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Why Jones Hill is One of My Favorite Fall Hikes

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One of my favorite fall hikes when I am out in Syracuse is to hike Jones Hill, which is about 10 miles east of Tully. It’s a quick hop down I-81, as you climb into the mountains, and then take NY 80 through some farm land, and south past Labrador Hollow and Labrador Pond.

Towards Meeker Hill

You should probably do the hike in the morning, for the best views of country east of here. The fall leaves up here turn earler then in Syracuse.

Population within 100 miles of Governor Candidates

What makes Jones Hill so unique is what you see in the vista. Below you is Labrador Pond, a 101 acre lake with many unique and endangered species. Across the way is Labrador Hill, and to the north to the farm country around Tully.

NY 80 in Apulia

The leaves are always quite spectulator up here, especially if you catch them at peak, which is usually a week prior to Columbus Day Weekend. On Columbus Day Weekend, in contrast, you should go to Green Lake State Park — preferably at sunrise, before the crowds arrive.

The Kinderhook Gorge Reminds Me of the Adirondacks

Keep the Government Off My Moose River Plains

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Some of the Tea Party activist-types have been known to hold signs up that say “Keep the Government Off My Medicare”. Liberal commentators gets a kick out of that, by pointing out that Medicare is a government program and would not exist without the government. That is logical, but that is not the implied meaning — that government is something different then the public as a whole and functions the government is supposed to provide to the public.

Government doesn’t always serve the public interest. Indeed, in many cases it does not serve the public interest because of citizen apathy and because certain insiders have more power then average citizens. Laws are often written in smoke filled rooms, and are used to justify policies decades later that are not supported by the majority, but instead the small minority of special interest groups that originally got them passed.

Stop Barrier Ahead

Few examples could be clearer then Indian Lake Road, now closed at the bottom of the hill below Squaw Lake. This road went to Indian Lake prior to 2008, a beautiful wilderness lake that was great for paddling and fishing. It was closed due to Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan Act, and because the DEC wanted to “bank” 2.5 miles of Moose River Plains Road to use for then they acquired the Nature Conservancy parcels to add to the Vanderwhacker Wild Forest.

You can still walk those 2.5 miles. The road is in decent enough shape to allow you to bring a kayak back on wheels. And at least for now, you can still backpack in a campsite along the road. But then it makes Horn Lake and other places even farther back, and makes the back country even farther back. And it begs real questions: why is the government taking our public lands from us?

Tea Party folk are right to question why the government is taking things from us. the public that they should be providing things to and not taking away from us.