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Still Want to Get Camping

I still want to get camping, but the weather doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. I’m not going to go out on a frigid winter’s night, nor on a cloudy, dark depressing day. There needs to be enough snow that I can either drag my gear back in woods or I can drive my pickup back to some campsite. I need to make sure I get enough time to get started, to make sure I have the propane up and working, and warm enough so I can light the heater.

Winter camping is just tough. It requires so much gear and a lot of variables. It can be done, and with proper planning can be quite successful – as witnessed from my Christmas Day trip. But so far, I’ve not been able to make all the conditions meet. Maybe the Ground Hog will prove to be wrong, and things will be mild enough, so I can get out camping some weeks in March. We will see.

Comments on Boreas Land Classification

Dear Ms. Kathy Regan,

Thank you for providing this opportunity to provide input on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) in which 54,418 acres of Adirondack Forest Preserve are being considered for classification.

As you already know the lands that consist of the 20,758-acre “Boreas Ponds Tract” have traditionally been used by sportsmen for hunting, fishing, and trapping and by timber companies for timber production. There are more than 50 miles of gravel roads, several bridges, dozens of culverts and at least three dams, to facilitate its commercial use. Boreas Ponds exists due to a man-made dam, originally created to facilitate timber removal and later for sporting opportunities for those staying at camps and lodges along the lake.

The criteria for a wilderness designation requires that the land should have a primeval character, without significant improvement, appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature and where the imprint of man’s work is unnoticeable. Clearly, the Boreas Pond Tract is not consistent with a wilderness designation.

The APSLMP states, “the extent of existing facilities and uses which might make it impractical to attempt to recreate a wilderness or wild forest atmosphere is also a consideration. This is not to imply that when present uses or facilities are degrading the resource they should be continued, but their presence cannot be ignored.”

The public wants to use these lands for a wide variety of low-impact, sustainable activities, including hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, paddling, hiking, snowmobiling and riding ATVs. Draining the Boreas Flow, as will inevitably happen if the state abandons the Boreas Flow Dam will greatly diminish both the recreational, scenic, and habitat value of the lands. Failure of the dam will immediately reduce opportunities to fish, hunt and trap, it will harm the loons and water dependent species that have come to depend on the area for habitat.

Nobody is seriously considering turning the Boreas Flow Tract into a developed park or commercial development. There will be no flush toilets, no hot showers, neon lights, heated lodges or closed camps. Of course, if somebody wants to bring neon lights, a generator, and a wall tent to their temporary hunting camp at primitive campsites, all the more power to them – as long as they pack out what they brought in. All essentially primitive and sustainable uses of the resource should be allowed for by the public without charge or restriction.

Access at minimum should include motor vehicle and snowmobile use of Gulf Brook Road up to Boreas Pond. This will provide the public with the ability to easily access Boreas Pond, and take advantage of this scenic lake that the state has spent millions to acquire. Existing roads should continue to allow low-speed motor vehicle use, along with horseback riding, snowmobile, and bicycling.

While I think Alternative 1 is too overly restrictive for the Boreas Ponds Tract, I concede out of all the alternatives currently being considered by the department to be the best and most consistent with the existing Adirondack State Land Master Plan. We all have to live under the laws that the legislature imposes upon us, regardless of their wisdom or lack thereof.

The public demands more recreational access to their lands. The public wants to be connected to authentic, primitive landscapes that inspires us to seek new challenges, awes us with its sensuous beauty. People want to be able to hunt, fish, trap, camp, hike, bike, ride ATVs and snowmobile on public lands that their hard-earned tax dollars went to acquire.

Thank you for your attention to my comments.

Sincerely,

Andy Arthur

Tomorrow, Friday, December 30th is the last day you can submit comments on the classification of the Boreas Pond Tract. The classification of these lands will guide the uses allowed under the Unit Management Plan. While this land will be classified as Wild Forest, persuant to the consitution, the question becomes should existing roads be allowed in the unit, and will snowmobiles and public access on the roads be allowed up Boreas Pond.

I encourage you to submit comments and visit the Access the Adirondacks website to learn more about these lands and issues at stake.

Access the Adirondacks has a nice online petition/letter you can submit your comments with http://www.accessadk.com/contact.html

Public Comment – Best Management Plan for Primitive Tent Sites

To whom it may concern:

The “Best Management Plan for Primitive Tent Sites” is an illegal and unlawful plan if adopted would have the effect of banning roadside camping across the Adirondacks, including at popular areas such as Moose River Plains, Streeter Lake, Smith Road, Piseco-Powley Road, Moose Club Way, Northwoods Club Road, NY Route 8, Hope Falls Road, Union Falls Pond, among many others.

Roadside camping brings thousands of people to the Adirondack Park every year – people who might instead plan vacations in other states like Pennsylvania and Vermont – which permit a much wide variety of camping opportunities. This would hurt local small businesses, along with depriving the state of tax revenue and sales of hunting and fishing licenses.

1) Increase public comment period and hold public hearings across the state.

As this is a drastic change in long-standing public policy, there should be no less then ten (10) public hearings across the state on this proposal. Such hearings should occur in all regions of state from Western New York to Long Island. The state should do extensive press out reach on the proposal. The public comment period should be extended for 90 days, to ensure adequate public participation pursuant to SEQRA and other environmental laws.

2) Oppose banning vehicles from parking in camping areas

A big reason people choose to do roadside camping over wilderness camping is for ease of carrying camping supplies back to the site. Roadside campers often have heavy tents, cots, cast iron pots, lanterns, electric lights, and other gear that is not easily brought back in wilderness. Additional reasons include the use of pickup truck campers, recreational vehicles, electricity generation via vehicle batteries.

If people want to wilderness camp, that is their choice, there is hundreds of thousands of acres of public land available. Wilderness camping should be done more then 150 feet from existing trail, road, or water to protect natural resources.

Roadside camping should be permitted in designated campsites, on existing driveways, allowing registered motor vehicles, pickup campers, or RVs to access the site. Tent camping should also be allowed in designated roadside campsites. An amendment is required to Adirondack State Land Master Plan to properly address “designated roadside camping”.

3) 100 foot set back from parking areas is inconsistent with state laws, regulations, and rules

Nowhere in the Adirondack State Land Master Plan does it say that new campsites should be located 100 feet from Single Lane Parking Areas. The concept of Single Lane Parking Areas is not in the Adirondack State Land Master Plan (APSLMP) and is clearly an unlawful new use in Wild Forest-areas. The only parking areas permitted under APSLMP is at Fishing and Waterway sites, and Trailhead Parking. Campsite parking areas are not a permitted use in Wild Forest-areas.

Designated primitive tent sites MUST be located 150 feet away from roads, trails, and water. Designated primitive tent sites may not offer parking. Existing regulations and policies cover primitive tent sites in wilderness and other undeveloped areas. The 100 foot setback proposed in the plan is illegal under state law.

As such this proposal is illegal and unlawful under the APSLMP and associated state laws and regulations. The DEC and APA should address roadside camping under an amendment to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and not by a Best Management Plan, which has no lawful basis under the laws and regulations of this state.

To be clear, the state can not simply amend the APSLMP by adding new permitted use in wild forest areas through a Best Management Plan.

4) Add “Designated Roadside Campsites” as a Permitted Structure and Improvement for Wild Forest in APSLMP

The lawful solution to “Designated Roadside Campsites” is to add it as a permitted use under “Wild Forests”, subheading “Structures and improvements”.

“Designated Roadside Campsites” should be defined in Definitions section of the APSLMP:

25-a. Designated Roadside Camp Site –a designated camp site of an generally undeveloped character providing space for not more than two tents, along with parking for a single motor vehicle, or a small recreational vehicle/pickup truck camper, which may have an associated pit privy and fire ring, designed to accommodate a maximum of eight people on a temporary or transient basis, and located so as to accommodate the need for shelter in a manner least intrusive on the surrounding environment.

Generally, “ Designated Roadside Camp Sites” should follow all of the restrictions of “Primitive Tent Sites” with the exception that such sites would be located on campsite driveways. Campsite size would be restricted to 20 feet wide, and the associated driveway would be no further then 150 feet from the roadway. The driveway itself would be limited to 12 feet wide. Screening would be provided to the greatest extent practical, and campsites would be at least a quarter mile apart EXCEPT at Moose River Plains Camping Area.

Pursuant to the state constitutional restrictions, trees greater then 3” in diameter may not removed in construction of new or relocated designated roadside campsites. This means all new or relocated sites must be located in existing clearings, such as historical meadows, log loading platforms and other areas free of trees.

5) “Best Management for Primitive Tent Sites in Adirondack Park State Forest Preserve except Designated Primitive Tent Sites” is a confusing title at best.

It’s confusing at best to have a “Best Management for Primitive Tent Sites in Adirondack Park State Forest Preserve” and then exempt “Designated Primitive Tent Sites” from the plan per the title. The plan deals with “Designated Primitive Tent Sites”. Maybe the Department’s intent was for the plan only to apply to new or relocated “Designated Primitive Tent Sites” pursuant to an adopted Unit Management Plan. Pursuant to the laws and regulations of our state, a unit’s recreational facilities can not be adjusted until a Final Unit Management Plan has been adopted by APA. The Department’s intent should be clarified with this plan, to avoid confusing to the public.

Thank you for consideration of my comments, and for making the appropriate amendments to the Adirondack State Land Master Plan within the confines of the law.

Sincerely,

Andy Arthur

Why I Built a Bucket Shitter

Many of the campsites I’ve camped out in the woods over the years have lacked outhouses. So I’ve brought my trusty little trowel, dug a little hole, squatted and did my business. I usually would bring a bag and toss the toilet paper in there, put it in with the burnable garbage and bury the shit. It worked, it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t really like burying toilet paper, as I thought sometimes it would get dug up, especially if I wasn’t digging really deep holes, every time I took a shit.

For years and years, that’s what I did. But I really didn’t like squatting in woods, especially now that I’ve gotten older and like spending more time in the bathroom doing my business. Squatting is kind of a quick business, and even if it’s theoretically better for your health, it kind of isn’t as nice as being able to sit and relax while you get it done. Sometimes I even bring reading materials into the bathroom. I’m one of those guys.

So for a while I’ve seen bucket shitters described online, like this one shown on Wide Open Spaces. Honestly, I thought it was kind of a silly concept. Who wants to have a shitty, smelly bag of garbage to dispose of later. I had a friend who offered to give me his camp toilet, but I really didn’t want to deal with having to clean it.

But sometime last month, my views started to change. I really liked the convenience of outhouses, especially the ones at Moose River Plains that have been recently renovated and replaced. I found out buckets are like $2 a piece at Home Depot, and I could get bright orange buckets that I could find in the woods at night. I only had one 5-gallon bucket at the time, and I figured I could use two more for at camp. One could be dedicated for aluminum cans and recycling, and one for burnable garbage. If the bucket shitter idea didn’t work out, I could always use the other bucket for tying down ropes (filled with rocks or water), or storing water at camp for putting out fires, etc.

So I had my bucket. Next I had to get one of those pool noodles that the video and images on the internet recommend. I figured they’re like $2-3 bucks, so if they didn’t work, the remaining parts could be used in creeks or turned into firewood. They are after all just styrofoam and like 95% air. Not a major investment at any rate. I had garbage bags, that I use for garbage and dirty clothes while camping. I bit the bullet and made my bucket shitter.

The first version of the bucket shitter I built used the pool noodle. Right away I saw problems with the pool noodle not being able to properly bend around the bucket. As soon as I cut the noodle and put it over the bucket, it was difficult to bend and started to crack. After a weekend worth of use, the noodle cracked and was nothing more then some small pieces of styrofoam. Maybe small pool noodles fit better.

Other problems I discovered with this was the need to keep the poop covered to control the smell and flies that were naturally attracted. At first the solution was to stick a bucket lid on the bucket, which worked to control the flies but not the smell when I had the top off. My second idea worked better — tossing leaves on top of the waste. This seemed to control the smell and the flies pretty well, when combined with using a lid (and later a closed toilet seat) when I wasn’t using it.

After the pool noodle idea failed, I came up with a new idea. I would go to Walmart and pick up a $5-10 dollar plastic toilet seat. I think I ended up getting a $7 model. I tied the toilet seat to the bucket handle with a bungee cord, so it wouldn’t fall off. The plastic toilet seat was as comfortable as home, and provided much better place to do one’s business then the pool noodle, which never worked right. One other change I adopted, is I now using a double garbage bag in the bucket to ensure nothing leaks. The top garbage bag is discarded (put in with the burnable trash and burnt), every few days when the bucket has to be emptied.

To empty the bucket, I find a place in woods where I dig a hole and dump the waste, about 200-300 feet away from the campsite. Mixed with the leaves and covered with dirt, the waste can breakdown quickly in the forest. As I can dig a deeper hole, only once, it ensures the toilet paper will remained burred and well away from the campsite, versus what sometimes happens when you have to go out and dig a hole every time you have to do your business.

In the day time, I move the bucket shitter away from the campsite, somewheres in woods where there is heavy leave cover to provide good privacy. At night, I bring it into the campsite, so if I have to go, I don’t have to be wandering in the woods in the dark. It is nice having a comfortable seat to do your business in dark, and not have to worry about digging a hole in the very dark woods.

So that’s why I built a bucket shitter. It’s still a relatively new thing, but so far it seems to be working out just fine.

My experience and reasons for building a business bucket or as I call it in my more obscene tone, a bucket shitter ...

The Second Day

I Honestly I Didn’t Have a lot of Hope for the Rest of the Week. The first day didn’t go real well. I thought I could replace the lawn chair and maybe the bad battery, although I really wanted to spend time researching deep-cycle batteries before I made the leap and just bought another cheap Wal-Mart Marine battery.

But then the Beauty of November in the Woods Hit Me. This month is not only reserved for the sportsmen in the woods. It is remarkably beautifully especially when the clouds break and its not super cold out.

Made Breakfast up and Got Started on the Day. There was a nice shooting lane in the woods from the campsite, so I set up a political lawn sign, put on my shooting glasses and ear plugs and started blasting away at. I couldn’t believe how fast the shot shells disappeared at 5 rounds at a time in my pump action Renmington 870.

Had My Traditional Camp Breakfast. I am a big fan of scrambled eggs with cheese and sausages for breakfast. I often load it up with veggies although this time I didn’t. Took down camp after having this delicious breakfast.

Decided to Head Down to Pennsylvania. I had originally planned to spend two nights in the Western Catskills small game hunting, hiking and plinking but I wanted to give the deep-cycle a good charge in hopes I could recover it so I would have a decent amount of light the next night without constantly having to crank the truck to keep the lights on.

Roscoe NY is Famous for Trout Fishing but it could also be noted for it’s true scenic beauty. Now I phone in love with the beauty of the Appalachian mountains, how they tower over the land, but I tell you the area around Roscoe really pretty.

These mountains may not be the size of the Adirondacks, but their rounded tops surround the hollows so beautifully.

Stopped at the famous Roscoe dinner for a bit, got some coffee and hopped on the Quickway for Hancock and ultimately Pennsylvania. Stopped at the Rest Stop/Text Stop where there was good 3G service and checked much email and social media.

Thought About Heading Down to Scranton to a sporting goods store to pick up a replacement camp chair and more ammo. Figured ammo would be cheaper in Pennsylvania and a sporting goods store eould have more choices in 20 gauge shot then a Wal-Mart.

Checked out the GPS but saw there was no big sporting goods stores nearby. Decided to f-it and head to Wellsboro PA figuring I could just stop at Mansfield Wal-Mart along the way, get a camp chair and hopefully some ammunition.

Typed into Google Maps to take me to Wellsboro avoiding highways. Took me through some real wild country — not a lot of big farms — a lot of cabins, camps and rundown houses.

Before crossing into Pennsylvania I took County Route Old 17 and enjoyed some scenic vistas, stopping for a while to Instagram. Crossed over to PA and ended up on some real backroads, some twister and slower then I would like.

People Burn Everything in Pennsyltucky. I would not hestitate to say at least 90% of households in rural PA have trash burning barrels and most folks burn their garbage, plastic and all.

Funny to think that when burning barrels have been illegal in New York for 5 years and relatively uncommon and disfavored for 10 years except in the most rural parts of the state.

People in Pennsyltucky also heat with wood and outdoor wood boilers have big piles of brush and generally smoky in the hollows this time of year. For a firebug like me, this seems so liberating compared to the up-tight open burning laws in New York.

Stopped at the Saint Marie Overlook. It was pretty as usual. Took some more Instagram photos.

The More Digits in a Pennsylvania Highway the narrower and twister the road is. The main line one digit roads are as good as any in New York. Most 2 digit roads aren’t bad but when you get on the three digits, the roads are little more then blacktopped cow paths.

The shoulders are non-existent with guard rails extending right up to shoulders. To make things worst, PA uses rumble strips extensively so as you hit them if you try to stay away from the guard rails when driving.

Four digit roads are supposed to be analogous to county roads but as far as I can tell their maintained like town roads in New York.

Fracking Towns seem to have slowed down a lot since the initial craziness when the fracking boom was well underway.

Montrose was still dusty and Main Street was under heavy construction when I drove by. Saw a convoy of trucks hauling water and sand to a fracking site, but certainly not bumper to bumper.

Tonawanda, the city where they send reporters to cover fracking still had the new motels and the oil and gas businesses but it was still quiet compared to 2010. Some signs of oil wealth in the form of big jacked-up diesel pickups but thats not shocking for rural America but for the most part you didn’t see tons of oil wealth.

Ended Up Going to the Mansfield Wal-Mart to get a new camp chair and ammunition. A fairly big Wal-Mart, it had something unknown to a New Yorkers — lots of guns. Wal-Mart in more rural parts of New York will have a small revolving case of long guns plus air guns on the shelf.

But at least in rural Mansfield, they not only have several large cabinets with rifles and shotguns, they prominently feature modern sporting rifles aka AR-15s or as anti-gun politicians like to call them, assault rifles. They have a $500, $750, and $1000 models with things like fancier scopes.

They also sell handguns at Wal-Mart after a PA resident passes the standard instant NICS check like any gun, which seems so strange to New York where you have to go through the whole Sullivan Act pistol permit system. Handguns aren’t super accurate or dangerous compared to long-guns but New York treats them special as they are concealable. Still its great Pennsylvania residents have this freedom to keep and bear arms.

Left with a lawn chair and a 100 round brick of 20 gauge #7 birdshot for $24.50. Still need nore #6 for rabbit and squirrel hunting but the birdshot is cheap for plinking with the shotgun.

Camped at Asaph Run Camping Area in Asaph. Driving through the hamlet, saw a place selling firewood, so I picked up some wood for $5. The Asaph Run primative campsite is $10 night but it gives you a fire ring, picnic table and a pit privy. I had the

Lights Seemed to Work Bettet but still problematic like the previous night. Due to the chilly wind and trouble keeping the lights and radio on, I retired to bed by 8 pm, listening to podcasts into the night.

New York canoe camping area comes with new rules

It's funny when you read the analysis of the DEC, they don't even given the "no action alternative" serious consideration. They use zero facts in their environmental review, much less user survey to find if the campsites have any significant public interest. Not to mention, the have closed off all of the roads within 1 mile of the lakes, so unless you want to go for a very lengthy canoe carry, the lakes are totally inaccessible. Then again, what else would you expect from DEC, making secret deals with the Hamilton Street gangsters?

The Weekend That Was

The weekdays come back around once again. One weekend left until Memorial Day Weekend. Next weekend, thinking of heading out to Schoharie County to do some fishing and camping, but that plan could evolve depending on the weather.

This past week on Saturday, I volunteered for several hours at Albany’s Tulipfest for Save the Pine Bush. It was a hot and sticky Saturday. Then hopped in the Climate Controlled pickup, then headed north. The leaves are certainly coming out in Albany, but not so much as you head north in the Adirondacks. Another week they should be out pretty good though.

I had read that West River Road was open. Apparently it’s not, past the start of the Forest Preserve. The town portion of the road is open, so if you want to go fishing, that’s good. But if your planning on camping at Whitehouse, like I was, your going to have to wait a few more weeks, assuming that the wilderness advocate types don’t beat you to the punch and get the road permanently barricaded.

Ended up camping on NY 8. Not at Fox Lair, but actually a ½ mile down the road at the campsite I camped at in December. I actually was originally planning to camp at this site, if I got the .22 rimfire that I almost bought last week, until I found out how difficult getting ammunition would locally. Behind this campsite, there is a fairly clear woods, and maybe a ¼ mile back there is a large hill that would make for safe backstop for shooting. It was fine, because it was relatively late that I got back to the campsite

Maybe I will just get a pellet gun to start out with. I’ve heard a good air rifle can be used for 90% or more of the uses a 22 ca n be used for, especially at short range for things like squirrels and rabbits.

But I think a 22 rifle would be far more useful and accurate, especially if I get more into trapping. I liked the review of the Remington 597, but then read the downsides like the plastic stock flexing and jamming issues and are now looking more at the classic Ruger 10/22.

Some of the pellet guns or air rifles are pretty good now, and ammunition is not too difficult to get. That said, I think the whole 22 LR ammunition shortage can’t last for too much longer. People can hoard only so much ammo and the “feared” Obama is becoming a lame duck. I guess I could go shooting in Schoharie County this weekend if I wanted to.

Fox Lair, if the site is available in November, might be real good for trapping muskrat. There are some good muddy banks up along the East Branch up there, and while I haven’t really gone looking for muskrat dens, they must be there. The water depth there was more then adequate for drowning sets.

The wood was pretty wet from all the recent rain. Plus it’s kind of swampy back by the campsite. Which made it open for shooting, but it made the firewood I collected burn For the first hour or two, the campfire did a lot of smoldering and smoking as the wood dried out, but at least it was warm out. Kind of stunk too – because I got the fire started with a bag of Styrofoam plates and other burnable trash I brought up there – and there wasn’t a big hot fire to quickly burn it up like normally.

In my effort to be green, I did pick up a fair bit of litter in the woods and either burnt it took it home. I found an pickup truck tire and an ATV tire dumped back there. I know tires aren’t free to get rid of at the dump, but people shouldn’t dump them on state land. I don’t litter, but removing tires or large hunks of unburnable junk from state land is a bit more then I’m willing to do. I filed a report with a Conservation Officer, so hopefully it will get cleaned up soon.

Hiked back to Kirby Pond. It was a lot farther back then I had originally expected, although the trail was easy to follow, as somebody had recently flagged it. I didn’t bring any fishing gear with me – forgot it in my truck – but I was talking to somebody who was fishing out there, and said the lake was pretty sterile.

Did drop a line into the Sacanadaga River south of the dam in Wells, which is always packed with fisherman. Left empty handed. But probably should have spent more time there. If West River Road had been open, I would have camped there, then fished in the West Branch, and probably had better luck.

So that was the weekend was.

Everything from the Save the Pine Bush Tulip Booth, to my continuing frustration over getting a 22 with ammo shortage, to finding out West River Road is still closed, to some time fishing, to some camping near Fox Lair, to smoky fires and nice nights, to visiting Kirby Pond.

Andy Arthur.org

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