The Civilian Conservation Corps Dam, built in the 1930s, is where CC Dam Association name comes from.

C.C. Dam

There is a swimming beach where people can swim at their own risk. As you can see, it’s some pretty nice swimming, although the lake is a little muckier then it appears in the pictures, and is a natural reddish color from the minerals in the sand of the Saint Lawrence County.

Swimming Beach

They have a horseshoe pit.

Horseshoe Pit

They have a hand pump for one to get drinking water. It’s marked non-potable, probably because it draws from the same shallow aquifer of the lake. You can easily boil it on a stove to make it safe to drink.

Non-Potable Water

The outhouses are in quite nice shape and very clean as you can see from these inside and outside pictures.

Outhouse

The sites are just wonderful. Here is Campsite 21 after I had put away all my gear before heading out. The fire pit rings vary, but for a free place, are pretty darn awesome.

Firepit and Table

The CC Dam Association is made up of volunteers from the Tri-Town Region of Saint Lawerence County, the nick-name for the Brasher Falls/Brasher/North Lawerence hamlets that dot the country south of Malone.

They collect old beer cans and accept donations via the mail for fundraising. Since camping is free, and the place is so well up-kept, I’m sure they apprechiate the help. Not to mention, collecting beer cans probably reduces litter, because people can’t really burn them, and some can be lazy about packing out their trash.

Cans Only

There are a number of other marked campsites on other truck trails in Brasher State Forest, including down by the Tri-Town Horse Trail area near Brasher Falls. In addition, there are dozens of miles of truck trail to drive legally in a pickup, ride with a horse or mountain bike, or illegally on a quad.

Here is a map of Brasher Falls State Forest and it’s relationship to Massena. You can zoom in for more details. NYS DEC Land Mapper has a run down of the trails.


View Hikes of 2009 in a larger map

The New York North Alternative for Vacation

If the government shutdown persists into the second half of October, and the President is very aggressive at shutting down access to the federal back country, the West Virginia and Pennsylvania options that rely on camping in the back country of National Forests may not be an option. This also is a lower milage option, that will be more affordable, put less wear and tear on the truck and still let me explore areas I haven’t before.

  • Saturday 10/14 to Monday 10/16 – Head up to the Otter Creek State Forest outside Lowville to camp and ride trails in the
  • Monday 10/16 to Thursday 10/19 – Camp up at the Frank Jadwin State Forest, or alternatively Greenwood Creek State Forest
  • Thursday 10/19 – Hike and explore Fire Fall – Trout Lake State Forest
  • Thusday 10/19 through Sunday 10/19 – Camp up at Brasher Falls State Forest (CCC Dam Camping Area), explore Massena, ride the many sand roads through Brasher – Bombay State Forest.
  • Sunday 10/19 – Spend all day taking a leisurely drive down through the Adirondacks via NY 30 and NY 28N, getting on the Northway in Warensburg before it gets too dark.

Swimming Beach

Confusion Flats Road

Camping Areas in Northern Adirondacks ⛺

Bog River Flow – Popular canoe area that is popular for camping and paddling. Short portage between Hitchens Pond and Lows Lake. Lows Ledge is a 1 mile hike from the portage up to a ledge with expansive views of lakes and surrounding locations. Good to no cell service depending on location.

Brasher State Forest – Roughly 10 miles south of Malone, this expansive state forest is home to the Walter Pratt Camping Area on Red River Pond. Part of Saint Lawrence Flatlands, this area is largely sandy remote country with vast pine forest. Good cell service.

Chazy Lake – There are two campsites along the end of Wildfred Kingdom Road on Chazy Lake. The end of the road to the campsites is gated, and at times the campsites are marshy, but the views from the campsites are amazing.

Deer River State Forest – The “rough” country just north of Adirondack Park in Franklin County, that has camping in a wild environment that is the transition from the Adirondacks to the Saint Lawrence Flatland, about 10 miles outside of Malone. Limited cell service.

Franklin Falls Pond – There are several tent sites along the shore of Franklin Falls Pond that are a short hike down from the road and right along a popular canoe route. No cell service.

Floodwood Road (St Regis Canoe Area) – A very popular and packed in camping area is along Floodwood Road. I camped there once, I don’t recommend it.

Lake Kushaqua – A very scenic lake with a few campsites along it’s shore, near the Buck Pond Campground. I’ve been told these sites are too good to put out on the Internet and can be very hard to get in season. This lake connects with Rainbow Lake under a culvert, however to reach the upper part of Rainbow Lake you must portage.

Horsehoe Lake – Horseshoe Lake in Franklin County, is located about 15 miles south west of Tupper Lake. There are 6 campsites along the lake, plus 4 others on roads nearby. Near the Hitchens Pond put-in for Lows Lake, a popular spot for camping and paddling. Good to no cell service depending on location.

Mountain Pond – Old routing of NY 30 north of the Paul Smith VIC. Rough asphalt road. Near Barnum Pond which is very scenic for paddling, and rather rough Slush Pond Road which offers additonal campsites. No cell service.

Jones Pond – Three campsites located along a rough dirt road along with several tent sites along the north shore of this small lake about 10 miles from Saranac Lake.

Streeter Lake – Old railroad grade with 8 roadside campsites spread out along it’s way, along with a few campsites around the lake and an lean-to.

Union Falls Pond – One drive in site and a few tent sites along the reservoir just north of Franklin Falls Pond. Great views of Whiteface Mountain from this reservoir. No cell service.

An April North Country Trip, A Revised Plan for 2018

An April North Country Trip, A Revised Plan for 2018

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about my plans for an April Road Trip to the North Country. For a number of reasons that trip never got off the ground, not the least being the wet and cold spring and the amount of things I had going on at work last year. This year though, I would like to try to make this trip, with the first few days spent taking NY 30 up to through the Adirondacks, maybe camping off of NY 8 one night then at Horseshoe Lake another night.

Camping

When I reach the North Country, I would probably either camp on Conservation Road at Deer River State Forest or maybe the Walter Pratt Campground at Brasher Falls State Forest. The later is somewhat better, as it’s less likely to be muddy or snow covered in April, and it’s a fair bit closer to Massena. More cell service to keep me entertained at night. Deer River would be better in the sense that there are more areas near the campsites with hills and terrain that could be used as backstops while plinking. Maybe hit up some trout spots? It is April, after all.

Deer River off of Webster Mill Road

My April Road Trip would be quite similar to the trip I took in November 2015 to the Northern Adirondacks, probably fish in Deer River, go up to the Power Project in Massena, maybe do some short hikes in the Adirondacks. Drive back down through the Adirondacks or maybe via the Black River Valley.

Campsite

I would like to explore more of the state forests in St. Lawrence County. There is a lot of great land up that way that I’ve mapped and looked at the DEC websites for but have never explored myself. Many people might denounce the land is being flat with a lot of dairy farms – but I suspect it’s actually quite rolling in parts and many of the state forests are quite interesting. Wolf Lake State Forest seems to perk my interest.

It’s a bit farther then past April Road Trips I’ve done, but it would be fun to get back into this part of the state that I haven’t visited in a few years. I like getting around and seeing different parts of the state, as going to the same location, year after year, gets kind of boring. I’ve only really been up to the North Country (Franklin and St. Lawrence County) twice, so there are a lot left to explore.

November 10, 2017 8 AM Update

Good morning! Happy Blustery Friday. Today for many people is Veterans Day holiday observed, although tomorrow is actually Veterans Day aka Armstice Day. That’s a day we hope for peace and honor those who have served in our military — and pray for an end to war. War really is a horrific thing, destroying lives and communities, it steals billions from our economy that could be better spent addressing real human needs in our community, and the climate crisis. But while the climate is being cooked by increasing levels of carbon it’s freaking cold out today.

Right now, it’s mostly cloudy and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. I am not sure if we will be above freezing today. November sometimes sure feels like winter. I got the heat on before the big cool down yesterday, so it’s a comfortable 60 odd degrees inside. I don’t think I would want it any warmer. Outside it’s quite blustery, with a stiff breeze at 26 mph the west-northwest with gusts up to 51 mph. I saw one of the garbage can tops belowing away. I ran outside without any more then a t-shirt on to grab it. Fortunately none of the milk bottles in that bin I use for recycling didn’t blow anywhere. I may have to get the transfer station soon though, because I’m starting to run low on room at least in recycling contianer. The current wind chill is 16. It’s freaking cold out. At least I’m not so sick today as I’ve been the past few days with a horrific sinus infection.

Partly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, and we are at today’s high of 31 degrees. Only going to get colder as the day progresses. 19 degrees below normal. Windy, with a northwest wind 20 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. We might have some snow today. Not a big deal but it’s cold enough that the roads may have snow on them and get slick briefly. Snow squalls are around. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 50 degrees. Nothing like today. The record high of 72 was set in 1931. 3.2 inches of snow fell back in 1987.

The sun will set at 4:36 pm with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 27 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 14. Yuck. Breezy, 20 mph breeze from the northwest with gusts up to 33mph. Today will have 9 hours and 55 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 17 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be clear, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. 22 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 8 at 6pm; Northwest wind 9 to 15 mph. In 2016, we had mostly clear skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1956. I think it’s safe to say we will break that 1956 record with that arctic cold blasting in this morning.

Finally feeling better. I was so sick on Wednesday night from a sinus infection. I don’t know how I made it through Wednesday at work, but somehow I did. I closed my eyes on the bus ride home on Wednesday night, and set an alarm so I would be awake by my stop. For a while on Wednesday I literally felt like I was going to die. I was about a sick as one could get. Then I slept for 12 hours, and pulled myself out of bed for Thursday mainly because I wanted to get my truck fixed. The Sudafed made Thursday barable at work, but several people at work noticed I was pretty sick. But I think it was just mildew in my nose passage, not something I was likely to spread to others. By Thursday evening I was feeling better, maybe in part because the fix to my truck was only $90. That noise was really bothering me, and stressing me out even though it wasn’t a big fix. I’m tired of feeding Big Red $1,000 bills. 

Big Red is back from the off-road shop. It turns out that one of the shock absorber bushings had failed. It was $90 plus tax to replace the bushing. I probably could have done that myself for a quarter of the price, but I don’t do my own repairs anymore, and apparently things were corroded as fuck down there. I would probably bugger shit up trying to get the rust off, and that’s why I am not a mechanic.  But now it doesn’t ride as rough as shit over the bumps, and doesn’t make that obnoxious noise. I think it probably the best $90 I’ve ever spent, because that noise was literally driving me insane and made it pretty undrivable over washboarded roads. I actually am shocked that it passed state inspection. I guess they really don’t look that carefully.

If you hadn’t noticed by this point in the blog post, it’s very cold out today with that whipping wind and temperatures below freezing. I think the library is open until 9 PM, so I will probably walk down there to update the blog and play on the Internet. I do need to make up some more maps, but I don’t know if I neccessarily need Internet for that. I will need that though to do more West Virigina maps. I don’t know if I will do much too hiking, although I guess if it clears out I might go out to Five Rivers.  I should also think about getting a hair cut.

I am toying with the idea of going up to the Adirondacks tomorrow, but I’m afraid it might be quite cold. I would like to do some hiking though, maybe Moxham Mountain or somewhere else, but it might quite cold. If I did go up north, I would camp out over Saturday nigth with the heated tent. But I may skip that with the cold coming. But I do want to get out before there is a lot of snow up there for the winter. The La Nina pattern suggests we could have a rather snowy winter. 

I am toying with the idea of next weekend taking a long weekend and going up to the North Country. That is if it’s not too cold, and most importantly that there isn’t a major threat of lake effect snow. It’s the opening weekend of gun season inthe southern zone, but it’s open for a while up north. Probably camp up at Brasher Falls State Forest, visit the usual Massena places. There is something so charming about the rough country of the North Country. I haven’t been up there in two years, and it’s trip I like taking. Maybe take off two days next week. Although I don’t know, it might be difficult if a lot of people are taking a long week with the Thanksigving holiday.

My neighbor is gone to work today, so I’m able to listen to music using my desk speakers. I have misplaced my headphones after coming home. I think they are somewhere in Big Red. I’ll have to look around a bit. Not being able to listen to music at home except through the headphones kind of sucks being in an apartment. That’s one big advantage about camping out in the wilderness — you can listen to music and shoot guns and nobody gives a fuck. For the most part. Occassionally a ranger will stop by to confirm your not destroying state property but other then that, it’s great. Owning my own land and property would be great for that reason among many others.

I tell you on a day today, I sure wish Ihad a small cabin in the wilderness with a wood stove. It would be so cozy rather then this undersize gas heat in a somewhat drafty apartment. Wood is nice, especically if you can harvest it off your own land. Honestly, I hate all the trappings of modern living, although I definately would want some kind of 12 volt power supply from solar for LEDlighting and running my smartphone, which is what I’m typing on. Plus probably a propane instant-on heating for a hot shower. I don’t care about dumping out a shitter bucket, and I certainly wouldn’t mind not having television or Internet at home, because those last to things I’ve never had. Smartphones make it easy to live without Internet today. And they work great with a 12 volt supply, and don’t consume much power.

The other day, at work we were talking about buying homes and all that stuff. But honestly I’m quite happy with my mildew infested cheap apartment in the suburbs and taking the bus to work. Bleach keeps things under control. I hate driving in the city, especially with my big jacked up truck. It’s too difficult navigating around those little cars folks drive in the city. I would rather save my money, buy a lot of land eventually so I can shoot guns whenver and burn whatever I want. Having neighbors that don’t give a fuck as long as you leave them alone are the best. I just hate vinyl siding, marble counter tops, big houses with fancy lighting and all those trappings of suburban living, even with those plug-in hybrid cars and solar panels and big recycling bin next to their full landfill trash bin that are supposed to make you green. I’m just too much of an rough, country boy to support any of that upper middle class living. I’m quite happy for the federal government to take a swipe at those yuppies with by taking away their precious SALT exemption. 

And if you think today is cold, there are 2 months until Coldest Day of Year (Avg. 14-30 degrees) when the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm with dusk at 5:13 pm. Then again, that is pratically the weather forecast today. Hopefully we won’t have wind chills like today in January. But if we do that’s not shocking, because it’s January in Albany when it’s cold.

Two Deer Rivers

There are two Deer Rivers in the North Country of New York.

Deer River – a tributary of St. Regis River

This river starts at the Deer River Flow, generally flowing north east to the Saint Regis River, through Deer River State Forest and Brasher Falls.

Deer River – a tributary of Black River

This river starts about 3 miles of Barnes Corners, north of Sears Pond State Forest, enters a deep gorge near Lookout State Forest, flows through Copenhagen and the village of Deer River.

November 24, 2015 update

As we move through the 9 o’clock hour, we are at about the freezing temperature. I got somewhat of a late start this morning as I was not used to waking up to the cold and having to climb out of bed to turn up the heat. Camping can spoil you.

It was a beautiful trip up through the Adirondacks on Friday. I haven’t been up to Plattsburgh in years and haven’t driven the Adirondack Northway in late fall on a clear day in years. The Greens and Northern Adirondack Mountains were crystal clear, driving along the Northway. If there were more legal spots to stop along the Northway and I had more free time, I would have stopped and grabbed more pictures. Photos are nice, but I always have memories too.

Without my phone working I didn’t have have Waze, so no advanced warnings of police traps. I normally rely on the Waze speedometer, as the truck’s speedometer is off, especially as you increase in speed. I blew past of famous police traps in Keeseville, as you descend past Pok-o-Moonshine, around 64 mph on the Big Red speedometer which is over 70 in real speed. I saw cop glance at his radar unit but he didn’t stop me. I eased off the gas for the rest of the trip.

Finally make it to Plattsburgh a little after 12:30, then stopped at Gander Mountain to look around in buy some 20-gauge deer slugs. I knew I wasn’t necessarily going to drop a deer while I was up there, but figured it would be better to have them not. I was annoyed that they asked to see my drivers license and took down my license number when I bought them. Its just kind of creepy, especially as Cuomo hasn’t implemented his ammunition database, as I don’t really like the idea of government or a private business keeping track of what I’m buying. I don’t have to give them my drivers license to buy almost everything else like beer and cigarettes, especially now that I look well over 21 years of age.

Stopped at Plattsburgh State and walked around. Even with my jacked up truck, finding street parking was not difficult on Drapper Ave. There always seems to be parking there. A lot has changed and a lot has remained the same on campus. There was a new building on Drapper Avenue, which made me almost miss my turn to that road. Hawkins Hall is mostly the same. The Hudson Hall Annex is new but that was under construction. They are demolishing and rebuilding the elevated walkway around campus. I was hoping to stop by the Political Science department and see some of my old professors but the department was all closed up. They may have been teaching classes. It seemed like there was a lot more African Americans on campus then I remember from back when I went there. They recruit from all over the state, and recently have been offering free tuition to local students who have an ‘A’ average. Snapped a few pictures for memory’s sake.

Stopped at the Plattsburgh Municipal Library so I could get on the wifi to try to switch over phone to an old but partially working phone. While the StraightTalk website was up, it took a while to figure out how to make it work for that purpose. At first I could not figure out how to switch to an old phone, but eventually got it to work. Killed probably another half hour doing this, and by the time I was back to my truck it was quarter to 2 PM.

I had previously planned to leave Plattsburgh no later then 2 PM. This would get me to either the Deer River area or CC Dam Association / Brasher State Forest camping areas before 4 PM or somewhere there around depending if I had to make any stops. I did have enough time for a quick trip over to Point Au Rouche, but by then I was pushing 2 PM so basically I went to the beach, walked out on it too and snapped a quick few shots. Not having my phone to give me directions, I wanted to make sure I left plenty of time to get up there, lest I get lost or have to drive in the darkness. I was finding my way exclusively by memory of six years ago and the times I’ve made maps of state forests and studied road maps. Fortunately I have pretty good map memory.

NY 190 was as boring and congested route as always. There was two different speed traps on the road but I limited my speed and kept my truck a safe distance from cars ahead of me which were constantly stopping and turning. The sky turned gray over this super boring road in Indian and wild hillbilly country out by Altona. The wind and then snow squall picked up. It was frigid by the time I arrived in Malone. At least the snow wasn’t sticking at that point as the mercury still read about 35 degrees.

To be continued. I’m near my destination stop.